Achievement Goal Orientations And Their Relations With Academic Functioning In High School Students:A Three-year Longitudinal Study

Achievement goal orientations are difined as the reasons or purpose that individuals engage in achievement-related activities.Due to the significant influence of achievement goal orientations in pushing students' efforts and shaping achievement strings,achievement goal orientations have been among the most active domains in achievement motivation.Academic adjustment of students especially in their high school is paid particular attention by their parents and teachers.Over time,both students' achievement goal orientation and academic adjustment are likely to change and interact with each other.So far,there is little systematic research on the relation between achievement goal orientations and academic adjustment among high school students in China.Thus,in the present study,we aimed to examine the developmental trajectories of students' achievement goal orientations and their relations with academic adjustment through longitudinal design.In the present study,data were obtained from 731 tenth-grade students in four high schools in China,and consist of five waves,with intervals of six months,starting in the first semester of tenth-grade.In each wave,data were collected on students' reported achievement goal orientations,academic cognitive attitudes,learning motivations and learning strategies.1.The study 1 examined the developmental trajectories of achievement goal orientations and gender effects on their developmental trajectories using latent growth modeling.The results showed that:(1)High school students' mastery goal orientation decreased in a non-linear trajectory;performance-approach goal orientation increased in a non-linear trajectory;performance-avoidance goal orientation non-significantly increased in a non-linear trajectory.Mastery goal orientation declined across sex.There was a stronger increase of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations respecitively in boys during this period.(2)For mastery goal orientation,there existed three heterogeneous subgroups trajectories by latent class growth analysis: the mid-high extra-fast-decreasing group,the high slow-decreasing group,the mid-high slow-decreasing group.The distribution ration of anticipants was 2%,63%,35%.For performance-approach goal orientation,there was four subgroups: the mid-high steady group(7%),the mid-low fast-growth group(51%),low slow-growth group(40%)and high extra-fast-decreasing group(2%).For performance-avoidance goal orientation,there was two subgroups: the midlow steady group(47%)and the mid-high group(53%).Gender,initial avoidant cognitive attitude,intrinsic motivation,extrinsic motivation and test anxiety are the main factors influenced the subgroup attribution of achievmenet goal orientations.2.The Study 2 examined the dynamic development relationship between every two types of achievement goal orientation.The results showed that,(1)There were no significant correlations between mastery and performanceapproach goal orientations;and the correlations between mastery and performanceavoidance goal orientations within and between time points were positive and significant;and the correlations between performance-approach and performanceavoidance goal orientations were also positive and significant.(2)There were no significant developmental covariant relations between mastery and performance-approach goal orientations,and between mastery and performanceavoidance goal orientations.Notably,performance-approach and performanceavoidance goal orientations covaried over time.In high school students,the higher the growth of performance-approach goal orientation,the higher the growth of performance-avoidance goal orientation.3.The Study 3 examined the developmental trajectories of academic adjustments using latent growth modeling,and also explored whether subgroups of achievement goal orientations have difference on their academic adjustment.The results showed that,(1)High school students' avoidant cognitive attitude and test anxiety increased in a non-linear trajectory;intrinsic motivation,self-efficacy,and deep-processing strategies decreased in a linear trajectory;extrinsic motivation non-significantly decreased and surficial processing strategies non-significantly increased in a linear trajectory.Intrinsic motivation,extrinsic motivation,test anxiety and surficial processing strategies changed across sex.There was a stronger increase of avoidant cognitive attitude and a stronger decrease of self-efficacy strategies respecitively in boys during this period.(2)the mid-high fast-decreasing group of mastery goal orientation and the high fast-decreasing group of performance-approach goal orientation had significant fast decline in all academic adjustment variables.Other groups of mastery had a slow decline in avoidant cognitive attitude and test anxiety.The mid-high steady gourp and the mid-low slow growth group of performanceapproach goal orientation increased in avoidant cognitive attitude and test anxiety.The low steady group had no significant change in avoidant cognitive attitude and an increase in test anxiety.Two subgroups of performance-avoidance goal orientation both increased in avoidant cognitive attitude and test anxiety.The Study 4 examined the dynamic relations between achievement goal orientations and students' academic adjustment.The results indicated that a decrease in mastery goal orientation occurred concurrently with decrease in five academic adjustment variables(intrinsic motivation,extrinsic motivation,surficial processing strategies and deep-processing strategies).In addition,a growth increase in performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations occurred concurrently with increase in three academic adjustment variables(avoidant cognitive attitude,test anxiety and extrinsic motivation).The study 5 explored the possible causality through cross-lagged analysis.The results showed that the relations between mastery goal orientation and academic adjustment(e.g.,avoidant learning cognitive attitude,intrinsic motivation,selfefficacy,deep-processing strategies)were reciprocal on the whole.Moreover,students' academic adjustment(e.g.,extrinsic motivation and test anxiety)predicted later performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations,while these two goal orientations did not predict students' academic adjustment.The present research examined the relationship between achievement goal orientations and academic functioning,and found some valuable results.This research can contribute to enrich theoretical knowledge and have great significant to the learning education.