Relationships Among Perceived Competence, Intrinsic Value and Mastery Goal Orientation in English and Maths - Abstract

Oct 15, 2026

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A study investigates how students’ perceived competence in English and maths relates to intrinsic value and mastery goal orientation, using expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Data from Year 6 children (N=60) were collected via questionnaires measuring perceived competence, intrinsic value, and mastery goals, followed by correlational analyses. Follow-up interviews (n=17) were conducted to explore themes by selecting students from six groups defined by low/high competence perceptions and mastery goals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Relationships Among Perceived Competence, Intrinsic Value and Mastery Goal Orientation in English and Maths Rachel J. Cocks Austinmer Primary School Helen M. G. Watt University of Michigan Abstract A large and burgeoning literature has established that mastery goal orientations yield positive cognitive and behavioural educational outcomes. Less research has focused on the psychological antecedents of adopting mastery goals. The present study draws upon prominent psychological theories of achievement motivation, specifically the expectancy-value theory of Eccles, Wigfield and colleagues (Wigfield and Eccles 2002), to explore possible antecedents of students’ mastery goals. Based on this theoretical framework, our study focused on children’s perceptions of their competencies in English and maths and how these related to intrinsic value and mastery goals for English and maths. Questionnaires were used to gather data about Year 6 (N=60) participants’perceived competence, intrinsic value and mastery goal orientation, and correlational analyses established the direction and strength of the relationships between the perceptions. Participants were targeted for follow-up interviews (n=17) according to a matrix of low and high competence perceptions and mastery goals, with students selected from within each of six focal groups. Interview responses were reported according to emergent themes, from which we describe how the constructs under consideration relate to one another and highlight implications for educational practice. Introduction Motivation theory has had an enormous presence and widening influence in educational research and practice, over the last decade in particular (Alexander 2000, The Australian Educational Researcher, Volume 31, Number 2, August 2004 •81 RACHEL J. COCKS & HELEN M. G. WATT Maehr and Meyer 1997) . Within this field, a large and growing literature has studied students’ goal orientations related to learning. Here, individuals’ goals are conceptualised as the purpose of task engagement (Maehr 1989), and are viewed as important precursors to a host of processes and outcomes that are relevant to achievement (see Ames 1992, Dweck 1991, Harackiewicz, Barron and Elliot 1998, Urdan 1997 for reviews) . Goal theory research was initially based on two achievement goals: mastery goals (also referred to as task-involvement or learning goals), focused on the development of competence and task mastery; and performance goals (also referred to as egoinvolvement or ability goals), focused on the demonstration of competence relative to others (Ames and Archer 1987) . Performance goals have more recently been divided into performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals (Elliot 1997, Elliot and Church 1997, Elliot and Harackiewicz 1996, Harackiewicz et al. 2002) . Performance-approach goals focus on the attainment of competence relative to others, and performance-avoidance goals focus on avoiding the demonstration of incompetence relative to others. More recently still, a fourth mastery avoidance goal has been proposed (Elliot and McGregor 2001, Pintrich 2000a, 2000b), where individuals are focused on striving to avoid incompetence based on either their own standards of attainment, or the absolute requirements of the task. This mastery avoidance goal is still relatively new to the goal theory field and is being established as a valid and useful construct. The four achievement goals are therefore differentiated by two dimensions of competence valence (approaching success or avoiding failure) and competence definition (self/task-referenced or normatively based: see Elliot and McGregor 2001) . It has been widely demonstrated that mastery goals lead to positive educational outcomes, including deep processing (e.g. Anderman, Griesinger and Westerfield 1998, Anderman and Young 1994, Miller, Greene, Montalvo, Ravindran and Nichols 1996, Pintrich and Garcia 1991, Pintrich and Schrauben 1992, Pintrich, Smit

FAQs

What is the study focusing on regarding mastery goals?

The study focuses on psychological antecedents of adopting mastery goals, examining how perceived competence in English and maths relates to intrinsic value and mastery goal orientation.

How were the quantitative data collected and analyzed?

Year 6 participants (N=60) completed questionnaires assessing perceived competence, intrinsic value, and mastery goal orientation, and correlational analyses were used to determine the direction and strength of relationships.

Why were follow-up interviews conducted and how were participants selected?

Interviews (n=17) were targeted using a matrix of low/high competence perceptions and mastery goals, with students selected from within each of six focal groups to identify emergent themes.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa