The Impact Of Achievement Goals On Mobility And Urban Children's Academic Performance: The Motivational Role Of Basic Psychological Needs To Be Met

Based on the the hierarchical model of achievement motivation and basic psychological needs satisfaction theory,as the sub-theory of self determination theory,the current research studied the applicability of 2×2 achievement goal framework among a group of migrant and urban children,as well as the relationship of academic achievement and intrinsic motivation to teacher support,basic psychological need satisfaction,and achievement goals.Specifically,this research compared the similarity and difference between migrant and urban children in the effects of achievement goals on academic achievement and intrinsic motivation,especially the mediational function of basic psychological need and achievement goals in the relationship between teacher support and academic outcomes(academic achievement and intrinsic motivation).This research consists of pilot study and main study.In the pilot study,892 7th to 9th grade migrant children and their urban counterparts were recruited for testing the psychometric properties of the achievement goals questionnaire.Main study was conducted with 669 9th grade migrant and urban middle school students in Nanjing and Shanghai.The purpose was to examine whether there are similarities and differences in the effects of achievement goals on academic achievement and intrinsic motivation,in particular,whether there are similarities and differences in the mediational function of basic psychological need and achievement goals in the relationship between teacher support and the two academic outcomes.The pilot study found that the revised Achievement Goal Measure(AGM-R)had acceptable psychometric properties.The findings of main study go as follows:(1)both similarities and differences were found in the explanation of academic achievement and intrinsic motivation by achievement goals between migrant and urban students.For the similarity,performance-approach goals positively predicted English scores.Differently,mastery-avoidance goals only positively predicted Chinese and Math scores for urban children;performance-approach goals only positively predicted intrinsic motivation and performance-avoidance goal negatively predicted academic achievement among urban children.(2)Basic need satisfaction and achievement goals showed significant chain mediation between teacher support and academic achievement and intrinsic motivation.Specifically,only among urban children,teacher involvement and the satisfaction of competence needs served as predictors of achievement goals,which,in turn,predicted academic achievement among urban children.Besides the chain mediation,this research found other mediational functions of achievement goals in the relationship between teacher support and the two academic outcomes.(3)Teacher support affected academic achievement and intrinsic motivation indirectly through achievement goals,and similarities and differences were identified between migrant and urban children.Similarly,for migrant and urban children,the relationship between teachers' structure and academic performance was completely mediated by avoidance goals.Differently,performance-avoidance goals fully mediated the prediction of Chinese and scores from teacher providing structure among urban children,while mastery-avoidance goals fully mediated the prediction of intrinsic motivation from teacher providing structure among migrant children.Finally,this research drew the conclusion and summarized the contributions and limitations.Implications for education on how to promote students' academic performance are also discussed.