Even High Achievers Are Affected by the Classroom Structure

Reference: Ames, C. & Archer, J. (1988) Achievement goals in the classroom: Students' learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260-267.

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What is the article about? The article studied how student's learning strategies and motivational processes are affected by how they perceive the goal structure of the classroom is.

All students in the study were high achievers and the following information was gathered:

*students identified goal orientation of a classroom on a specific subject matter whether Mastery or Performance goal is salient.

The following summary of Master vs Performance taken from Table 1 of the said article (page 261)

	MASTERY GOAL	PERFORMANCE GOAL
Success defined as...	Improvement, progress	High grades, high normative performance
Value placed on...	Effort/learning	Normatively high ability
Reasons for satisfaction.. .	Working hard, challenge	Doing better than others
Teacher oriented toward...	How students are learning	How students are performing
View of errors/mistakes...	Part of learning	Anxiety eliciting
Focus of attention...	Process of learning	Own performance relative to others'
Reasons for effort...	Learning something new	High grades, performing better than others
Evaluation criteria...	Absolute, progress	Normative

*students reported on their use of learning strategies in the subject for:

1. info processing
2. self planning
3. self monitoring

*students chose on task preference whether a) learning more and being challenged or b) giving little effort and sure to do well

*student's attitude was done by asking the student about their likeness for the class

*students were assessed where they attributed success and failure

*students identified their perceived ability for the subject

Results: Students varied on their reports for goal orientation classroom structure, learning strategies, attitude, task preference and perceived ability, showing that high achievers vary in their causes of their achievement and even high achievers, have wide range of learning strategies used.

GOAL ORIENTATION versus LEARNING STRATEGIES. - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students were more likely to use effective learning strategies

GOAL ORIENTATION versus ATTITUDE - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students liked the class more

GOAL ORIENTATION versus TASK CHOICES - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students were more likely to prefer challenging tasks

GOAL ORIENTATION versus CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS. - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students believe that success and effort are connected

Further analysis of the factors by dividing the goal orientation to 4 groups.

High Mastery - High Performance
High Mastery - Low Performance
Low Mastery - High Performance
Low Mastery - Low Performance

A pattern revealed that there was a significant difference between the high and low mastery goal orientation regardless of the level for perfomance goal. In other words, there were no difference within high mastery or within low mastery groups.

What are the implications for practice? The study shows that although high achievers are already expected to practice effective learning strategies and motivational practices which are assumed to influence their achievement, these factors are still dependent on how the students percieve the goal structure of the classroom may be.

More specifically, these learning strategies and motivational processes are dependent on the degree of the saliency of mastery goal orientation regardless of the presence of performance goals. It means that decreasing the presence of performance goals in our classrooms is not the solution for better classroom learning but rather we should emphasize more on making our classrooms percieved by students to be Mastery Goal Oriented.

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*A reminder for students who come across my post, I am flattered for whatever purpose my reviews might help you in your research or studies, but please always keep in mind to observe Anti-Plagiarism.
*This review was intended for my personal benefit to keep track of the new information I gather from an article I have read. As I am open to some queries about the research (as much as my capacity can offer), reading the original article is highly recommended. Open discussions about the topic is also encouraged from others who can contribute to the ideas.

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Question of the day: What Goal Orientation Do You Possess?

Lesson of the day: Make your learning environment, away from distractions. i.e. "DELETE ZE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!" haha