From classroom goal structures to academic outcomes: the mediating role of expectancy-value beliefs in adolescent learning

• Linjia Zhang ^[1] ; Norman B. Mendoza ^[2] ; Yi Jiang ^[1]
  1. [1] East China Normal University

     East China Normal University

     China

     
  2. [2] Education University of Hong Kong

     Education University of Hong Kong

     RAE de Hong Kong (China)

     
• Localización: European Journal of Psychology of Education, ISSN-e 1878-5174, ISSN 0256-2928, Vol. 40, Nº 2, 2025
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1007/s10212-025-00958-2
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Students’ perceptions of the classroom environment are critical determinants of their motivation and academic success. However, the psychological mechanisms through which these contextual factors influence academic outcomes remain insufficiently explored, particularly in different subject domains. Grounded in the Situated Expectancy-Value Theory, this study examined the role of classroom goal structures in predicting adolescent students’ expectancy-value beliefs and their subsequent academic outcomes in Mathematics and English. Using structural equation modeling with data from 634 Chinese secondary school students, our findings reveal both general and domain-specific patterns. Specifically, self-efficacy positively mediated the predictive paths from classroom mastery goal structures to both future choice intentions and achievement. Interest value positively mediated the association between classroom mastery goal structures and future choice intentions, while it negatively mediated the relationship between classroom performance-approach goal structures and future choice intentions. Furthermore, effort cost negatively mediated the relationship between classroom performance-avoidance goal structures and academic achievement. These findings supports the critical role of classroom environments in predicting motivational beliefs and highlight the complex interplay of different expectancy-value beliefs in shaping students’ academic success in specific learning domains.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Ainley, M., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning, and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal...
  • Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.84.3.261
  • Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom: Students’ learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of...
  • Anderman, E. M., & Midgley, C. (2004). Changes in self-reported academic cheating across the transition from middle school to high school....
  • Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.
  • Barron, K. E., & Hulleman, C. S. (2015). Expectancy-value-cost model of motivation. In J. S. Eccles & K. Salmelo-Aro (Eds.), International...
  • Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent...
  • Bong, M. (2008). Effects of parent-child relationships and classroom goal structures on motivation, help-seeking avoidance, and cheating....
  • Bong, M., & Skaalvik, E. (2003). Academic self-concept and self-efficacy: How different are they really? Educational Psychology Review,...
  • Brislin, R. W. (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1(3), 185–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910457000100301
  • Dweck, C. S. (1986). Motivational Processes Affecting Learning. American Psychologist, 41(10), 1040–1048. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.10.1040
  • Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
  • Eccles (Parsons), J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece, J. L., & Midgley, C. (1983). Expectancies, values,...
  • Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2011). Schools as developmental contexts during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1),...
  • Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 109–132. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153
  • Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2020). From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive,...
  • Elliot, A. J., & Church, M. A. (1997). A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and...
  • Elliot, A. J., & McGregor, H. A. (2001). A 2 × 2 achievement goal framework. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(3), 501–519....
  • Fast, L. A., Lewis, J. L., Bryant, M. J., Bocian, K. A., Cardullo, R. A., Rettig, M., & Hammond, K. A. (2010). Does math self-efficacy...
  • Federici, R. A., Skaalvik, E. M., & Tangen, T. N. (2015). Students’ perceptions of the goal structure in mathematics classrooms: Relations...
  • Flake, J. K., Barron, K. E., Hulleman, C., McCoach, B. D., & Welsh, M. E. (2015). Measuring cost: The forgotten component of expectancy-value...
  • Gaspard, H., Dicke, A. L., Flunger, B., Schreier, B., Häfner, I., Trautwein, U., & Nagengast, B. (2015). More value through greater differentiation:...
  • Gaspard, H., Jiang, Y., Piesch, H., Nagengast, B., Jia, N., Lee, J., & Bong, M. (2020). Assessing students’ values and costs in three...
  • Gladstone, J. R., Wigfield, A., spsampsps Eccles, J. S. (2022). Situated expectancy-value theory, dimensions of engagement, and academic outcomes....
  • Greene, B. A., Miller, R. B., Crowson, H., & M., Duck, B. L., & Akey, K. L. (2004). Predicting high school students’ cognitive engagement...
  • Guo, J., Marsh, H. W., Parker, P. D., Morin, A. J., & Yeung, A. S. (2015). Expectancy-value in mathematics, gender and socioeconomic background...
  • Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J. M., Carter, S. M., & Elliot, A. J. (2000). Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement...
  • Harackiewicz, J. M., Durik, A. M., Barron, K. E., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., & Tauer, J. M. (2008). The role of achievement goals in the...
  • Ho, I. T., & Hau, K. (2008). Academic achievement in the Chinese context: The role of goals, strategies, and effort. International Journal...
  • Jiang, Y., Kim, S., & Bong, M. (2020). The role of cost in adolescent students’ maladaptive academic outcomes. Journal of School Psychology,...
  • Jiang, Y., & Rosenzweig, E. Q. (2021). Using cost to improve predictions of adolescent students’ future choice intentions, avoidance intentions,...
  • Jiang, Y., Rosenzweig, E. Q., & Gaspard, H. (2018). An expectancy-value-cost approach in predicting adolescent students’ academic motivation...
  • Jiang, Y., & Zhang, L. (2023). High school students’ expectancy, value, and cost profiles and their relations with engagement and achievement...
  • Kaplan, A., & Maehr, M. L. (1999). Achievement goals and student well-being. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24(4), 330–358. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.0993
  • Kaplan, A., Middleton, M. J., Urdan, T., & Midgley, C. (2002). Achievement goals and goal structures. In C. Midgley (Ed.), Goals, goal...
  • Khajavy, G. H., Bardach, L., Hamedi, S. M., & Lüftenegger, M. (2018). Broadening the nomological network of classroom goal structures...
  • Kline, R. B. (2010). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
  • Klug, J., Lüftenegger, M., Bergsmann, E., Spiel, C., & Schober, B. (2016). Secondary school students’ LLL competencies, and their relation...
  • Lau, K. L., & Lee, J. C. (2008). Validation of a Chinese achievement goal orientation questionnaire. British Journal of Educational Psychology,...
  • Lau, S., & Nie, Y. (2008). Interplay between personal goals and classroom goal structures in predicting student outcomes: A multilevel...
  • Lee, J., & Stankov, L. (2013). Higher-order structure of noncognitive constructs and prediction of PISA 2003 mathematics achievement....
  • Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Middleton, M. J., Ciani, K. D., Easter, M. A., O’Keefe, P. A., & Zusho, A. (2012). The strength of the relation...
  • Lüftenegger, M., Klug, J., Harrer, K., Langer, M., Spiel, C., & Schober, B. (2016). Students’ achievement goals, learning-related emotions...
  • Marsh, H. W., Hau, K.-T., & Wen, Z. (2004). In search of golden rules: Comment on hypothesis-testing approaches to setting cutoff values...
  • Marsh, H. W., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Köller, O., & Baumert, J. (2005). Academic self-concept, interest, grades, and standardized test...
  • McNeish, D., Stapleton, L. M., & Silverman, R. D. (2017). On the unnecessary ubiquity of hierarchical linear modeling. Psychological Methods,...
  • Meece, J. L., Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2006). Classroom goal structure, student motivation and academic achievement. Annual...
  • Mendoza, N. B., Yan, Z., & King, R. B. (2023). Domain-specific motivation and self-assessment practice as mechanisms linking perceived...
  • Michou, A., Mouratidis, A., Lens, W., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2013). Personal and contextual antecedents of achievement goals: Their direct...
  • Midgley, C., Kaplan, A., & Middleton, M. (2001). Performance-approach goals: Good for what, for whom, under what circumstances, and at...
  • Midgley, C., Maehr, M. L., Hruda, L. Z., Anderman, E. M., Anderman, L. H., Freeman, K. E., Kaplan, A., Kuman, R., Middleton, M. J., Nelson,...
  • Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2022, April 21). 为培养时代新人奠基: 教育部印发《义务教育课程方案和课程标准 (2022年版) 》 [Laying the foundation...
  • Muenks, K., Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (2018). I can do this! The development and calibration of children’s expectations for success...
  • Murayama, K., & Elliot, A. J. (2012). The competition–performance relation: A meta-analytic review and test of the opposing processes...
  • Nicholls, J. G. (1984). Achievement motivation: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task choice, and performance. Psychological...
  • Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2012). PISA 2009 technical report. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264167872-en
  • Pajares, F. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic settings. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 543–578. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543066004543
  • Patrick, H., Kaplan, A., & Ryan, A. M. (2011). Positive classroom motivational environments: Convergence between mastery goal structure...
  • Peng, S. L., Cherng, B. L., Chen, H. C., & Lin, Y. Y. (2013). A model of contextual and personal motivations in creativity: How do the...
  • Perez, T., Cromley, J. G., & Kaplan, A. (2014). The role of identity development, values, and costs in college STEM retention. Journal...
  • Perez, T., Dai, T., Kaplan, A., Cromley, J. G., Brooks, W. D., White, A. C., Mara, K. R., & Balsai, M. J. (2019). Interrelations among...
  • Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D., García, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1991). A manual for the use of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire...
  • Polychroni, F., Hatzichristou, C., & Sideridis, G. (2012). The role of goal orientations and goal structures in explaining classroom social...
  • Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple...
  • Putwain, D. (2007). Researching academic stress and anxiety in students: Some methodological considerations. British Educational Research...
  • Renninger, K. A., & Hidi, S. (2002). Student interest and achievement: Developmental issues raised by a case study. In A. Wigfield &...
  • Roeser, R. W., Midgley, C., & Urdan, T. C. (1996). Perceptions of the school psychological environment and early adolescents’ psychological...
  • Roeser, R. W., Urdan, T. C., & Stephens, J. M. (2009). School as a context of student motivation and achievement. In K. R. Wentzel &...
  • Rosenzweig, E. Q., Wigfield, A., spsampsps Eccles, J. S. (2019). Expectancies, values, and their effects on student learning. In K. A. Renninger...
  • Rosenzweig, E. Q., Wigfield, A., & Hulleman, C. S. (2020). More useful or not so bad? Examining the effects of utility value and cost...
  • Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7(2), 147–177. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.2.147
  • Schiefele, U. (1991). Interest, learning, and motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26(3–4), 299–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.1991.9653136
  • Schunk, D. H. (1991). Self-efficacy and academic motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26(3–4), 207–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.1991.9653133
  • Serrano Corkin, D. M., Lindt, S. F., & Williams, P. S. (2021). Effects of positive college classroom motivational environments on procrastination...
  • Simpkins, S. D., Davis-Kean, P. E., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Math and science motivation: A longitudinal examination of the links between...
  • Skaalvik, E. M. (1997). Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions,...
  • Skaalvik, E. M., & Federici, R. A. (2016). Relations between classroom goal structures and students’ goal orientations in mathematics...
  • Skaalvik, E. M., Federici, R. A., Wigfield, A., & Tangen, T. N. (2017). Students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom goal structures:...
  • Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2013). School goal structure: Associations with students’ perceptions of their teachers as emotionally...
  • Trautwein, U., Marsh, H. W., Nagengast, B., Lüdtke, O., Nagy, G., & Jonkmann, K. (2012). Probing for the multiplicative term in modern...
  • Urdan, T., & Midgley, C. (2003). Changes in the perceived classroom goal structure and pattern of adaptive learning during early adolescence....
  • Urdan, T., & Schoenfelder, E. (2006). Classroom effects on student motivation: Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs....
  • Urdan, T., & Turner, J. C. (2005). Competence motivation in the classroom. In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence...
  • Walker, C. O. (2012). Student perceptions of classroom achievement goals as predictors of belonging and content instrumentality. Social Psychology...
  • Wang, F., & Shi, Y. (2014). 家庭背景、教育期望与大学教育获得: 基于上海市调查数据的实证研究 [Family background, educational expectation and college degree attainment:...
  • Wang, M. T., & Degol, J. (2013). Motivational pathways to STEM career choices: Using expectancy–value perspective to understand individual...
  • Watt, H. M. G., Shapka, J. D., Morris, Z. A., Durik, A. M., Keating, D. P., & Eccles, J. S. (2012). Gendered motivational processes affecting...
  • Wentzel, K., & Skinner, E. (2022). The other half of the story: The role of social relationships and social contexts in the development...
  • Wigfield, A., & Cambria, J. (2010). Students’ achievement values, goal orientations, and interest: Definitions, development, and relations...
  • Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (2000). Expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 68–81....
  • Wigfield, A., spsampsps Eccles, J. S. (2020). 35 years of research on students’ subjective task values and motivation: A look back and a look...
  • Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Fredricks, J., Simpkins, S., Roeser, R., spsampsps Schiefele, U. (2015). Development of achievement motivation...
  • Wigfield, A., Muenks, K., & Eccles, J. S. (2021). Achievement motivation: What we know and where we are going. Annual Review of Developmental...
  • Wolters, C. A. (2004). Advancing achievement goal theory: Using goal structures and goal orientations to predict students’ motivation, cognition,...
  • Wolters, C. A., & Daugherty, S. G. (2007). Goal structures and teachers’ sense of efficacy: Their relation and association to teaching...
  • Wu, F., Jiang, Y., Liu, D., Konorova, E., & Yang, X. (2022). The role of perceived teacher and peer relationships in adolescent students’...
  • Zhou, J., & Hawrot, A. (2024). Latent profile analysis of students’ perception of German classroom climate: Outcomes and covariates. Learning...