Lensing Paths Going to Achievement: The Relationship among Students' Beliefs, Goal Orientation, Cognitive and Behavioral Process, and Achievement

Abstract

This study presents a proposed and tested model for achievement motivation. The model aims to broaden and tailors Dweck and her colleagues' framework. A path analysis was conducted to test the designed model to investigate the associations among students' beliefs, goal orientations, cognitive-behavioral processes, and achievement. The study posits that students' beliefs play a fundamental role in learning and were included in the model as implicit theories of intelligence, epistemological and motivational beliefs. Indeed, knowledge acquisition is a purposeful endeavor, and to understand why students engage in learning activities, learners' achievement goals have been incorporated into the model. Numerous cognitive and behavioral processes are involved in the learning process. To represent these processes, the model includes the use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, as well as the procrastination of students. A total of 4510 seventh-grade middle school students attended the current study. The path analysis results revealed that the model explained 5% to 29% of the variance in the dimensions of achievement goals, 58% to 74% of the variance in the dimensions of learning strategies use, 38% of the variance in procrastination, and 20% of the variance in achievement. Also, the study concludes by proposing several suggestions to maximize the benefits of the results.