This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Wentzel, K. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Motivation and Achievement in Early Adolescence

The Role of Multiple Classroom Goals

University of Maryland

This study examines the multiple goals that students try to achieve at school and their relations to academic performance. In all, 423 sixth- and seventh-grade students reported efforts to achieve mastery, evaluation, and social responsibility goals. Causal belief systems were assessed by asking students to choose one of three reasons why they try to earn good grades. Pursuit of all three classroom goals was related significantly and positively to students' grades, although evaluation and social goals were stronger predictors of grades than were mastery goals. Causal belief systems were related significantly to both classroom grades and standardized test scores over time, and students who reported earning grades because learning is fun and exciting (mastery-oriented beliefs) earned the highest grades. The role of social goals in promoting academic achievement and the importance of making a distinction between goals and processes that regulate goal pursuit are discussed.

The Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 13, No. 1, 4-20 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/0272431693013001001


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. D. Sideridis Why Are Students With LD Depressed?: A Goal Orientation Model of Depression Vulnerability J Learn Disabil, December 1, 2007; 40(6): 526 - 539. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Spera Adolescents' Perceptions of Parental Goals, Practices, and Styles in Relation to Their Motivation and Achievement The Journal of Early Adolescence, November 1, 2006; 26(4): 456 - 490. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. M Ryan and H. Patrick The Classroom Social Environment and Changes in Adolescents' Motivation and Engagement During Middle School American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2001; 38(2): 437 - 460. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. C. Scales, D. A. Blyth, T. H. Berkas, and J. C. Kielsmeier The Effects of Service-Learning on Middle School Students' Social Responsibility and Academic Success The Journal of Early Adolescence, August 1, 2000; 20(3): 332 - 358. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Hidi and J. M Harackiewicz Motivating the Academically Unmotivated: A Critical Issue for the 21st Century Review of Educational Research, January 1, 2000; 70(2): 151 - 179. [Abstract] [PDF]

				H. Patrick, L. Hicks, and A. M. Ryan Relations of Perceived Social Efficacy and Social Goal Pursuit to Self-Efficacy for Academic Work The Journal of Early Adolescence, May 1, 1997; 17(2): 109 - 128. [Abstract]

				K. R. Wentzel Social and Academic Motivation in Middle School: Concurrent and Long-Term Relations to Academic Effort The Journal of Early Adolescence, November 1, 1996; 16(4): 390 - 406. [Abstract]

				T. Urdan, C. Midgley, and S. Wood Special Issues in Reforming Middle Level Schools The Journal of Early Adolescence, February 1, 1995; 15(1): 9 - 37. [Abstract]

				T. C. Urdan and M. L. Maehr Beyond a Two-Goal Theory of Motivation and Achievement: A Case for Social Goals Review of Educational Research, January 1, 1995; 65(3): 213 - 243. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. R. Wentzel Family Functioning and Academic Achievement in Middle School A Social-Emotional Perspective The Journal of Early Adolescence, May 1, 1994; 14(2): 268 - 291. [Abstract]