Prior Academic Achievement, Effort, and Achievement Goal Orientations: A Longitudinal Examination

Empirical research has provided evidence attesting to the potency of two major theoretical frameworks inteaching and learning, namely, achievement goals and effort. The testing of achievement goals and effort invarious cross-sectional studies (Dupeyrat & Mariné, 2005; Elliot, McGregor, & Gable, 1999; Fenollar, Román,& Cuestas, 2007) has yielded findings that indicate their positive effects on academic achievement, directly andindirectly via means of other internal cognitive processes. We used latent growth modeling (LGM) procedures toidentify and trace the initial states and change in mastery and performance-approach goals, and how theyinfluence academic achievement in mathematics over time. Furthermore, aligning closely to social cognitivetheory (Bandura, 1986, 1997), we explore the effects of prior academic achievement and effort on achievementgoals and mathematic achievement. This examination involved 234 university students (97 females, 137 males)across six time points: prior academic achievement at Time 1, effort at Time 2, mastery andperformance-approach goals at Time 3 to Time 5, and mathematic achievement at Time 6. Existing Likert-scaleinventories were used to measure effort, mastery and performance-approach goals. Our LGM analyses indicateda decline in mastery goals and an increase in performance-approach goals over time. Both effort and prioracademic achievement influenced the initial states of mastery and performance-approach goals, respectively.Likewise, prior academic achievement and effort contributed to the prediction of mathematic achievement atTime 6.