The relationship between achievement motivation and academic achievement is complex, but generally, the more a student is motivated to do an academic task, the greater the effort, persistence, and use of cognitive strategies expended on the task, and the better the performance on the task (Pintrich, 2003). The majority of achievement motivation research has been conducted in Western countries (Kumar, 2004). This is a concern as North American classrooms are become increasingly culturally diverse. The present study looked at the relationships between motivation and academic achievement in two distinct cultures: Western (Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom) and Asian (Hong Kong-China, Japan, and Korea). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to analyze data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2003 (PISA; OECD, 2004). The outcome measures used for all countries were achievement scores in mathematics, science, reading, and problem-solving. The variables examined at the student level were instrumental and intrinsic motivation, performance orientation, and self-efficacy. The variables examined at the school level were teacher support, student morale, and teacher behaviours affecting school climate. In the null models, the intraclass correlations for the Western countries were consistently lower (ranging from .17 to .27) than for the Asian countries (ranging from .36 to .53). In the final HLM models, at Level 1, intrinsic motivation predicted an increase in scores for all six of the Asian country models in which it was significant, but results were inconsistent for the Western country models. Instrumental motivation predicted an increase in scores in seven of the Western country models, but was not significant in any of the Asian country models. Performance orientation predicted a decrease in score in all of the Western country models and in seven of the Asian country models. Self-efficacy predicted increased scores for all models for all countries. All Level 1 results were similar across all academic domains. At Level 2, teacher support was significant in the models for Japan only. Results for teacher behaviours were inconsistent. Student morale was significant in all models for all countries. The findings from this study demonstrate that there are some distinct cultural differences in the relationships between achievement motivation and academic achievement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3209 |
| Date | 01 February 2011 |
| Creators | Ross, Shelley Paige |
| Contributors | Anderson, John O., Harvey, Brian |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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