Motivational Chartge in Transition Contexts:

Students' Theories of Success in Story Writing and Mathematics

Judith Anne MacCallum

B.Sc. (Hons) Dip.Ed. B.Ed.St. M.Ed.

This disse1iation is the report of an investigation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Murdoch University.

1997

I declare that this dissertation is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any university.

Abstract

This research project examined the nature of motivational change and its relation to the

contexts in which change occurs. A goal approach to motivation provided the

conceptual framework for examining a number of different facets of motivation. In

this approach it is the meaning students ascribe to their experiences that is crucial for

their motivation and motivational change. The motivation constructs used included

students' personal motivational goals, students' perceptions of their teacher's goals,

students' beliefs about the causes of academic success, students' self-perceptions of

competence and enjoyment, and achievement or school grades. In addition, students'

perceptions of the importance of different aspects of knowledge (substantive and

conventional), which are not usually considered to be motivational in nature, were also

examined.

In studying change or development, researchers traditionally have taken an 'individual'

perspective, virtually ignoring the contexts in which learning occurs, or have focused

on short term change in laboratory-type settings. This research explores motivational

change from a wider perspective, over both a significant 'natural' transition, the

transition from primary school to secondary school, and a substantial period of time.

Motivational change was explored in different ways depending on the constructs used

to examine it and the level of the context considered. Four main views of change were

examined: intraindividual change over time and over school contexts, intraindividual

change (variation) across regular subject area and challenge contexts, interindividual

differences in intraindividual change in the transition context (patterns of change), and

intraindividual-in-context change.

Using a longitudinal design, data were collected from two cohorts of students over a

period of 12 months. The main cohort made the transition from primary to secondary

school, while the second cohort was studied over the last two years of primary school.

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Each student was surveyed about two academic classroom contexts, mathematics and

story writing (English) on three separate occasions, once before and twice after the

transition. In addition, a subgroup of high ability students were asked about the

'challenge programme' for talented students they attended. Finally, a small group of

students exhibiting particular motivational patterns were interviewed before and after

the transition to secondary school.

The findings support the notion that different aspects of student motivation change in

various ways over the transition to secondary school, within different subject area

contexts and during the school year. As motivational change varied for different

students, only considering group change can mask interindividual differences in

change. Even within groups of students with similar patterns of motivational change

the context and the student interrelate in different ways. At the individual level, not

only do students with different goals have different concerns in learning settings, but

they appear to create, and respond to, their own contexts of change. It appears from the

findings that an ego orientation may play a role in the development of task goals and

that the value placed on different aspects of knowledge may be important in the decline

of task-involved goals.

The unique contribution of this research is the investigation of a range of motivation

constructs using different views of motivational change with the same group of

individuals over time-related contexts and within different contexts, allowing a broader

conceptualisation of motivational change to be formed. This holistic view shows

motivational change to be multifaceted and complex. It is concluded that educators

need to acknowledge the diversity and breadth of students' motivational goals and the

multiple contexts in which motivational change occurs for individual students. Rather

than considering transitions as having a negative impact on student motivation, school

administrators and teachers need to take advantage of the opportunities for facilitating

students' task involvement over within-school and new school transitions.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to my supervisors, Dr Peter Renshaw, Dr Simone Volet and

Associate Professor Ralph Straton. To Peter for his assistance in the early

stages of conceptualisation and data collection and his continued support as a

mentor and friend. To Simone and Ralph for 'taking me on half way through'

and especially for their patience, guidance and support in the lengthy writing

phase.

Special thanks are due to the principals, teachers and students of the six

primary schools and one secondary school involved in the main study, the

three schools involved in the pilot and reliability studies, and especially to the

ten students who willingly gave their time for interviews over a period of

several years. Thanks are also due to the Commonwealth of Australia and

Murdoch University for financial assistance in the form of Postgraduate

Awards.

Lastly, thanks to my family for their love and encouragement. To Catherine,

Tim and Martin who variously stimulated my thinking about motivational

change, frustrated my endeavours and encouraged me to complete 'the book'.

A special thanks to Catherine who made the transition to secondary school at

the time of the study and acted as a guinea pig and sounding board for many

of my questions. To my parents and to Howard who took the children on

holidays on numerous occasions so Mum could get on with it, and never

waivered in their confidence in my ability to successfully complete the project.

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Figure 2.2

The Antecedents of Meaning and of Personal Investment

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In keeping with the wider framework, Maehr (1984; Maehr & Braskamp, 1986)

proposes four categories of goals (in the educational context) or personal incentives (in

the workplace context): task (accomplishment), ego (power), social solidarity (affiliation)

and extrinsic rewards (recognition). In placing the incentives on a possible intrinsic to

extrinsic continuum he shows connections to the work of the intrinsic motivation

theorists and the research on extrinsic rewards (e.g. Deci & Ryan, 1985; Lepper, Greene

& Nisbett, 1973). He also acknowledges the source of some of his thinking about

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Perceptions of Classroom Climate

Ames and Archer (1988) operationalise mastery and performance goals in terms of actual

classroom dimensions (see Table 2.2). Most of the dimensions cover aspects of the task,

evaluation and recognition components of the classroom, but aspects of autonomy do not

appear to be explicitly covered.

Close examination of the dimensions and individual items reveals that Ames'

conceptualisation covers a wider range of dimensions than does that of Nicholls and

Maehr. Some refer to student's own priorities, such as definition of success, what is

valued, reasons for satisfaction, and reasons for effort, which are similar to the aspects

covered in Nicholls' orientation scales (e.g. In this class ... / work hard to learn), others

to the perceived emphasis of other students (students want to know how others score on

assignments and tests), and others to perceptions of the teacher's own orientation and

behaviours (the teacher doesn't want us to make mistakes). Nolen's (1990c) criticism of

the mixed referents (student, other students and teacher) included in each single goal

measure is well founded and in a study of change may confound the focus of the changes

that occur.

Table 2.2

Achievement Goal Analysis of Classroom Climate

Ames' scales ask students to rate their agreement with statements concerning their

perceptions of these characteristics in a particular classroom and thus specify the learning