The role of goal orientations for adolescent mathematics achievement

This study examines the association between personal goal orientations and mathematics achievement within the trichotomous goal framework. Participants comprised approximately 2000 seventh and eighth grade White, Hispanic, and Vietnamese students in a low-income urban school district in California. Regression analysis with classroom fixed effects minimized biases arising from non-random assignment of teachers and students to schools and classrooms. While all three achievement goal orientations were correlated with mathematics achievement, only a mastery goal orientation consistently predicted achievement when a full set of prior achievement and demographic controls were included. Performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations did not predict achievement in the full model.     

Chinese mindset: theories of intelligence,goal orientation and academic achievement in Hong Kong students

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between theories of intelligence and goal orientations, and their joint connections to students’ academic achievement in the Chinese cultural context. A total of 418 university students in Hong Kong participated in the present study. The survey was administered to collect information on students’ beliefs about their goal orientations, theories of intelligence and their college grade point averages. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results suggest that beliefs in the incremental theory of intelligence contribute to students’ academic achievements by facilitating their endorsement of mastery goals and performance-approach goals. Students’ performance-avoidance goals have a negative association with academic success. Cultural factors and considerations are addressed to clarify further the culture-specific findings.     

Students' perfectionistic profiles: Stability,change, and associations with achievement goal orientations

In this study, we examined what kind of perfectionistic profiles (i.e., different patterns of perfectionistic strivings and concerns) can be identified among general upper‐secondary school students, how stable those profiles are over the school year, and how they are connected with students' motivation (i.e., achievement goal orientations). Four distinct profiles were identified. Students with high strivings and low concerns had their focus mainly on mastery, while students with an opposite profile emphasized performance‐avoidance and work‐avoidance orientations. Students with high strivings and concerns favored both performance‐ and mastery‐related goals, whereas students characterized by low strivings and low concerns did not display a dominant tendency toward any orientation. Perfectionistic profiles were relatively stable over time, with the majority of students reporting similar tendencies across the measurements, and with no extreme changes observed. Some indications of more students displaying less adaptive perfectionistic tendencies by the end of the school year were nevertheless found. Our findings demonstrate not only stability in perfectionistic tendencies, but also their motivational relevance in the academic context where students' goals and performance concerns play an important role.     

The relations between filial piety,goal orientations and academic achievement in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationships among filial piety, goal orientations, and academic achievement among Chinese students. A survey of 336 university students in Hong Kong was carried out to collect information on their filial piety beliefs, goal orientations and grade point averages. Structural equation modelling indicated that reciprocal filial piety was associated with mastery orientation, which is associated with academic achievement in Chinese students. Authoritarian filial piety was associated with performance orientation, including performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals, which contribute positively and negatively, respectively, to academic achievement in Chinese students. Findings were interpreted based on Chinese cultural factors and considerations.     

Goal orientations and achievement among Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong

This study examined four goal orientations and their relationships to achievement among 1041 Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong. These students endorsed learning and social goals over performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goals. The endorsement of learning goals emerged consistently as the significant predictor predicting achievement in academic, non‐academic, and social/leadership areas. Implications of the findings for coordinating different goal orientations for enhancing achievement in different areas are discussed.     

Epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations: Relations between constructs versus personal profiles

Research has found students' epistemic beliefs to predict their achievement goal orientations. Much of this research emerged from the dimensional approach of epistemic beliefs, which hypothesized a relationship between particular independent dimensions of epistemic beliefs with different achievement goals. Research in this approach has primarily applied a variable-centered approach to investigating these relations. The authors adopt an alternative conceptualization of epistemic beliefs, which considers epistemic beliefs and achievement goals as orthogonal to each other, and which favors a profile-centered approach to researching their relations. They hypothesized that while a variable-centered analysis would identify relations between epistemic beliefs and achievement goal orientations, a profile-centered analysis would demonstrate the independence of these psychological constructs. In three studies with high school students (ns = 256, 149, 250) the authors demonstrate that epistemic beliefs and achievement goals form different personal profiles that are differentially related to learning strategies.     

University students' situational reaction tendencies: Reflections on general study orientations,learning strategies,and study success

The purpose of the study was to bridge the gap between situational and more general measures in investigating university students' studying. More precisely, the aim was to establish a connection between students' situational reaction tendencies and their general study orientations. Furthermore, situational reaction tendencies were related to the applied learning strategies and actual study success. The participants in the study were 578 second year students in a multi-disciplinary Finnish university. A questionnaire was used including the Inventory of General Study Orientations (IGSO) and measures concerning situational reaction tendencies, learning strategies, self-efficacy and self-evaluated expertise. Archive data from the university's student register were utilized to objectively examine study success. The following four groups of students with differing situational reaction tendencies were distinguished: performance-oriented students, task-oriented students, socially oriented students and avoiders. It was found that the groups differed from each other regarding general study orientations, applied learning strategies and study success.     

Mathematics achievement and mathematics learning strategies: Cognitive competencies and construct differentiation

Responding to a survey requires cognitive abilities similar to those for any other linguistic task. We argue that, when faced with a cognitively challenging task, individuals respond by simplifying the task, declining it, or performing it poorly. Using the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2003) data sets, we document that the extent of construct differentiation in students’ mathematics learning strategies is strongly associated with their level of mathematics achievement. Likewise, the higher the level of mathematics achievement, the lower is the probability of a non-response to the mathematics learning strategy questions. Finally, the higher the students’ level of mathematics achievement, the more varied were their responses to the learning strategies items. These associations were examined across 40 participating countries.     

Perceived competence and autonomy as moderators of the effects of achievement goal orientations

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of two moderators – perceived competence and perceived autonomy – in the relationships of achievement goal orientations with a broad range of learning‐related variables, including interest, effort, learning strategy use and academic achievement. Perceived competence and autonomy played roles as moderators by strengthening the positive effects of a mastery goal pursuit on outcome measures of adaptive use of learning strategies and effort, respectively. However, no moderating role of either perceived competence or perceived autonomy was found for the effect of a performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goal pursuit. In addition, perceived competence played a significant role in determining the level of academic achievement in the context of multiple‐goal pursuit. For students with high perceived competence, the adoption of high performance‐approach goals resulted in a higher level of achievement regardless of the levels of mastery goals. In contrast, students with low perceived competence showed the highest achievement when high performance‐approach goals are paired with low mastery goals.     

Proof schemes and learning strategies of above-average mathematics students

What patterns can be observed among the mathematical arguments above-average students find convincing and the strategies these students use to learn new mathematical concepts? To investigate this question, we gave task-based interviews to eleven female students who had performed well in their college-level mathematics courses, but who differed in the number of proof-oriented courses each had taken. One interview was designed to elicit expressions of what students find convincing. These expressions were categorized according to the proof schemes defined by Harel and Sowder (1998). A second interview was designed to elicit expressions of what strategies students use to learn a mathematical concept from its definition, and these expressions were classified according to the learning strategies described by Dahlberg and Housman (1997). A qualitative analysis of the data uncovered the existence of a variety of phenomena, including the following: All of the students successfully generated examples when asked to do so, but they differed in whether they generated examples without prompting and whether they successfully generated examples when it was necessary to disprove conjectures. All but one of the students exhibited two or more proof schemes, with one student exhibiting four different proof schemes. The students who were most convinced by external factors were unsuccessful in generating examples, using examples, and reformulating concepts. The only student who found an examples-based argument convincing generated examples far more than the other students. The students who wrote and were convinced by deductive arguments were successful in reformulating concepts and using examples, and they were the same set of students who did not generate examples spontaneously but did successfully generate examples when asked to do so or when it was necessary to disprove a conjecture.     

Adult students' achievement goal orientations and evaluations of the learning environment: a person-centred longitudinal analysis

This study focused on the stability and change in students' achievement goal orientations and whether the students' perceptions of the learning environment vary as a function of their achievement goal orientations. Participants were 169 students of the Finnish National Defense University. The students' goal orientations and their evaluations of the learning environment were assessed twice, approximately four months apart. Four groups of students were identified based on their achievement goal orientation profiles, and 60% of the participants displayed identical profiles in both measurements. Students with different goal orientation profiles differed in their evaluations of the quality of pedagogical materials, effort and attainment, and participation. Students oriented towards an increase of competence and mastery or towards normative performance and success were most positive in their evaluations. Students oriented towards avoidance of effort or display of incompetence gave less positive ratings. The relation between motivation and perceptions of learning environment is discussed.     

Using visual strategies simultaneously to support students with learning disabilities in mathematics

We provide insight into how multiple visual strategies can be used simultaneously to increase access to and success with challenging mathematics at the secondary level for students with learning disabilities. Drawing on a teaching philosophy based on recognising student strengths and needs, we argue the potential benefits of using visual strategies during instruction and intervention to best meet student needs. Examples from our work with a high school student with a learning disability are presented to provide insight into how visual strategies can increase understanding and success with mathematics as it becomes more abstract at the secondary level. We urge practitioners and researchers to explore the benefits of incorporating simultaneous visual strategies into secondary mathematics learning.     

Stability and change in achievement goal orientations: A person-centered approach

Two longitudinal studies used a person-centered approach to examine the stability and change in students’ achievement goal orientations within a school year (i.e., during 9th grade; measurement period 4 months, N = 530) and between school years (i.e., across 11th and 12th grade; measurement period 12 months, N = 519). Distinct groups of students with different motivational profiles were extracted in both studies with considerable consistency in profiles across the two academic contexts (i.e., lower and upper secondary school). Four groups of students were identified in both studies: indifferent, success-oriented, mastery-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Students’ motivational profiles were substantially stable; about 60% of all students displayed a stable motivational profile over time. Furthermore, most changes in the group memberships were directed towards similar groups. Findings support the conception of achievement goal orientation as an enduring disposition that reflects students’ generalized beliefs and tendencies to select certain goals and to favor certain outcomes.     

The role of inquiry-based self-efficacy,achievement goal orientation,and learning strategies on secondary-school students’ inquiry skills

Background: In recent years, science curricula (chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, life science, etc.) in many countries have been prepared and applied according to the inquiry-based learning approach. Although the acquisition and application of the inquiry skills are one of the important objectives of the science curriculum, the inquiry skills of each student do not enhance at the same level. The inquiry level of the learning environment; the importance and value attached to the inquiry in that environment, students who have different goals when attending to the learning environments, and students who do not get involved in the learning process at the same level can be shown as the reasons of this.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine both the direct and indirect relationships between the inquiry-based self-efficacy, the achievement goal orientation, the learning strategies, and the inquiry skills variables.

Sample: This research was conducted during the 2015-2016 school year among 498 seventh and eighth graders at public schools in Turkey’s Ayd?n province.

Design and methods: The Inquiry-based Self-Efficacy Scale, the Goal Orientation Scale, the Learning Approach Scale, and the Inquiry Skills Test were applied to the students. The analysis of data was carried out through the Multilevel Structural Equation Model (MSEM).

Results: The findings related to the first model did not provide evidence for either direct or indirect effects of the inquiry-based self-efficacy on inquiry skills, achievement goal orientation, and learning strategies. However, findings from the final models provided evidence for both direct and indirect effects of separately inquiry-based self-efficacy and the achievement goal orientation on the inquiry skills through the learning strategies.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the potential that relations with self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, and task value theory while improving inquiry skills.     

The predicting roles of approaches to learning,L2 learning motivation,L2 learning strategies and L2 proficiency for learning outcomes: a comparison between Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese students

This study examined (1) differences in background, integrative/instrumental motivation, learning approach, leaning strategy and proficiency in second language (L2) and (2) the determinants of learning outcomes between Hong Kong and Mainland (Chinese) students. To achieve this, a questionnaire survey was distributed to 773 s language learners across four universities in Hong Kong and Mainland China to students in Bachelor of Education (English Language) programmes. The results showed that L2 proficiency was the strongest predictor of learning outcomes for Hong Kong and Mainland students, while integrative motivation was also a significant predictor of learning outcomes in both sample groups. In addition, instrumental motivation, deep approaches, and learning strategies were found to be significant predictors of learning outcomes for Mainland students. Mainland students demonstrated lower levels of motivation, learning approaches, learning strategies, L2 proficiency, as well as learning outcomes relative to Hong Kong students. Implications for curriculum design, classroom teaching and assessment, and future research are discussed in the paper.     

高三年级数学优等生学习需求调查及教学对策研究

培养中学数学优等生的研究往往偏重于思想教育层面,涉及具体学科教学对策时往往显得笼统、宽泛.从数学优等生在高三复习备考时的学习需求的调查、分析入手,从中找到了以下有效的教育教学对策：从学生心理需求出发,组建数学培优班进行集中活动;在集中活动时,以建构主义学习理论为指导,主要采用成果展示和设疑探究两种教学模式;在集中活动时,老师们分包学生,并对所包学生有针对性地进行心理疏导,减少非智力因素对学生学习的影响.     

The role of self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals in predicting learning strategies, task disengagement, peer relationship, and achievement outcome

Adopting a combination of expectancy-value and achievement goal theories, this study examined the role of self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals in students’ learning strategies, task disengagement, peer relationship, and English achievement outcome. A sample of 1475 Year-9 students participated in the study. A structural equation model showed that while task value predicted only mastery goals, self-efficacy predicted each of the three types of achievement goal. Mastery and performance-approach goals were both positive predictors of deep learning and peer relationship. Mastery goals were also negatively associated with task disengagement and positively associated with surface learning. In contrast, performance-avoidance goals were a positive predictor of surface learning and task disengagement but a negative predictor of peer relationship. On the whole, these findings suggest that, like mastery goals, performance-approach goals can generate adaptive outcomes.     

新疆师范大学民考民／民考汉少数民族学生外语学习过程中学习策略应用的调查报告

文章作者对新疆师范大学178名在校少数民族大学生英语学习过程中学习策略的应用情况进行了调查。调查结果表明：1．受试的178名少数民族学生最赞成形式操练观念和功能操练观念；2．形式操练观念和功能操练观念成正相关关系,这说明绝大多数受试者认为传统学习方法和交际学习法都对外语学习的进步有帮助；3．这些少数民族学生在学习外语过程中,更加依赖母语,缺乏自我管理意识,还有相当一部分学生语言学习焦虑感较强,表层动机也显得较低。     

Metacognition, achievement goals, study strategies and academic achievement: pathways to achievement

The purpose of this research was to develop and test a model of effective self-regulated learning. Based on effort expenditure we discerned effective self-regulators and less effective self-regulators. The model comprised achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach and -avoidance goals), metacognition (metacognitive knowledge, regulation and experience), study strategies (metacognitive, deep cognitive, surface cognitive and resource management strategies) and academic achievement. The relationships in the model were tested with controlling for intellectual ability, gender and age. The results showed that effective self-regulated learning involved two pathways: a metacognitive and a strategy pathway. The first pathway involved a positive relationship of mastery goals and a negative relationship of performance-avoidance goals with metacognition. Metacognition positively affected the use of the four study strategies. The strategy pathway involved positive effects of mastery and performance-approach goals on the use of metacognitive and deep cognitive strategies. Further, performance-approach goals positively affected the use of surface cognitive and resource management strategies. The use of metacognitive and resource management strategies had a positive and the use of surface cognitive strategies had a negative effect on exam scores.     

小学数学学习障碍的教学策略研究

数学学习障碍作为众多学习障碍中的类型之一,其成因复杂表现类型多样,而小学阶段又是学生学习数学最基础最重要的黄金时期,所以对此要求教师要针对小学数学学习障碍的不同的形成原因和不同表现形式,对有数学学习障碍的学生采取相应的教学手段和教学方法进行因材施教,从而达到教师的教学效果和学生学习效果达到最优化的目标。