strategies for using goal setting
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Strategies for Using Goal Setting to Improve the Achievement
Motivation of Elementary Students
Sarah K. Wiggins
9120 Stone Croft Way
Gainesville, Ga. 30506
An Annotated Bibliography Submitted to:Dr. D. A. Battle of Georgia Southern University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for
FRLT 7130 Y01
Friday, April 17, 2009
Statesboro, Georgia
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Strategies for Using Goal Setting to Improve the Achievement
Motivation of Elementary Students
In the midst of a time of great pressures on teachers to leave no child behind, it has
become increasingly frustrating to motivate students to learn. As a general education teacher, I
spend much of my after school time in IST (Instructional Support Team) and SST (Student
Support Team) meetings discussing what strategies we are using to meet the needs of students.
However, in the current RTI (Response to Intervention) design that our county is using, if
motivation is seen as the issue, the childs case is dismissed.
However, this year, four weeks prior to the CRCT, the administration in my school
became very concerned about these unmotivated students and put into place a total extrinsic
reward system in an attempt to motivate them. This sparked a controversy that caused the entire
staff to finally take notice of the fact that these students should have been monitored throughout
the years, and the educators should have been working to find motivational strategies that were
successful.
Most educators are not aware of strategies besides the token systems or the treasure box
to motivate students. My research focuses on strategies of goal setting using intrinsic motivation.
Given that most apathy is established in the later elementary years when students begin to see
their own failures, I have chosen to research the grades of fourth to sixth grade. I used two
databases to research the topic: Academic Search Complete and EBSCO host. Both were equally
helpful. I searched for articles that helped to define goal setting, intrinsic motivation, and
strategies for implementing these. Additionally, I looked for articles that combined these aspects
and helped to raise student achievement among unmotivated learners.
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Covington, M. V. (2000, February). Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in schools: A
reconciliation. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9,(1),22 25. Retrieved
April 4, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.
The authors of this article examine the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
Instead of viewing extrinsic as a negative approach to motivation, the article demonstrates that
extrinsic rewards such as grades can work together with intrinsic rewards of the desire to learn.
In order for these to work hand in hand the author states that students will have an intrinsic value
when they are (a) achieving good grades, (b) interested in what they are learning, and (c)
engaged in what they are learning.
Kostelecky, K. L., & Hoskinson, M. J. (2005). A novel approach to motivating students.
Education, 125,(3),438 442 . Retrieved March 29, 2009, from EBSCO host database.
The authors of this article feel that students are very capable of learning, but if content and
instruction seems irrelevant to their lives, they may be unmotivated to learn. Intrinsic motivation
can stem from curiosity, which in turn can cause students to desire to learn about various
contents. The author suggests the strategy of novel studies to spark students curiosity in content
areas. Through this process the student can begin to set goals for themselves in reading and in
turn learn the content and be exposed to language.
Kuhn, D. (2007, June). How to produce a high achieving child. Phi Delta Kappan, 88,(10), 757
763. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.
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This article looks at two groups of learners; one is performance oriented while the other is
learning oriented. Studies show that learning oriented students will continue to pursue
knowledge for intrinsic purposes, but performance based students, tend to narrow their focus to
things in which they can be successful, and often become unmotivated. Instead, the author
suggests motivation needs to be more self-regulated to help all learners have an inner drive. One
strategy suggested is to make education relevant, giving students a goal orientation to want to be
engaged.
Linnenbrink, E. A. (2005). The dilemma of performance-approach goals: The use of multiple
goal context to promote students motivation and learning. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 97,(2), 197-213. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from EBSCOhost database.
This study was for the purpose of showing that personal mastery goals will help to prevent the
negative effects of personal performance approach goals. The researcher used an elementary
math class to prove that classrooms conducive to personal goal orientation are more beneficial.
The hypotheses presented were not conclusive. There was evidence of motivational patterns in
personal goals versus classroom goals. When groups compete with other groups, participants are
more engaged. The opposite is seen with individual competition. Small groups and teamwork
could work as a form of intrinsic motivation.
Pachtman, A. B., & Wilson, K. A. (2006, April). What do the kids think?. International Reading
Association, 59,(7),680-684 . Retrieved April 4, 2009, from Academic Search Complete
database.
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The study of this article was for the purpose of asking students what motivates them to read. The
research was done in a fourth grade reading class that exposed students to a classroom library
and a variety of reading strategies. The results of the survey show that students who set personal
goals and are within proximity to books are more likely to read and complete books.
Additionally, students can see that their personal goals help to reach the classroom goals, and
this makes them even more successful in the end.
Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and
new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54 - 67 . Retrieved March 30,
2009, from Academic Search Complete database.
This article was written to present the Self Determination Theory. This theory suggests that
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can work together to develop an individuals overall
motivation. The authors shared various studies that gave evidence to the fact that when a person
is motivated extrinsically it can actually help to foster internalization and make connections.
Students can use outside motivators to make connections to an inner drive. The article suggests
that classrooms need to offer conditions that can help to foster such self determination through
interesting and engaging lessons.
Sideridis, G. D., & Tsorbatzoudis, C. (2003). Intra-group motivational analysis of students with
learning disabilities: A goal oriented approach. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary
Journal, 1,(1),8 - 19 . Retrieved March 29, 2009, from EBSCOhost database.
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This article introduced a study done on fifth grade students with and without learning disabilities
to identify how achievement goal theory and goal orientation impacted their motivation. The
researcher described the concern with motivation specifically in learning disabled students. The
results demonstrated that the LD students displayed learned helplessness due to repeated failures.
The research suggests that when learning goals were in place, and self monitored, both the
regular education students as well as the learning disabled students were able to increase their
motivation and their achievement.
Tapola, A., & Niemivirta, M. (2008). The role of achievement goal orientations in students
perceptions of and preferences for classroom environment. British Journal of
Educational Psychology, 78, 291 - 312 . Retrieved March 29, 2009, from EBSCOhost
database.
This article is a study that was completed in Finland with late elementary students to show that
there is a direct relationship between students goal orientation and their motivation. The
researchers demonstrated that performance oriented students have a lower self esteem and tend
to give up easier. The study also showed that those students who are avoidance oriented tended
to withdrawal completely from a task. The results demonstrated that when students are equipped
with learning oriented goals, they are self motivated, and can raise their level of motivation.
Wigfiled, A., & Wentzel, K. R. (2007). Introduction to motivation at school: Interventions that
work. Educational Psychologist, 42,(4), 191-196 . Retrieved March 29, 2009, from
EBSCOhost database.
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This article was a prelude to a special edition of the journal that focused on successful
interventions for improving student motivation. Prior research is acknowledged, showing that
self efficacy, goal orientation, and peer relationships can be a primary cause to low motivation.
The authors show academic goals can influence motivation goals, and social goals can impact
positive peer relationships that in turn can raise achievement. The article introduces three
additional articles by Juvonen, Felner, and Balfanz that all provide interventions to help improve
student motivation through goal setting.
Implications for Applications to Educational Settings
Upon choosing this topic I was confident I would find evidence to support that the
current response to intervention methods used by our county do a disservice to our unmotivated
students. The research not only supports my claim, but has allowed me to view strategies for goal
setting that can be used with every student from high achieving to diagnosed learning disabled.
The explanations provided by Kuhn (2007) and Tapola (2008) for the two types of goal
orientation; learning or performance oriented, are very helpful to see that as an educator I need to
identify what a childs orientation is so that I can use strategies to help them improve their
achievement. The orientation can be used to know where to begin looking to see where the
motivation stopped. Wigfield (2007) shared in his article that when a history of failure is
established, motivation will decline. Therefore, if the childs orientation is performance based,
the strategies need to provide a form of extrinsic motivation in the form of praise during
demonstrating the skill. This thought process of extrinsic motivation building intrinsic
motivation is the underlying theme of Ryans (2000) article. This information actually
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contradicted my original thoughts that all motivation should come from an intrinsic perspective. I
was able to gain a better understanding of how to use these goals together to help them to
become more personal.
Some of the most compelling strategies were presented in Pachtmans (2006) article. It
was interesting to see how the students responded to the reading program. Through setting
personal goals, and team goals, the students were interested in accomplishing not only an
independent goal, but a class goal, and everyone worked together to succeed. Reading is a
concern in regards to lack of motivation in our low level students. The strategies suggested for
reading; make choices, and small groups that work together to accomplish the students personal
and group goals can be very effective. Additionally, I think the strategy presented by Sideridis
(2003) to match learning disabled students with higher achieving students is one that can be used
across all levels and in all content.
The studies all demonstrate that when students have identified goal orientation, set
personal goals, and are involved with classroom goals, the results are more engaged learners and
higher achievement. This is the result I want to see happening in the lives of our students. With
such strategies, it is clear to me that the current RTI process needs to be reconsidered and
unmotivated learners need to be given specific strategies such as learning goals to be successful.
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