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- Vol 2 TE: App B
goal orientation theorymastery goalsperformance goalsachievement motivationclassroom goal structuresself-regulated learningJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Kaplan and Maehr review goal orientation theory, which explains achievement behaviour partly through the purposes learners perceive for engaging in a task. Mastery orientations emphasise understanding, improvement, and competence development; performance orientations concern demonstrating competence relative to others, with approach and avoidance distinctions adding complexity.
Key ideas
The authors argue that rapid expansion of measures and labels created theoretical vagueness, especially about whether orientations are stable traits, situational responses, or dynamic constructions. They outline six possible accounts in which goal orientations emerge from situation schemas, self-schemas, self-priming, psychological needs, values, or situated meaning-making. Convergent evidence links mastery-focused contexts with more adaptive engagement, while performance effects depend on definition, approach versus avoidance, and context. Classroom structures communicate what counts as success through tasks, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, and time.
Why it matters
The review cautions against treating questionnaire categories as fixed learner types or using simple prescriptions. Future research should clarify constructs, trace development and change, examine multiple goals and culture, and study how learners interpret situations while regulating attention, emotion, and action.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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