Weidinger Anne F, Steinmayr Ricarda, Spinath Birgit
Technical University, Dortmund, Germany.
Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2017 Jun;87(2):187-204. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12143. Epub 2017 Feb 3.
It is often argued that the negative development of intrinsic motivation in elementary school strongly depends on the presence of school grades because grades represent extrinsic consequences and achievement feedback that are supposed to influence intrinsically motivated behaviour. However, only a few studies have tested this hypothesis.
Therefore, we investigated the role of school grades in inter- and intra-individual changes in elementary school students' intrinsic motivation from when grades were first introduced until the end of elementary school, when students in Germany receive recommendations for a secondary school type on the basis of their prior performance in school.
A sample of 542 German elementary school students (t : M = 7.95 years, SD = 0.57) was followed for 2 years from the end of Grade 2 to the end of Grade 4.
At seven measurement occasions, children's math grades and their domain-specific intrinsic motivation were assessed.
Latent growth curve models showed differences in trajectories of intrinsic motivation across students rather than uniform development. Moreover, students' trajectories of grades and intrinsic motivation were only weakly associated. A latent cross-lagged model revealed that reciprocal effects between the two constructs over time were small at best.
Contrary to theoretical considerations, our results indicate that negative performance feedback in the form of grades does not necessarily lead to a decrease in intrinsic motivation. This calls into question the common opinion that a perception of being less competent, as reflected by poor grades, is responsible for weakening students' intrinsic motivation.
人们常常认为，小学阶段内在动机的消极发展很大程度上取决于学校成绩的存在，因为成绩代表了外部结果和成就反馈，而这些被认为会影响内在动机行为。然而，只有少数研究对这一假设进行了检验。
因此，我们调查了学校成绩在小学生从首次引入成绩到小学结束时内在动机的个体间和个体内变化中的作用。在德国，学生在小学结束时会根据他们之前在学校的表现获得中学类型的推荐。
对542名德国小学生（t：M = 7.95岁，SD = 0.57）进行了为期2年的跟踪研究，从二年级末到四年级末。
在七个测量时点，评估了孩子们的数学成绩和他们特定领域的内在动机。
潜在增长曲线模型显示，学生之间内在动机的轨迹存在差异，而不是统一发展。此外，学生成绩和内在动机的轨迹之间只有微弱的关联。一个潜在的交叉滞后模型显示，随着时间的推移，这两个构念之间的相互影响充其量很小。
与理论考虑相反，我们的结果表明，以成绩形式出现的负面表现反馈不一定会导致内在动机的下降。这对一种普遍观点提出了质疑，即成绩不佳所反映的能力不足感是削弱学生内在动机的原因。
