Achievement goal theory is one of the most broadly accepted theoretical paradigms in educational psychology with over 35 years of influencing research and educational practice. The longstanding use of this construct has led to two consequences of importance for this research: 1) many different dimensionality representations have been debated, and 2) methods used to confirm dimensionality of the scales have been supplanted from best practice. A further issue is that goal orientations are used to inform classroom practice, whereas most measurement studies focus on the structure of the personal goal orientation scales rather than the classroom level structure. This study aims to provide an updated understanding of one classroom goal orientation scale using the modern psychometric techniques of multidimensional item response theory and bifactor analysis. The most commonly used scale with K-12 students is the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS); thus, the PALS classroom goal orientation scales will be the subject of this study.

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The purpose of this study was to expand on goal orientation theory and its relationship with beliefs about the causes of sport success by differentiating by age group in youth USA Swimming registered swimmers, ages 11-18. 80 swimmers from six different USA Swimming clubs completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) and the Beliefs About the Causes of Sport Success Questionnaire (BACSSQ) after providing parent consent and child assent to take part in the study. Similar to previous research, the ego orientation was found to have a significant positive relationship with ability and deception as beliefs about the causes of sport success and the task orientation was found to have a significant positive relationship with higher effort as well as a significant negative relationship with deception as a belief about the cause of sport success. New findings included the 13-14 year old and 15-18 year old age groups having a significantly higher ego orientation than the 11-12 age group, the 15-18 age group having a significantly lower task orientation than both the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups, and the 13-14 age group believed deception caused success in swimming significantly more than the 11-12 age group. It is concluded that older swimmers could develop a higher ego orientation and lower task orientation as they age due to more visible differences in ability and an increased focus on performance.

The present study investigated teacher motivation in a high-stakes accountability context. Specifically, this study examines elementary teachers' achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy for teaching, and perceptions of help-seeking in the context of high-stakes testing and school accountability under No Child Left Behind and an Elementary and Secondary Education Act waiver. Butler's (2007) teacher achievement goal orientation framework provided the theoretical basis of the present study; high-stakes tests and school accountability status were thought to impact teachers’ achievement goal orientations. Additionally, teachers' achievement goal orientations were thought to impact teaching self-efficacy and perceptions of help-seeking. The sample included 381 elementary school teachers. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between and among high-stakes testing and issues teachers perceive to be related to these tests, stress related to high-stakes tests, school accountability status, teachers’ achievement goal orientations, teaching self-efficacy, and perceptions of teacher help-seeking. Results suggest that, for this sample, dimensions of teachers’ achievement goal orientations differ from the dimensions characterized by Butler and colleagues (Butler, 2007; Butler & Shibaz, 2008; Nitsche et al., 2010; Cho & Shim, 2013; Shim et al., 2013). Specifically, teachers in this sample exhibited mastery and work-avoidance goals, as characterized by Butler (2007), but not performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Teachers here distinguished between personal performance orientation, or motivation driven by external factors (e.g., recognition from administrators) and using others as the referent to which they compared their own performance (e.g., colleagues). Additionally, class performance orientation emerged as a distinct dimension of teachers’ achievement goal orientations for this sample. Those who espoused this orientation sought for their classes to compare favorably with other classes and were motivated by external factors, such as their class scoring high on state-wide tests. Teacher achievement goal orientations were related to high-stakes testing, but school issues related to high-stakes testing and stress associated with these tests were more salient predictors of teachers’ achievement goal orientations than whether teachers taught in testing grades or not. Finally, teachers’ achievement goal orientations were significant predictors of self-efficacy for teaching and teachers’ perceptions of their own help-seeking.

Student motivation and achievement are often low for students from low socioeconomic status households and may decline when children from all walks of life enter middle school. Despite years of studies describing these declines and efforts to improve learning outcomes, the trends continue. Motivation has been studied from several theoretical standpoints, among them, self-efficacy, beliefs, goal orientations, and emotions. This dissertation introduces error orientation: how teachers and students react to and use errors in the classroom. A positive error orientation, one that views errors as opportunities to learn rather than punishments, may help improve students* emotions, self-efficacy, and future goal orientations, while aligning their beliefs in a more adaptive direction, thus reducing maladaptive academic motivation. A professional development design is proposed here to train teachers in using errors to the advantage of the learner by creating a positive error climate in their classrooms.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka de direkta och indirektainteraktionseffekterna mellan upplevt motivationsklimat (uppgifts och prestation),målorienteringar (uppgifts och ego), upplevd kompetens och intention till avhopp bland tjejerinom ungdomsfotbollen. Studien är en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie där totalt 157fotbollsspelande ungdomstjejer, i åldrarna 15-19 (M= 16,35, SD= 1,40) år deltog.Rekrytering bestod av ett icke slumpmässigt tillgänglighetsurval. Samtliga data samlades inpå plats genom en sammanställd enkät med olika frågeformulär som använts för att mätasamtliga variabler. Sambanden mellan studiens variabler utvärderades genom en neutralnätverksanalys. Resultatet i nätverksanalysen påvisade att intention till avhopp var mestcentral inom nätverket samt visade på starkast direkt koppling till andra noder. Resultatetvisade även på positiva interaktioner mellan uppgiftsorientering, ego-orientering samtupplevd kompetens. Starkast samvariation inom klustret var ego-orientering och upplevdkompetens. Studiens resultat bidrar till en ökad kunskap kring hur centrala miljömässiga ochinterpersonella faktorer inom ungdomsfotbollen samvarierar med varandra och tjejersintention till avhopp. Kunskapen anses praktisk användbart för både fotbollsklubbar,fotbollförbund samt tränare i arbetet med att utveckla både strategier samt riktlinjer med målatt bibehålla fler tjejer inom organiserad ungdomsfotboll. / The aim of the study was to investigate the direct and indirect interactions betweenperceived motivational climate (task and performance), goal orientations (task and ego),perceived competence and intention to drop out among females in youth soccer. The study isa quantitative cross-sectional study in which a total of 157 soccer-playing youth girls, aged15-19 (M= 16.35, SD= 1.40) years participated. The recruitment consisted of a non-randomavailability sample. All the data were collected physically through a compiled survey withdifferent questionnaires that were used to measure all variables. A neutral analysis ofcollected data was performed to evaluate the strength and structure of the interactionsbetween study variables. The result of the network analysis showed that intention to dropoutwas most central within the network and showed the strongest direct connection to othernodes. The results also showed positive interactions between task orientation, ego-orientationand perceived competence. Strongest covariation within the cluster was ego-orientation andperceived competence. The results of this study afford further insight into the interactionsbetween important environmental and interpersonal factors, as well as players intentions todropout, in youth female soccer. The knowledge is considered practically useful for footballclubs, football associations and coaches in the work of developing both strategies andguidelines with the aim of retaining more girls in organized youth football.

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The purpose of the study was to investigate relationships among 7th grade students&rsquo / personal goal orientations, perceptions of classroom goal structure, and learning related variables of efficacy, self-handicapping strategies, cheating behavior, and science achievement. This study was carried out during 2006-2007 spring semester at 12 public elementary schools in Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren, Ankara. A total of 1950 seventh grade students from 62 classrooms participated in the study. Data were collected through Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales and Science Achievement Test. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses were conducted due to the nested structure of data. Results revealed that students who demonstrated high efficacy, high science achievement, low cheating behavior, and low self-handicapping strategies, which were all adaptive learning patterns, had higher mastery goal orientations. Findings regarding performance-approach goal oriented students, focusing on demonstrating their ability, however, were not as straightforward. Performance approach goals were associated with high efficacy and high demonstration of cheating behavior. Class level analyses, on the other hand, revealed that students&rsquo / perception of the classroom goal structure was a significant predictor of personal goal orientations they adopted. While learning environments emphasizing understanding of the material and self-improvement promoted students&rsquo / adoption of mastery goals / learning environments focusing on performance and relative ability of students promoted students&rsquo / adoption of performance-approach goals. The current study, thus, demonstrated the influence of goal structure of the learning environment on students&rsquo / personal goal orientations which in turn found to be related with various learning related variables.

This thesis examined the relationships of the conceptions of sport ability, achievement goals, and intrinsic motivation in Physical Education. Studies 1 and 2 investigated the psychometric properties of the Conceptions of the Nature of Athletic Ability Questionnaire (CNAAQ), a measure of sport ability beliefs. Results showed that the revised version of the scale possesses sound psychometric properties in assessing sport ability beliefs among children and youth. In addition, the relationships between ability beliefs, goal orientations, perceived competence, and behavioural indicators (intentions and amotivation) were also examined in the first two studies. An incremental belief predicted task orientation, whereas an entity belief predicted ego orientation. Intentions to be physically active were predicted by goal orientations indirectly through perceived competence, and directly by task orientation. In addition, amotivation was predicted directly and indirectly by ability beliefs and directly by achievement goals. Specifically, entity beliefs directly predicted amotivation, task orientation negatively predicted amotivation. Study 3 examined the interrelationships between ability beliefs, achievement goals, perceived competence, behavioural regulation, and arnotivation using cluster analysis. Five distinct clusters were identified based on these motivational constructs and these profiles were found to be related to perceived physical self-worth and levels of sport participation. Study 4 experimentally manipulated sport ability beliefs and examined their causal influence on achievement goals and motivation patterns when faced with failure. The causal link between ability beliefs and goals was supported. Ability attributions for failure were stronger for entity theorists compared to incremental theorists. However, hypotheses predicting differences on effort attributions, affective reactions, and behavioural markers were not supported. Study 5 examined the effects of goal involvement on enjoyment and intrinsic motivation under positive feedback. The results suggested that task-involved and ego-involved participants did not differ in self-reported enjoyment and free-choice behaviour measure. However, the free-choice behaviour of the ego-involved participants may not be fully intrinsically motivated. In addition, autonomous communication increased the positive effects of task and ego involvement on intrinsic motivation and enjoyment, whereas controlling communication had an undermining effect. Overall, results show that high incremental beliefs and high task orientation facilitate adaptive motivational patterns. Autonomy-supportive contexts also enhanced students' task motivation compared to controlling contexts.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka de direkta och indirekta interaktionseffekterna mellan upplevt motivationsklimat, målorienteringar, upplevd kompetens och intention till avhopp bland tjejer inom ungdomsfotbollen. Rekryteringen skedde via att icke slumpmässigt tillgänglighetsurval, där data samlades in via enkäter som delades ut fysiskt. Studien var en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie där 157 ungdomsspelande tjejer inom fotboll, i åldrarna 15-19 år (M=16,35, SD=1,40), deltog. Direkta och indirekta interaktionseffekter mellan studiens variabler utvärderades genom en neutral nätverksanalys. Resultatet visade att intention till avhopp var den mest centrerade noden i nätverket och hade flest direkta kopplingar till de övriga noderna. Nätverkets starkaste interaktion mellan intention till avhopp och de övriga noderna var framförallt negativa interaktioner med upplevt uppgiftklimat samt upplevd kompetens. Övriga framträdande direkta kopplingar i nätverket var negativa interaktioner mellan upplevt uppgiftklimat samt upplevt prestationsklimat, samt en positiv interaktion mellan egoorientering och upplevd kompetens. Resultatet i studien förväntas bidra till ökad kunskap innefattande hur centrala interpersonella samt miljömässiga faktorer inom tjejungdomsfotboll samvarierar tillsammans, samt tjejers intention till avhopp. Denna kunskap är av praktisk användbarhet för tränare, föreningar och förbund i deras arbete med att utveckla riktlinjer och strategier som syftar till att bibehålla fler tjejer inom ungdomsfotbollen. / The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between perceived motivational climates, goal orientations, perceived competence, and females intention to drop out of youth soccer. Recruitment took place via non-random availability sampling, where data were collected via questionnaires that were distributed physically. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional study in which 157 youth playing girls in soccer, aged 15-19 years (M=16.35, SD=1.40), participated. The dara were submitted to a neural network analysis to evaluate the strength and structure of the direct and indirect interactions between study variables. The result showed that intention to drop out was the most central node in the network and had the most direct connections to the other nodes. The network's strongest interaction between intention to drop out and the other nodes were primarily negative interactions with perceived task climate and perceived competence. Other prominent direct connections in the network were negative interactions between perceived task climate and perceived performance climate, as well as a positive interaction between ego orientation and perceived competence. The results of the study are expected to contribute to increased knowledge including how central interpersonal and environmental factors within youth female soccer co-vary together, as well as young females intention to drop out. This knowledge is of practical utility to coaches, associations and federations in their work to develop guidelines and strategies aimed at retaining more girls in youth football.