The longitudinal effects of achievement goals and perceived control on university student achievement

In the area of achievement motivation, students’ beliefs pertaining to achievement goals and perceived control have separately guided a large amount theoretical and empirical research. However, limited research has considered the simultaneous effects of goals and control on achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine primary and secondary control as potential mediators of the effects of mastery and performance goals on achievement, measured as final percentage in Introductory Psychology and GPA. The sample consisted of 224 first-year university students at a Canadian doctoral granting university. All participants completed two surveys and consented to release their grades to the researchers. We found that neither performance goals nor mastery goals had direct effects on achievement. However, performance goals had a positive indirect effect on achievement through primary control. Indirect effects also emerged for mastery goals, positively through primary control and negatively through secondary control. These results offer one explanation for the often-found non-significant relationship between mastery and achievement and are discussed in light of interventions aimed to modify goals and/or control and thereby increase achievement.     

The effects of expectancy-incongruent feedback and self-affirmation on task performance of secondary school students

In the present study, the assumption was tested that expectancy-incongruent feedback in conjunction with explicit self-affirmation directs attention away from the task and to the self. As a result, performance should decrease in resource-sensitive text/picture comprehension tasks as compared to resource-insensitive tasks. Three hundred and thirty-seven fifth graders first completed either easy or difficult text/picture comprehension tasks and then rated their learning outcome. After that, they received bogus feedback that had been congruent or incongruent with their expectations. In addition, half of the participants were given the opportunity for self-affirmation before they completed additional easy or difficult text/picture tasks. As predicted, feedback better than expected or worse than expected impaired performance in the resource-sensitive tasks but only in the self-affirmation condition. The results are discussed with regard to central assumptions of the feedback intervention theory (Kluger and DeNisi, Psychological Bulletin, 119: 254–284, 1996) and practical implications for the provision of feedback.     

The impact of feedback on school performance

Over the past few years Research Data Services (RDS), part of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), has led numerous large‐scale, longitudinal projects. Feedback to schools has been provided for all of these projects, and has been in the form of sets of tables and charts and electronic files illustrating pupil performance and progress in each school compared with national norms. This study sought to establish what differences the ongoing provision of feedback has made to the participating schools. The main thrust of the study was a statistical analysis of the most current National Pupil Dataset. Using this dataset, the overall impact on pupil performance in the participating schools of their participation in projects where feedback is used could be examined. In general, the findings presented in this paper suggest that school feedback does have an impact on key stage 2 performance.     

Paired associate task performance effects of ability and perceived prize probability

A study was conducted to determine the performance effects of ability grouping and perceived probability of attaining a prize in a Paired-associate (PA) task. Sixty undergraduate students were pretested for PA ability and divided into high, medium, and low ability groups for random assignment to control (no prize probability), low prize probability, and high prize probability treatment groups. The dependent measure was the number of correct responses over four trials for intentional learning and number of correct responses on a single test for the incidental learning condition. Results of two-way ANOVA supported the hypothesis that performance in a PA task is affected by subject's ability and perceived probability of attaining a prize.     

The effects of effort feedback and performance patterns on children's attributions and task persistence

This study examines the effects of performance patterns (ascending versus random) and attributional information regarding the causes of that performance (effort feedback versus no feedback) on attributions and task persistence. Subjects were 40 fourth and fifth graders with dispositional tendencies not to perceive effort as a cause of their school-related performance. Results indicated that performance patterns did not systematically influence either children's attributions or persistence. As predicted, children given effort feedback exhibited greater levels of task persistence than those given no feedback; unexpectedly, however, this effect was not mediated by children's attributions.     

Effects of feedback timing and motivational content on teachers' delivery of contingent social praise

This study examined the relative effects of feedback timing (delayed or immediate) and motivational content (goal-setting) on teachers' delivery of contingent social praise for on-task behavior. Two teachers of behaviorally disordered children and two youngsters from each class served as subjects. The study employed an adaptation of a single subject replication design. Teachers were exposed to four experimental conditions: baseline (no feedback), immediate feedback, delayed feedback, and delayed feedback plus goal-setting. These conditions were replicated either within or across teacher subjects. The results showed that all feedback tactics produced an increase in contingent social praise and student on-task behavior over baseline levels. However, the only statistically significant increases occurred when teachers were exposed to the delayed feedback plus goal-setting procedure.     

Noncontingent and contingent no-choice intervals and concurrent performance

Pigeons responded to changeover-key concurrent variable-interval variable-interval reinforcement schedules while there were intervals during which the changeover key was inoperative (no-choice intervals). In Experiment 1, a multiple schedule on the changeover key signaled choice and no-choice intervals. All subjects showed near-perfect discrimination during initial discrimination training and rapid reacquisition of discrimination following contingency reversals. In Experiment 2, the onset of no-choice intervals was unsignaled and contingent on interchangeover time. The temporal distribution of changeover-key responses conformed to the temporal distribution of choice intervals. The results of both experiments suggest that changeover responding is modifiable as a function of its immediate consequences. The results of Experiment 2, in particular, suggest that time or some correlate of time since the last changeover response can determine subsequent changeover behavior.     

Differential effects of norm-referenced and self-referenced feedback on performance expectancies,attributions, and motivation

When feedback is provided to students in a norm-referenced manner that compares the individual's performance to that of others, people who perform poorly tend to attribute their failures to lack of ability, expect to perform poorly in the future, and demonstrate decreased motivation on subsequent tasks. The present study examined the hypothesis that the deleterious effects of failure might be attenuated when failure is expressed in self-referenced terms—relative to the individual's known level of ability as assessed by other measures. In this study, subjects received feedback indicating that they did well or poorly on an anagram test, and this feedback was described as either norm-referenced (comparing the individual's performance to that of others) or as self-referenced (comparing performance to other measures of the individual's ability). As predicted, compared to norm-referenced failure, self referenced feedback resulted in higher expectancies regarding future performance and increased attributions to effort. Contrary to expectations, attributions to ability were not affected. The implications of the results for the structure of academic feedback are discussed.     

The influence of competences and support on school performance feedback use

Information‐rich environments are created to promote data use in schools for the purpose of self‐evaluation and quality assurance. However, providing feedback does not guarantee that schools will actually put it to use. One of the main stumbling blocks relates to the interpretation and diagnosis of the information. This study examines the relationship between data literacy competences, support given in interpreting the information, actual use of the feedback and potential school improvement effect. A randomised field experiment with 188 school principals from primary education was set up and a post‐test was used to investigate the effects of a support initiative. The results revealed that a minority of schools invested significantly in the interpretation and diagnosis of the school performance feedback (SPF), despite the fact that most of the respondents showed an interest in the SPF report. In addition, data competence support and the subsequent use of feedback were found to be limited.     

The effects of organizational factors on student ratings and perceived instruction

The objective of this study is to explore a) which dimension of student ratings and which aspects of perceived instruction are affected by the two organizational factors, enrollment size and academic affiliation, and b) the nature of their effect. Two thousand five hundred students participating in 125 courses evaluated their instructors on Q-1 Evaluation of Instruction by Students. The 125 evaluated instructors responded to Q-2 Perception of own Instruction indicating the extent to which they employ various teaching planning and strategy attributes (TPS). Major findings suggest that academic affiliation has no effect on student ratings yet affects abstract aspects of perceived instruction. Instructors of the social sciences, unlike those of the humanities, manifest a vocational outlook in their instruction planning. Data indicate that enrollment size has an effect on the dimensions of student ratings and the perceived instruction, referring to concrete aspects of teaching. Students participating in small classes are more critical of instruction than those in larger classes. The nature of its effect on perceived instruction is mainly in terms of practical solutions of teaching methods and strategies and is hardly manifested in the planning phase of instruction. The relevance of these findings to university administrators is also discussed.     

Career goal engagement following negative feedback: Influence of expectancy-value and perceived feedback accuracy

This study addresses the effects of negative attainability feedback on the shift from engagement to disengagement from a career goal. It was hypothesized that negative attainability feedback regarding study choice may lead to both goal engagement and goal disengagement and that this relation is mediated by self-efficacy, motivational beliefs, and by the perceived accuracy of feedback. Results confirmed that negative feedback led to goal disengagement and, to a lesser extent, to continued engagement. Perceived accuracy of feedback was an important mediator, as was motivation. Self-efficacy did not predict either goal management strategies.     

The trans-contextual model: perceived learning and performance motivational climates as analogues of perceived autonomy support

The trans-contextual model of motivation (TCM) proposes that perceived autonomy support in physical education (PE) predicts autonomous motivation within this context, which, in turn, is related to autonomous motivation and physical activity in leisure-time. According to achievement goal theory perceptions of learning and performance, motivational climate in PE can also affect autonomous motivation in PE. The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of an integrated approach of perceptions of motivational climate in PE by incorporating aspects of perceptions of motivational climate from achievement goal frameworks on autonomous motivation in PE within the TCM. High school students (N?=?274) completed self-report measures of perceived autonomy support, perceived learning, and performance motivational climate and autonomous motivation in PE. Follow-up measures of autonomous motivation in a leisure-time context were taken along with measures of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions from the theory of planned behaviour 1 week later. Self-reported physical activity behaviour was measured 5 weeks later. The results of the path analyses indicated that perceived learning climate was the strongest predictor of autonomous motivation in PE and leisure-time contexts and mediated the effect of perceived autonomy support on autonomous motivation in PE. Perceived performance climate showed no significant effect on autonomous motivation in PE and leisure-time. Results also confirmed the premises of TCM regarding the effect of autonomous motivation in leisure-time on leisure-time physical activity and the mediating role of the planned behaviour theory variables.     

The effects of internal feedback and self-compassion on the perception of negative feedback and post-feedback learning behavior

Negative feedback confronts learners with errors or failure but holds great learning potential. However, learners might perceive it as self-threatening, and thus react maladaptively. Feedback theories recommend prompting internal feedback prior to external feedback. And self-compassion is found to support adaptive reactions to failure. Thus, this study examined in a 2 × 2 factorial design the effects of prompting internal feedback or self-compassion, or both, on feedback perception and post-feedback learning behavior. Participants (N = 210) completed a brief difficult reasoning test and received failure feedback. Perceived acceptance and fairness of the feedback were higher in the internal feedback and self-compassion conditions compared to the control condition with no prompts. The intervention effects were higher for participants with high perceived competence and low trait self-compassion. No significant effects on post-feedback learning behavior were observed. The results highlight the relevance of internal feedback processes for feedback perception.     

The effect of team feedback and guided reflexivity on team performance change

Providing teams with feedback has been forwarded as a powerful practice to improve their learning and performance. Yet, this learning potential may not be realized unless teams actively process this feedback by stepping back from their team activity, building plans, and ultimately putting them into action. In an experimental study (N = 212 undergraduate students), we compared the effects of team-level feedback with or without an intervention prompting shared reflection on the feedback (i.e., guided reflexivity) to a no feedback control group on team performance growth. The results showed that only the combination of team performance feedback and guided reflexivity lead to performance change, at the beginning of team activity. These findings suggest that prompting feedback processing at an early stage of collaborative work has the power to help teams benefit from their past experiences and improve performance.     

The effects of cooperative learning and feedback on e-learning in statistics

This study examined whether cooperative learning and feedback facilitate situated, example-based e-learning in the field of statistics. The factors “social context” (individual vs. cooperative) and “feedback intervention” (available vs. not available) were varied; participants were 137 university students. Results showed that the feedback intervention clearly supported learning. Feedback proved especially beneficial for students with little prior knowledge. Cooperation did not promote learning outcomes; however, group performance in the learning phase was superior to individual performance. Also, cooperative learning enhanced perceived performance and perceived competence. Probably, collective efficacy had a halo effect on self-efficacy.     

The nature of feedback: how different types of peer feedback affect writing performance

Although providing feedback is commonly practiced in education, there is no general agreement regarding what type of feedback is most helpful and why it is helpful. This study examined the relationship between various types of feedback, potential internal mediators, and the likelihood of implementing feedback. Five main predictions were developed from the feedback literature in writing, specifically regarding feedback features (summarization, identifying problems, providing solutions, localization, explanations, scope, praise, and mitigating language) as they relate to potential causal mediators of problem or solution understanding and problem or solution agreement, leading to the final outcome of feedback implementation. To empirically test the proposed feedback model, 1,073 feedback segments from writing assessed by peers was analyzed. Feedback was collected using SWoRD, an online peer review system. Each segment was coded for each of the feedback features, implementation, agreement, and understanding. The correlations between the feedback features, levels of mediating variables, and implementation rates revealed several significant relationships. Understanding was the only significant mediator of implementation. Several feedback features were associated with understanding: including solutions, a summary of the performance, and the location of the problem were associated with increased understanding; and explanations of problems were associated with decreased understanding. Implications of these results are discussed.