ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Academic Achievement and Motivation

Academic Achievement and Motivation

Introduction

While there are a number of factors that affect performance in school, one of the most influential is motivation. Motivation, also referred to as academic engagement, refers to “cognitive, emotional, and behavioral indicators of student investment in and attachment to education” (Maehr Midgley 1991, pp.47). It is obvious that students who are not motivated to succeed will not work hard. In fact, several researchers have suggested that only motivation directly effects academic achievement; all other factors affect achievement only through their effect on motivation (Tucker et al., 2002). However, it is not as easy to understand what motivates students. Numerous studies have been conducted on this topic, which has led to the development of several theories of motivation. One widely accepted theory is Goal Theory. It postulates that there are two main types of motivation for achieving in school. Students with an ability or performance goal orientation are concerned with proving their competence by getting good grades or performing well compared to other students (Ryan 2001). On the other hand, students with a task goal orientation are motivated by a desire to increase their knowledge on a subject or by enjoyment from learning the material. Studies have shown that students with a task goal orientation are more likely to engage in challenging tasks, seek help as needed, and adopt useful cognitive strategies, and, possibly most importantly, tend to be happier both with school and with themselves as learners (Roeser Galloway 2002).

Motivation and Academic Achievement

Research has suggested, however, that despite its potential implications for middle school policy and curriculum design, a dichotomous perspective of either “task-based” or “performance-based” goals may be too simplistic of a model of adolescent motivation (Ames 1992 ). In addition, research has also suggested that task and performance goals are not mutually exclusive. While many experimental studies forced research participants to select one goal orientation or the other, correlational research has found that individuals' endorsement of a task goal orientation is often weakly correlated or uncorrelated with endorsement of a performance goal orientation(Ryan 2001). Researchers have also identified a number of other student goals. A third academic goal orientation is work avoidance, where students try to minimize the amount of effort they put into tasks (Roeser Galloway 2002). Students also have social goals that influence their motivation alongside academic goals. Wigfield and Tonks (2002) describe four types of social goals: social approval, social compliance, social solidarity, and social concern. Research involving qualitative methods has suggested that social goal orientations are associated with academic achievement (Kaplan & Maehr, 2002). Unfortunately, most research has focused on only the previous two orientations. 

Urdan and Maehr (1995) found that many studies utilize an a priori approach to identify student goals. They argue that this method is ineffective since it limits the range and descriptions of goals. They instead inductively generated a list of goals by interviewing and observing middle school children and then categorizing these results. They found that students showed characteristics of four different goal orientations: work avoidance, social affiliation, social responsibility, and social concern.  

Students attempting to avoid work often had the teacher complete their work for them or copied off of another student, or simply engaged in off-task behaviors (Roeser Galloway ...