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Students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom goal structures: implications for perceived task values and study behavior

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Abstract

Relations between 8th and 10th grade students’ perceptions of classroom goal structures, task values, anxiety, help-seeking behavior, and effort in mathematics classes were examined. The authors investigated whether the associations between perceived goal structures and anxiety, help-seeking behavior, and effort are mediated through students’ perceptions of the importance/utility value, cost, and intrinsic value of mathematics. Three hundred and nine Norwegian middle school students participated. Students’ perceptions that their mathematics classroom had a mastery goal structure directly and indirectly related to their math anxiety but only indirectly to students’ reports of their help-seeking behavior and effort. Their perceptions that their mathematics classroom had a performance goal structure directly and indirectly related to their math anxiety as well as effort and help-seeking behavior. Thus, the associations between perceived classroom goal structures and math anxiety, help-seeking behavior, and effort are, at least partly, mediated through students’ subjective task values.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NTNU Social Research, Trondheim, Norway

    Einar M. Skaalvik

  2. Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Oslo, Norway

    Roger A. Federici

  3. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Allan Wigfield

  4. Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Einar M. Skaalvik, Roger A. Federici & Truls N. Tangen

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  1. Einar M. Skaalvik
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Skaalvik, E.M., Federici, R.A., Wigfield, A. et al. Students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom goal structures: implications for perceived task values and study behavior. Soc Psychol Educ 20, 543–563 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9382-1

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