Performance-approach Goal Orientation Research Articles

Students' Goals, Self-Efficacy, Self-Handicapping, and Negative Affective Responses: An Australian Senior School Student Study

The development of a goal theory model of student motivation in schools has gained momentum over the past decade. Goal theory seeks to understand the relationships between student achievement behaviors. Correlates of achievement behaviors include academic goal orientations, affect, and academic self-efficacy. This paper reports the results of a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance investigating the changes that occur regarding these variables for a sample of final year Australian secondary education students, over time and between sexes. Results of the study show significant increases occurring in students' negative affect, performance-avoidance goal orientations, and self-handicapping strategies and decreases in performance-approach goal orientation and academic self-efficacy. Significant gender differences were also identified in the data. Canonical correlation analysis was also carried out to identify relationships between sets of variables. Results indicate a significant relationship between negative affect coupled with high levels of performance-approach goal orientation and low levels of self-handicapping strategies.

The Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey: A Comparison across Grade Levels

The Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) was developed to assess a trichotomous achievement goal structure, which included the following subscales: Task Goal Orientation, Performance-Approach Goal Orientation, and Performance-Avoid Goal Orientation. The use of the PALS in making inferences about these goal orientations was originally validated with a middle school sample of students. In this study, the authors computed Cronbach’s alphas and employed confirmatory factor analytic procedures to provide statistical evidence of the reliability and validity of inferences based on scores from the PALS at the fourth-grade and college levels.