The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between students motivation, use of learning strategies and exam-results across different courses. During the past two decades, motivation and learning strategies have been central components in most models on self-regulated learning. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the relationship between motivation, learning strategies and learning outcome in ecologically valid settings. Therefore, we designed a study to examine these relationships. Participants were 164 second-year students from a prestigious private business management school. We used a Norwegian version of Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire by Pintrich et al.(1991) to assess students’ motivation and strategies, and adapted the three measures of goal orientation from Midgley et al. (1998). Based on exploratory factor analyses we identified eight scales; mastery goal orientation, performance-approach goal orientation, performance-avoidance goal orientation, self-efficacy, task value, surface processing, deep processing, and social strategies. These were used as predictors in preliminary multiple regression analyses in our ongoing study. As outcome indicators we included four written school exams representing three different courses. The self-report questionnaires were administered four weeks prior to the exams. To examine the time-stability, we included a follow-up exam 3 months later for one of the courses. The preliminary results indicate the same tendency across different courses from the same domain. Performance-approach goals seem to be the strongest predictor for exam performance in all courses. These findings supports former results from Harackiewicz et al. (2002) and Elliot et al. (1999), suggesting that performance-approach goals can lead to positive outcome in some academic settings. So far, these findings also challenge the common understanding that mastery-goals as well as deep processing facilitate academic achievement. Further examinations of these issues will be highlighted in our ongoing research.

Status: ongoing research          

      In the late eighties, Paul R. Pintrich showed that positive motivation was related to more advanced use of learning strategies and better academic achievement (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Pintrich & Garcia, 1991). Later, several researchers have further explored the nature of these variables. For example Boekaerts & Niemivirta (2000) suggested how goal setting processes can interplay with both personal and contextual factors. Zimmerman (2000) showed how self-efficacy can affect both motivational and cognitive processes in academic learning, and Alexander, Graham, & Harris (1998) conceptualised different aspects of learning strategies. However, few studies have gone further to examine the relationship between motivation, learning strategies and learning outcome in more ecologically valid settings.

      In one study, Elliot et al. (1999) found that performance-approach goals were positively related to exam-performance, whereas mastery goals were unrelated. Performance-approach goals were positive predictors of surface processing, persistence, and effort, but unrelated to deep processing. Mastery goals were positive predictors of deep processing, persistence and effort. Performance-avoidance goals were positively related to surface processing while negatively to deep processing as well as exam-results. These findings were consistent across two studies, the first with exam-specific achievement goals and the second with class-general achievement goals. In both studies surface and deep processing were unrelated to exam-performance. In a longitudinal study Harackiewicz et al. (2002) concluded that mastery goals play an important role in promoting students’ motivation by fostering initial and continued interest in course-work. However, students who adopted performance approach goals in their initial course at college received higher grades during their entire academic career. Zimmerman (2000) underlines that self-efficacy influences students choice of activities and predicts effort and persistence as well as use of learning and self-regulating strategies. Both Zimmerman (2000) and Schunk & Pajares (2005) highlight self-efficacy as an important predictor of achievement, although the predicting value is dependent on task/situation specificity in measurement. The results from both Elliot et al. (1999) and Harackiewicz et al. (2002) indicate that only performance-approach goals predict students’ grades. Zimmerman (2000) highlights the importance of self-efficacy as a predictor for achievement, but underlines that this relationship seems to be dependent on the task and/or situation. In light of these results, we designed a study including motivational variables (achievement goal, self-efficacy and task-value), learning strategies, and exam results to examine if the relationships between these variables differ between different courses. More specifically, we set out to answer the two following questions:

            The preliminary results indicate the same tendency across different courses from the same domain. Performance-approach goals seem to be the strongest predictor for exam performance in all courses. These findings support results from Harackiewicz et al. (2002) and Elliot et al. (1999), suggesting that performance-approach goals can lead to positive outcome in some academic settings. So far, these findings also challenge the common understanding that mastery goals as well as deep processing positively affect academic achievement. These issues will be further explored in our ongoing research.