The goal theory of achievement motivation establishes that goals stressed by schools dramatically affect whether children develop a success orientation or give up when faced with failure. This paper examines how Australian children from diverse cultural backgrounds view achievement and success in the classroom. A questionnaire derived from the…

Age, gender, cultural, and socioeconomic differences in relations between middle school students' motivational goal orientations, their cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and their academic achievement in a variety of curriculum domains were studied. Studies to date typically have used either cognitive or motivational variables to account for…

An individual's school motivation and achievement are products of a complex set of interacting motivational goals, sense of self, and self-concept variables. Motivational goals may be differentially salient to individuals from different cultural backgrounds; and sense of self, including academic self-concept, may vary across cultural groups. This…

Whether goals held by students from diverse cultural backgrounds differ and the relationship of these goals to school motivation and achievement were studied with 2,156 Australian (Anglo, immigrant, and Aboriginal), 529 Navajo, and 198 Canadian Montagnais Betsiamite Indian secondary school students. Cross cultural and educational implications are…

One reason proposed for the persistent school underachievement of Navajo students is that school culture is based largely on individualism, interpersonal competition, and other Western norms and values that may be an anathema to Native Americans. Hence, school culture may predispose them to failure. Drawing on Western concepts of achievement…

This paper reports on a series of studies that examine the multidimensional nature of achievement motivation across a number of cultural groups, the determinants of this achievement motivation, and the relationship of achievement motivation to criteria of school success, such as attendance, retention, achievement, further education, and…

This paper reports on a continuing study of Australian Aboriginal and Navajo Indian children. The study investigates the relevance and applicability of goal theory to explaining indigenous minority motivation in school settings. Task, ego social solidarity, and extrinsic goal structures were examined as a means of explaining and predicting…

Research at the classroom and school levels suggests that children from many indigenous cultural communities appear to be at a particular disadvantage with regard to academic achievement and school retention. This paper reports on a continuing study with Australian Aboriginal and Navajo Indian children investigating the relevance and applicability…

The relationships between middle school students' multiple motivational goal orientations and their use of multiple cognitive and metacognitive strategies were studied with a focus on relations between these motivational and cognitive variables and students' academic achievement in two curriculum areas. Participants were 602 middle school students…

A study in 12 New South Wales (Australia) high schools investigated differences in motivation for Aboriginal (n=496), migrant (n=487), and Anglo (n=1172) students. A consistent picture of the urban Aboriginal child emerged, and key variables in his decision making (self-reliance, confidence, and goal direction) were identified as well as…

The goal theory of achievement motivation maintains that the goals stressed by schools influence children's self-efficacy and willingness to try hard. This paper examines the applicability of goal theory to a Navajo school and community and widens the focus to encompass a range of potential culturally relevant goals. Interviews were conducted at…

Examines M. L. Maehr's Personal Investment Model of motivation. Presents evidence for the usefulness of the theoretical framework and the validity of the Inventory of School Motivation, based on the theory, using data for 2,152 high school students from aboriginal (n=492), migrant (n=487), and Anglo (n=1,173) backgrounds in Australia. (SLD)

This paper presents an overview of 15 years of international study designed to determine the nature of motivational beliefs, values and goals held by students from different cultural groups, the comparability of these beliefs, values, and goals with those promoted by classrooms and schools, and the impact individual, cultural/social, peer, family,…