Student perceptions of middle school: Relation to academic motivation, learning strategies, and academic achievement in science
Description
Recent research has documented a decline in academic-achievement motivation during early adolescence, possibly due to school and classroom environments that are more competitive and less personal, along with teaching methods that emphasize grades and normative comparison (ego goals) rather than learning and the development of competence (mastery goals). The primary purpose of the present study was to test a comprehensive model of the relationships of students' school and classroom perceptions to their motivational beliefs, use of self-regulated learning strategies, and academic achievement. Utilizing a Likert-scale questionnaire, 722 7th- and 8th-grade students reported perceptions of their school (school relationships and school mastery goals) and science classroom (teacher supportiveness, value of science, interesting tasks, and teacher scaffolding) practices. Students also reported their personal motivational beliefs (mastery, ego-approach, ego-avoid, and work-avoidance goals, self-efficacy, and effort attributions), and self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies (deep-processing strategies, rote strategies, self-regulation, and help-seeking) relative to science. Using hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling (EQS), hypotheses regarding direct and mediated relationships were confirmed. Students' perceptions of classroom practices consistent with mastery goals were positively related to students' mastery goals, self-efficacy, and effort attributions; and negatively related to their report of ego-approach, ego-avoidance, and work-avoidance goals. Similarly, classroom perceptions predicted students' use of SRL strategies and science grades. The relationship between classroom perceptions (teacher supportiveness and value of science) and students' use of SRL strategies (self-regulation, deep-processing strategies, and help-seeking) was mediated by their motivational beliefs (mastery goals and effort attributions). Additionally, the relationship between classroom perceptions (teacher supportiveness) and science grades was mediated by students' motivational beliefs and SRL strategy use (work-avoidance goals, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and help-seeking). Although school relationships and mastery goals were significantly correlated with several of the outcome variables, they did not add to the prediction of science outcomes when analyzed with science classroom perceptions. In addition to corroborating bivariate relationships suggested by previous studies, the present study is noteworthy because it demonstrates that classroom practices affect student achievement indirectly, through students' motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies