Future goal setting, task motivation and learning of minority and non-minority students in Dutch schools.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Cross-cultural research on minority school achievement yields mixed findings on the motivational impact of future goal setting for students from disadvantaged minority groups. Relevant and recent motivational research, integrating Future Time Perspective Theory with Self-Determination Theory, has not yet been validated among minority students.

AIMS:
To replicate across cultures the known motivational benefits of perceived instrumentality and internal regulation by distant future goals; to clarify when and how the future motivates minority students' educational performance.

SAMPLE:
Participants in this study were 279 minority students (100 of Turkish and 179 of Moroccan origin) and 229 native Dutch students in Dutch secondary schools.

METHODS:
Participants rated the importance of future goals, their perceptions of instrumentality, their task motivation and learning strategies. Dependent measures and their functional relations with future goal setting were simultaneously validated across minority and non-minority students, using structural equation modelling in multiple groups.

RESULTS:
As expected, Positive Perceived Instrumentality for the future increases task motivation and (indirectly) adaptive learning of both minority and non-minority students. But especially internally regulating future goals are strongly related to more task motivation and indirectly to more adaptive learning strategies.

CONCLUSION:
Our findings throw new light on the role of future goal setting in minority school careers:
distant future goals enhance minority and non-minority students' motivation and learning, if students perceive positive instrumentality and if their schoolwork is internally regulated by future goals.

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Author information

Author/s: Andriessen, Iris (I); Phalet, Karen (K); Lens, Willy (W);

Affiliation: Cross Cultural Studies, Utrecht University, Utrech The Netherlands. i.andriessen(-atsign-)fss.uu.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Validation Studies

Journal: The British journal of educational psychology (Br J Educ Psychol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Dec; vol 76 (issue Pt 4) : pp 827-50

Dates: Created 2006/11/10; Completed 2007/01/25;

PMID: 17094888, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Attitude - ethnology
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Female
Goals
Humans
Learning
Male

Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data
Morocco - ethnology
Motivation
Netherlands - epidemiology
Questionnaires
Schools
Students - statistics & numerical data
Turkey - ethnology

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