Which comes first? Modeling the relationships among future goals, metacognitive strategies and academic achievement using multilevel cross-lagged SEM

Goals are important determinants of learning and achievement. The extant literature has mostly focused on unidirectional effects with goals typically modelled as antecedents of metacognitive strategies and academic achievement. However, the relationships among goals, metacognitive strategy use, and achievement are likely to be dynamic and variables might reciprocally influence each other. This study aimed to examine how future goals, metacognitive strategies, and achievement dynamically influence each other across time. A sample of 6290 students from 16 secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in our three-year study. Survey and achievement test data were collected three times with one-year intervals. Results of multi-level cross-lagged structural equation modeling showed that: (1) intrinsic goals are adaptive because they are associated with lower pursuit of extrinsic goals and higher levels of achievement; (2) the use of meta-cognitive learning strategies is associated with an increase in intrinsic goal pursuit; and (3) higher levels of achievement drive the subsequent use of metacognitive strategies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.