Achievement Goal Setting: Definition and
Conceptual Background
A person’s set of beliefs that reflect
the reasons why they approach and engage in academic and learning
tasks. Aperformance goal orientation is
exemplified by a concern for personal ability, a normative social
comparison with others, preoccupation with the perception of
others, a desire for public recognition for performance, and a need
to avoid looking incompetent. A learning goal
orientationreflects a focus on task completion and
understanding, learning, mastery, solving problems, and developing
new skills.
Academic goal orientation is based on contemporary
“goal-as-motives” theory where it is posited that
“all actions are given meaning, direction, and purpose by the
goals that individuals seek out, and that the quality and intensity
of behavior will change as these goals change” (Covington,
2000, p. 174). Achievement goal theory is particularly
important in education as it is believed that by differentially
reinforcing some goals (and not others), teachers can influence
(change) the reasons why students learn—that is, change their
motivation (Covington, 2000).
Different groups of researchers have converged on
strikingly similar findings regarding the importance of academic
goal orientation for academic success (Snow et al., 1996). The
resultant achievement goal theory has received considerable
attention during the past decade (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002;
Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002b). Goal theory focuses on the role
that “purpose” plays in motivation attitudes and
behavior (Anderman & Maehr, 1994; Eccles &Wigfield, 2002;
Maehr, 1999; Snow et al., 1996; Urdan & Maehr, 1995). Goal
orientation focuses on the student’s reasons for
taking a course or wanting a specific grade (Anderman et al.,
2002). In this document, academic goal
orientation is defined as an individual’s set of
beliefs that reflect the reasons why they approach and engage in
academic tasks (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Linnenbrink &
Pintrich, 2002a; Pintrich, 2000b; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2002;
Wentzel, 1999).
Although the specific terminology may differ
amongst researchers, goal theory typically proposes two general
goal orientations (Covington, 2000; Linnenbrink & Pintrich,
2002a). Nicholls and colleagues (e.g., Nicholls, Cobb,
Yackel, & Wood, 1990) classify goals as either ego- or
task- involved (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). Dweck
and colleagues (see Dweck, 1999) distinguish between
performance (such as ego-involved goals) and learning
goals (such as task-involved goals). Ames (1992) refers to
performance and mastery goals. A performance goal
orientation is characterized by self-questions such as
“Will I look smart?” and/or “Can I out- perform
others?” which reflect a concern for personal ability, a
normative social comparison with others, preoccupation with the
perception of others, a desire for public recognition for
performance, a need to avoid looking incompetent, and
“outperforming others as a means to aggrandize one’s
ability status at the expense of peers”(Covington, 2000, p.
174). In contrast, a student with a learning goal
orientation would more likely ask the questions “How can
I do this task?” and “What will I
learn?” The learning goal orientation reflects a focus
on task completion and understanding, learning, mastery, solving
problems, developing new skills, and an appreciation for what one
learns (Covington, 2000; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Linnenbrink
& Pintrich, 2002b; Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2002).
