Changes in Drop Out Intentions: Implications of the Motivational Climate, Goal Orientations and Aspects of Self-Worth across a Youth Sport Season

The main objective of this work was to study the motivational antecedents of the intention to drop out of youth sport from the postulates of the achievement goal theory (AGT), placing special emphasis on the motivational climate that coaches create in their teams. Specifically, we analyzed whether changes in the perception of the motivational climate between the beginning and the end of the season predicted changes in players’ goal orientations, whether these, in turn, predicted changes in self-esteem and contingent self-esteem, and finally, whether the latter predicted the intention to drop out. Participants in the study were 552 players (Mage = 11.23, SD = 1.14), who completed the questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the season. The results of the longitudinal structural model presented acceptable goodness-of-fit indices and the relationships were significant in the expected direction according to the postulates of the AGT. This research provides evidence that AGT is a relevant theoretical model for the study of drop out in sport.

Achievement Goal Theory Review: An Application to School Psychology

Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) is one of the most popular theoretical frameworks in motivation research. Despite its application to a variety of contexts, including, school, work, and sport, it has not yet been referenced in the field of school psychology. First, we review the theoretical underpinnings as told through the theory’s evolving models, explore its impacts on cognition, emotion, and behavior, and introduce a multiple goals perspective. Second, we outline the leading research supporting AGT, both in terms of structural and individual intervention studies. Third, we apply the principles of AGT to the primary tasks of school psychology professionals, including assessment, intervention, and consultation practices. The students we support can greatly benefit from gearing our approaches toward ones that foster self-improvement and interest.

An ethnographic case study: Analysing students’ learning goal orientations at a lower-middle decile secondary school

<p>In Aotearoa/New Zealand young people generally commence their secondary school education at Year 9. The numerous changes associated with this transition can include new subjects, larger school populations, unfamiliar learning environments, different day-to-day structures and routines; all of which can affect students’ motivation and confidence in their learning. Research focusing on students’ transition from primary to secondary schooling has tended to indicate a lessening in students’ motivation and has shown the types of learning goal approaches of these students can also change. As a teacher with13 years’ experience of teaching at secondary school level, I noticed that achievement at NCEA levels, in my current school, have remained static since my arrival seven years ago. This drove my interest in exploring further the influence of achievement goals on student learning at Year 9. Goal theory research in the field of motivation has increased dramatically over recent decades. Contemporary theories on learning goals have focused on whether mastery, performance or multiple goals best suit the learning needs of students, and whether students develop certain preferences with regards their goals when it comes to learning and achievement. More recently, the relevance of social goals in relation to learning and achievement, and therefore to learning goal theory, has identified that students do not use learning goals in isolation. The type of goal or multiple goals student adopt in their learning has important implications for their motivation, engagement or success and by implication, teachers’ approaches to their teaching. This ethnographic case study explores how 26 Year 9 students at a lower-middle decile secondary school set their learning goals. The study establishes whether students intentionally adopt a specific type of learning goal and explores the reasons for particular preferences. It also examines whether social goals have any impact on the type of goals students preferred or adopted. Through a questionnaire and then semi-structured interviews, students reported their views on their learning and social goals. In addition, five students from the study formed a Student Advisory Group to offer advice and recommendations on issues relating to the research instruments used. This study found that participating students did not intentionally prefer a specific goal over another. Further to this, students were generally not aware of the particular types of goals that were available to them and therefore were not consciously adopting a learning goal to any extent or purpose. The students were unclear of how different learning goals supported their learning. However, these students were more perceptive when understanding the implications of how social goals influenced their learning. The results from this research show that heightened awareness and understanding associated with the adaptive nature of learning goals by students and teachers would support student achievement. This would enable students to make intentional and logical choices regarding the strategies related to learning goals. Teachers may find these findings useful when considering how their students set their learning goals, and what influences these decisions. It may also serve as a starting point for a discussion with students on how they focus their learning and why.</p>

Spotlight on Leadership Path-Goal Theory Silos in Practice to Improve and Sustain Job-Oriented Development: Evidence from Education Sector

Sustainable development is a process occurring on several levels, which placed the expectations on educational institutions, especially secondary schools, change radically. Schools, therefore, are gradually likely to emphasize enhanced and sustainable teaching practices under the agenda of the United Nations 2030, sustainable future. Hence, the job-oriented development of teachers is a critical factor of the school leadership mechanism. Considering this, the present empirical research was designed to study the mechanism of path-goal theory (PGT) to sustain teachers’ job-oriented development in private secondary schools in Pakistan. The viewpoint of teachers, whose job performance is ultimately affected by the school leadership behavior and who perform the job at the front line in schools, was taken on board for the investigation. A total of 2469 secondary school teachers from 785 private secondary schools participated in the present study. Confirmatory factor analysis, t-test, Pearson correlation, and path analysis structural equation modeling analytics were mainly involved in the data analysis. Overall, the findings substantiated the constructive PGT mechanism, especially indicating that directive leadership is the most influential and effective leadership behavior in complex tasks, including when teachers are inexperienced. Moreover, the helpful role of supportive leadership and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors backs up the directive behavior. Although participative leadership behavior was problematic in the studied schools, it should be constructively adopted, as it was found to be a statistically significant predictor. Therefore, training programs for school leaders with good experience in participatory leadership functions can be productive for long-term teachers’ motivation. The literature shows that several secondary school teachers still perform poorly because of inadequate leadership, and the viewpoint of teachers on PGT was ignored in earlier studies. Hence, there was a dire need to conduct this research to address these concerns, especially in the non-Western, Asian context. In addition to pioneering academic research on leadership PGT in the secondary school context, the PGT elements were investigated, including teachers’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for the first time, adding new understanding about the theory.

Analyzing Omni-Channel Shopper’s Journey Configuration of Generation Y and Z

Omni-channel retailing has been an essential issue to enterprises nowadays. This research applies goal theory to Engel-Kollat-Blackwell model in the omni-channel context and adapt the concept of Harris, Riley & Hand (2018) to shopper journey configurations, including search, evaluation, and purchase of decision making process. This study selected iPhone as the product and collected 179 participants of Gen Y and 126 participants of Gen Z to analyze shopper’s journey. The results indicated Gen Y replied on online review after searching and made own judgement, and preferred store purchase. Gen Z either replied on online review or directly made own judgement after searching, and preferred store purchase. Both generations utilized all types of search and referred to online reviews of evaluation process, and purchased at the store. Our findings also benefit to companies’ mange profitable omni-channel strategy.

Expectation vs. Reality: A Sentiment Analysis of Students’ Experience on Distance Learning

The landscape of education is changing amidst the coronavirus pandemic, especially in public schools of which students are not used to remote learning. According to the goal theory, there is a relationship between goal difficulty, level of performance and effort. For this reason, this study surfaced the level of expectation, performance and stance of action of students amidst the pandemic. Data were gathered through a survey questionnaire via online using Google Forms. The survey questionnaire composed of the profile of the respondents, rating scale on the level of expectation and perceived performance of the students. The findings reflected the expectation, performance and action plan of the students of which these data can be used as baseline data for planning of programme and activities to help students not feel the difficulty of learning in distance learning. Keywords: Expectation, performance, distance learning, senior high school, sentiments.

Integrative and Theoretical Reviews of Achievement Motivation for School Psychologists: Introduction to the Special Issue

A theoretically grounded understanding of achievement motivation appears to be largely overlooked in both initial education programs and ongoing professional development of school psychologists. This is unfortunate because motivation constructs such as perceived control, value, and self-beliefs predict students’ academic performance in a way that complements the variance explained by intelligence tests. This empirical evidence is rooted in long-standing theorizing that motivation constructs hold an important role alongside cognitive constructs in understanding student learning. Moreover, because motivation constructs are viewed as malleable, they provide an untapped source of intervention for school psychologists in supporting students. For these reasons, this special issue presents five review articles that integrate discrete theories of achievement motivation to the practice of school psychology. Largely representing Canadian expertise, the articles describe the potential for the control-value theory of emotions, achievement goal theory, mindset theory, self-determination theory, and self-regulated learning in the work of school psychologists. The final commentary article explicates a whole-child framework to highlight the role motivation can hold alongside cognition and guide school psychologists to partner these constructs for the betterment of children.

It’s my luck: impostor fears, the context, gender and achievement-related traits

PurposeAlthough the impostor phenomenon is attributed to childhood experiences, theory on achievement motivation indicates that achievement-related fears can also be elicited by the context. Using achievement goal theory as a base, the authors investigate the effect of context-dependent predictors, job-fit, career stage and organisational tenure, on impostor fears. The authors also examined gender and the achievement-related traits, self-efficacy and locus of control, as predictors of impostor fears to advance knowledge on antecedents to impostor fears.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted with 270 and 280 participants, each. In Study 1, a subset of 12 respondents participated in follow-up interviews.FindingsImpostor fears tended to be predicted by organisational tenure and career stage in both studies and job-fit in Study 1. Self-efficacy and locus of control predicted impostor fears. Men and women reported similar levels of impostor fears.Practical implicationsThe authors demonstrate the importance of context in eliciting impostor fears and partially support initial descriptions of antecedents to impostor fears. The findings contribute to the development of targeted managerial practices that can help with the development of interventions, such as orientation programmes, that will enhance socialisation processes and mitigate impostor fears.Originality/valueThe literature on imposter fears has not addressed their situational predictors, which the authors argue are important elements in the genesis and maintenance of impostor fears. The authors draw on achievement goal theory to explain the pattern of findings related to key situational characteristics and their influence on imposter fears. The findings for Sri Lanka, on personality predictors, are similar to those reported in studies focused on North America providing evidence of cross-cultural applicability of the concept.

Fostering EFL/ESL Students' State Motivation: The Role of Teacher-Student Rapport

It is maintained that one of the significant determining issues of success is motivation, and enhancing EFL/ESL students' motivation is dominant in cultivating their learning in the classroom. Moreover, teachers are reflected as the most noteworthy figure of any scholastic organization and the positive rapport between students and teachers is significant for learners' state motivation. In line with the investigations of teacher-student rapport, principles from positive psychology (PP), and motivational theories such as self-determination and rhetorical/relational goal theory, the present theoretical review seeks this type of relationship and its effects on learners' motivation. Student-teacher rapport results in progressive practices for learners, as well as superior classroom involvement, and motivation. Subsequently, the helpfulness of findings for teachers, learners, materials developers, and teacher trainers are conferred.

Toward the Role of Language Teacher Confirmation and Stroke in EFL/ESL Students’ Motivation and Academic Engagement: A Theoretical Review

Following the recent special issue in the journal of Frontiers in Psychology, named “The Role of Teacher Interpersonal Variables in Students’ Academic Engagement, Success, and Motivation,” this review is carried out to describe two prime instances of teacher interpersonal behaviors, namely teacher confirmation and stroke, their underlying frameworks, and contributions to desirable student-related outcomes. In light of rhetorical-relational goal theory and the school of positive psychology, it is stipulated that language teacher confirmation and stroke are facilitators of EFL/ESL students’ level of motivation and academic engagement. Providing empirical evidence, the argument regarding the pivotal role of language teacher confirmation and stroke in EFL/ESL contexts was proved. Reviewing the available literature on the aforementioned variables, some pedagogical implications were suggested for teacher trainers, educational supervisors, and pre- and in-service language teachers. Finally, the limitations and drawbacks of the reviewed studies were identified and some avenues for further research were recommended, accordingly.