Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test possible interactions between mastery and performance goal structures in mathematics classrooms when predicting students’ goal orientations. More specifically, we tested if the degree of performance goal structure moderated the associations between mastery goal structure and students’ goal orientations. Participants were 1628 5th to 10th grade students from eight elementary and middle schools from one large city in Norway. The data were analyzed by means of regression analysis. The results showed that the association between a mastery goal structure in the mathematics classrooms and students’ personal goal orientations were significantly moderated by the degree of performance goal structure. This was true for all dimensions of goal orientation tested in this study.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ames, C. (1992). Achievement goals and the classroom motivational climate. In D. H. Schunk & J. L. Meece (Eds.), Student perception in the classroom (pp. 327–348). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom—Students learning-strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260–267.
Anderman, E. M., & Maehr, M. L. (1994). Motivation and schooling in the middle grades. Review of Educational Research, 64(2), 287–309. doi:10.3102/00346543064002287
Anderman, E. M., & Wolters, C. A. (2006). Goals, values, and affect: Influences on student motivation. In P. Alexander & P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 369–389). Mahwah, NJ: Earlbaum.
Butler, R., & Shibaz, L. (2008). Achievement goals for teaching as predictors of students’ perceptions of instructional practices and students’ help seeking and cheating. Learning and Instruction, 18(5), 453–467. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.06.004
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. New York: Routledge.
Church, M. A., Elliot, A. J., & Gable, S. L. (2001). Perceptions of classroom environment, achievement goals, and achievement outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(1), 43–54. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.93.1.43
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Covington, M. V. (1992). Making the grade: A self-worth perspective on motivation and school reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Duda, J. L., & Nicholls, J. G. (1992). Dimensions of achievement-motivation in schoolwork and sport. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 290–299. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.84.3.290
Elliot, A. J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. Educational Psychologist, 34(3), 169–189. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3403_3
Elliot, A. J., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (1996). Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(3), 461–475. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.70.3.461
Federici, R. A., Skaalvik, E. M., & Tangen, T. N. (2015). Students’ perceptions of the goal structure in mathematics classrooms: Relations with goal orientations, mathematics anxiety, and help-seeking behavior. International Education Studies, 8(3), 146–158. doi:10.5539/ies.v8n3p146
Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Pintrich, P. R., Elliot, A. J., & Thrash, T. M. (2002). Revision of achievement goal theory: Necessary and illuminating. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(3), 638–645. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.94.3.638
Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J., Carter, S., & Elliot, A. (2000). Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals. Predicting interest and performance over time. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 316–330.
Hu, L.-T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55.
Hulleman, C. S., Schrager, S. M., Bodmann, S. M., & Harachiewicz, J. M. (2008). A meta-analytic review of achievement goal measures: Different labels for the same constructs or different constructs with similar labels? Psychological Bulletin, 136, 422–449.
Karabenick, S. A. (2004). Perceived achievement goal structure and college student help seeking. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(3), 569–581. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.3.569
Law, W., Elliot, A. J., & Murayama, K. (2012). Perceived competence moderates the relation between performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(3), 806–819. doi:10.1037/a0027179
Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Tyson, D. F., & Patall, E. A. (2008). When are achievement goal orientation beneficial for academic achievement? A closer look a main efficat and moderating factors. Review of Social Psychology, 21, 19–70.
Luo, W. S., Hogan, D., & Paris, S. G. (2011). Predicting Singapore students’ achievement goals in their English study: Self-construal and classroom goal structure. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(5), 526–535. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.07.002
Meece, J. L., Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2006). Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 487–503.
Middleton, M. J., & Midgley, C. (1997). Avoiding the demonstration of lack of ability: An underexplored aspect of goal theory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(4), 710–718. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.89.4.710
Midgley, C., & Urdan, T. (2001). Academic self-handicapping and achievement goals: A further examination. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26(1), 61–75. doi:10.1006/ceps.2000.1041
Nicholls, J. G. (1989). The competitive ethos and democratic education. Cambrigde, MA: Harvard University Press.
Nolen, S. B., & Haladyna, T. M. (1990). Personal and environmental influences on students’ beliefs about effective study strategies. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 15(2), 116–130. doi:10.1016/0361-476X(90)90011-O
Patrick, H., Kaplan, A., & Ryan, A. M. (2011). Positive classroom motivational environments: Convergence between mastery goal structure and classroom social climate. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 367–382. doi:10.1037/A0023311
Polychroni, F., Hatzichristou, C., & Sideridis, G. (2012). The role of goal orientations and goal structures in explaining classroom social and affective characteristics. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(2), 207–217. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.10.005
Roeser, R. W., Midgley, C., & Urdan, T. C. (1996). Perceptions of the school psychological environment and early adolescents’ psychological and behavioral functioning in school: The mediating role of goals and belonging. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(3), 408–422.
Ryan, A. M., Gheen, M. H., & Midgley, C. (1998). Why do some students avoid asking for help? An examination of the interplay among students’ academic efficacy, teachers’ social–emotional role, and the classroom goal structure. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 528–535. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.90.3.528
Senko, C., Hulleman, C. S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2011). Achievement goal theory at the crossroads: Old controversies, current challenges, and new directions. Educational Psychologist, 46, 26–47. doi:10.1080/00461520.2011.538646
Skaalvik, E. M. (1997). Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(1), 71–81.
Skaalvik, E. M., & Federici, R. A. (in press). Prestasjonspresset i skolen [The Achievement Pressure in School]. Bedre skole. http://www.utdanningsforbundet.no/Fagtidsskrift/--Bedre-Skole/eblad/
Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2011). Teachers’ feeling of belonging, exhaustion, and job satisfaction: The role of school goal structure and value consonance. Anxiety Stress and Coping, 24(4), 369–385. doi:10.1080/10615806.2010.544300
Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2013). School goal structure: Associations with students’ perception of their teachers as emotionally supportive, academic self-concept, intrinsic motivation, and help seeking behavior. International Journal of Educational Research, 61, 5–14.
Skaalvik, E. M., Valås, H., & Sletta, O. (1994). Task involvement and ego involvement: Relations with academic achievement, academic self-concept and self-esteem. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 38, 231–243.
Soper, D. S. (2013). Interaction! (Version 1.7.2211). Retrieved at http://www.danielsoper.com/Interaction/
Sproule, J., Wang, C. K. J., Morgan, K., McNeill, M., & Mcmorris, T. (2007). Effects of motivational climate in Singaporean physical education lessons on intrinsic motivation and physical activity intention. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(5), 1037–1049. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.017
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Urdan, T., & Midgley, C. (2003). Changes in the perceived classroom goal structure and pattern of adaptive learning during early adolescence. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28(4), 524–551. doi:10.1016/S0361-476x(02)00060-7
Urdan, T., & Schoenfelder, E. (2006). Classroom effects on student motivation: Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs. Journal of School Psychology, 44(5), 331–349. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2006.04.003
Walker, C. (2012). Student perceptions of classroom achievement goals as predictors of belonging and content instrumentality. Social Psychology of Education, 15(1), 97–107. doi:10.1007/s11218-011-9165-z
Wolters, C. A. (2004). Advancing achievement goal theory: Using goal structures and goal orientations to predict students’ motivation, cognition, and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(2), 236–250. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.2.236
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Skaalvik, E.M., Federici, R.A. Relations between classroom goal structures and students’ goal orientations in mathematics classes: When is a mastery goal structure adaptive?. Soc Psychol Educ 19, 135–150 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9323-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9323-9