Literature Review: Classroom Structure and Achievement Goals

Hello everyone! Since I have completed my literature review on the required course texts, I will continue my analysis and discussion on other, related psychological articles. Today, I will go through "Classroom, Goal Structure, Student Motivation, and Academic Achievement" by Meece and his colleagues. Their study focused on using an achievement goal framework to examine the influence of classroom and school environments on student's academic motivation and achievement. However, rather than experimenting and publishing a new study, Meece created a synthesis paper to analyze prior research and relate it to an academic context. Let's begin!

The author starts by explaining how education in America has changed significantly over the past 25 years:

 Computer and interactive software are common in most classrooms today, and rows of student desks have been replaced with movable tables and chairs that promote collaborative learning among two or more students. many states and school districts have reduced class size to increase learning opportunities, especially for young or high-risk students. Reform at the middle school level has introduced block scheduling, advisory teams, schools-within schools, and other structural changes to meet the developmental needs of young adolescents (p. 488) 

Alongside this, national councils have called for paradigm shifts in how teachers think about learning and teaching. More modern curriculum standards emerged that emphasized individual inquiry, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative learning rather than focusing on rote learning and memorization. "With the exception of research on class size, little evidence is available to evaluate the effects of various reform efforts of the past 25 years on student learning and motivation"(Meece et al., 2006). Child development research suggests that schools along with the family and peer group, are one of the most influential social contexts for children's development (Eccles, 2004).

 In the paper, an achievement goal framework is adopted for examining the influence of different classroom and school environments on children's development as learners. In particular, the student's motivation and their self-perceptions are emphasized along with their academic engagement.

Meece then provides an extensive overview of Achievement Goal Theory:

Motivational theories focus on the processes that explain goal-directed activity. Generally, motivation theorists are interested in explaining physical activity such as task engagement and persistence, as well as cognitive activities such as problem-solving and decision-making. In educational research, motivation theories are most often used to explain student's activity choice, engagement, persistence, help seeking, and performance in school.    

Motivated behavior has been explained in terms of drives, instincts, motives, and other internal traits (Weiner, 1990). But it has also been rationalized in terms of behavioral associations involving rewards contingencies. "More contemporary theories focus on social-cognitive processes as sources of motivation" (Meece et al, 2006). For example, this approach strives to link achievement to how individuals interpret their success and failures in achievement situations. This led to the development of expectancy-value theory which looks at achievement-related behavior to individual expectancy and value perceptions (Atkinson, 1964; Wigfield & Eccles 1992, 2000). Similarly, the self-efficacy theory of achievement motivation was created to emphasize the importance of individual judgments of capability (Bandura, 1986).

In terms of academic application, "Achievement goal theory has served as an important lens for analyzing the influence of different classroom structures and school environments on student motivation and learning" (Meece et al., 2006). Achievement goal theorists focus specifically on goals involving the development or demonstration of competence (Nicholls 1984). Meece (2006) states:

The distinguishing feature of achievement behavior is its goal of competence or perception of competence, and ability can be defined in several different ways. Thus, the criteria or standards of excellence people use to judge their competence are key to achievement goal theory. This point is critical because classrooms and school environments differ with regards to evaluation standards used to assess students' academic progress and achievement (p. 489).               

The author continues by explaining the differences between the four different goal orientations commonly used in achievement goal theory (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, performance-avoidance). I mentioned these in a previous blog post of mine, which you can access here.

Much of achievement goal research indicates that mastery goals are the most effective goals, in terms of their results, as they have been linked to "higher levels of task involvement, persistence at difficult tasks, better learning strategies that enhanced conceptual understanding, and positive perceptions of academic ability" (Meece et al., 2006). However, the expected positive relation between mastery goals and academic performance has not been consistently found.

On the other hand, performance goals also show interesting relations to achievement-related behaviors across studies. A good deal of evidence suggests that they are associated with surface-level learning strategies, which do not necessarily promote conceptual understanding. Also, older research that did not incorporate the performance approach and performance avoidance distinction found some associations between performance goals and self-handicapping strategies (e.g. goofing off, procrastinating, etc.). Therefore, the general consensus is that performance-approach goals are slightly positive, while performance-avoidance goals are linked with maladaptive behaviors like self-handicapping strategies.

Next, the author highlights the importance of classroom goal structures since students' goal behaviors are quite influenced by what the teacher or academic curriculum stresses.

Research focused on the classroom has examined how teachers may create different goals structures in the classrooms through their use of various instructional, evaluation, and grouping strategies (Kaplin et al. 2002). For example, some teachers are known to differ in their use of ability grouping or competitive grading practices, which can increase the salience of performance goals. Other teachers focus on skill development, mastery, and improvement which can lead students to adopt a mastery orientation (p. 492).   

We discussed above how student's personal achievement goals shape their behavior and learning in educational settings. How might classroom goal structures play a role in these processes? Meece (2006)  articulates:

Classroom goal structures are generally viewed as precursors of student's personal goal orientations, which are thought to have a more proximal influence on motivation and achievement patterns. [....] When students perceive their classrooms or schools as emphasizing effort and understanding, they are more likely to adopt mastery-oriented goals. Conversely, students are more likely to adopt performance-orientated goals when they perceive their school environment as focused on competition for grades and social comparisons of ability (p. 495).       

Finally, there is also evidence to suggest that perceptions of classroom goal structure may exert a direct effect on outcome measures as well. "Evidence to date indicates that approximately 5% to 35% of the variation in student's goal structure perceptions is related to classroom differences" (Meece et al., 2006). As a result, student's subjective perception are very critical for understanding achievement-related patterns in the classroom.

To conclude, in the past 25 years, goal theories of achievement have emerged as an important framework for analyzing the influence of learning environments on a range of developmental and learning outcomes. "Much of this research indicates that young people adopt the most positive and an adaptive approach to learning when the school emphasizes learning, understanding, improving skills, and knowledge (Meece et al., 2006). Therefore, classroom goal structures and environments have a very important role. "Evidence suggests that students show the most positive motivation and learning patterns when their school settings emphasize mastery, understanding, and skill development" Meece et al, 2006). Whereas school environments that are focused on demonstrating high ability and competing for grades can increase the academic performance of some students, research suggest that many young people experience diminished motivation under these conditions.