Antecedents and trajectories of achievement goals: a self-determination theory perspective.

BACKGROUND

Research has shown that both achievement goal theory and self-determination theory (SDT) are quite useful in explaining student motivation and success in academic contexts. However, little is known about how the two theories relate to each other.

AIM

The current research used SDT as a framework to understand why students enter classes with particular achievement goal profiles, and also, how those profiles may change over time.

SAMPLE

One hundred and eighty-four undergraduate preservice teachers in a required domain course agreed to participate in the study.

METHOD

Data were collected at three time points during the semester, and both path modelling and multi-level longitudinal modelling techniques were used.

RESULTS

Path modelling techniques with 169 students, results indicated that students' autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction in life predict their initial self-determined class motivation, which in turn predicts initial mastery-approach and -avoidance goals. Multi-level longitudinal modelling with 108 students found that perceived teacher autonomy support buffered against the general decline in students' mastery-approach goals over the course of the semester.

CONCLUSIONS

Data provide a promising integration of SDT and achievement goal theory, posing a host of potentially fruitful future research questions regarding goal adoption and trajectories.