While gender-based achievement gaps have been widely explored in academic motivation research, gender-related variables such as sexual orientation and other-gender similarity radically shift understandings of these disparities. Recent research has shown that gay men have a notable bachelor's degree attainment advantage over heterosexual men while…

This paper focuses on data from a study of middle- to upper-middle class Scottish S2 ([approximately]seventh grade) students who participated in Inspiring Purpose, a school-based character development program, during the 2016 to 2017 school year. Directed by their teachers, participating youth reflected on values and future aspirations and…

Stage-Environment Fit Theory underlines the role of learning environments and their match with students' needs as crucial for students' motivation and learning. This study explores the mediation role of goal orientations in the interplay of academic self-concept and achievement in mathematics and verbal domains in student-directed and…

The outcomes of studies on the effectiveness of special education (SE) remain unclear. There are only a few studies on the effects of SE that have used advanced methodology to minimise the influence of potential selection bias. This study examined the plausible effects of SE on students' affective and motivational outcomes using a…

This article considers how the experience of community for young people from rural places (inclusive of regional and remote) can be influential in building a legacy of strengths and qualities, much like an inheritance. While there are many studies of rural youth, few consider rurality through complex social-relational dimensions; fewer still…

College students with disabilities continue to experience various challenges in their transition into postsecondary education. However, limited research has focused on their initial transition, despite the significance of its impact on college students with disabilities. This qualitative study examined first-semester transition experiences among…

Drawing on interviews with 70 college peer socialization agents (PSAs) across 42 U.S.-based institutions of higher education, this study explores how PSAs create "underlives" (Goffman, 1961) in response to their roles and expectations for communicating institutional messages about diversity. Findings from this study illuminate the ways…

Background: Research in engineering education has highlighted the importance of identity and motivation for a number of student outcomes, including persistence. However, these constructs have often been studied separately, despite theorized and demonstrated connections between students' identity and motivation in other fields. Purpose/Hypothesis:…

The present qualitative pilot study aimed to evaluate students' perceptions of procedures and outcomes from an affective intervention to increase achievement motivation among gifted students. The intervention was implemented at a summer program with 20 students. Using inductive analysis, participants' perceptions of the intervention and its…

According to Eccles' expectancy-value model of achievement motivation, students' expectations and values relate to their performance and are influenced by goals and identities. When specific identities are important to an individual the tasks associated with them will have value and the individual will be motivated to act them out. This study…

The research literature indicates that school climate is important for student outcomes; however, research assessing school climate and achievement-related outcomes across time is limited. In this study, the relationship between school climate, students' psychosocial perceptions, and student achievement was examined across an academic school year…

This article applies the framework of possible selves to the motivation and persistence behaviours of one group of university students. We draw on possible selves to consider how particular goal-focused actions and life experiences may significantly shape movements towards imagined futures. Utilising a narrative approach from longitudinal data,…

This article explores the sources of student dispositions toward rhetorical approaches to first-year writing instruction through a case study of Lora, a particularly motivated writing student. The study traces Lora's performance and development of her identity through the imparting of personally meaningful objectives like "standing out"…

To explore the impact of the True Goals (TG) school counseling curriculum on important constructs related to school success for students, we conducted two studies: one with elementary and middle school students and the other with high school students. In this, the first of the two studies, 43 students in Grades 4 through 7 participated in the…

Motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs) has been underrepresented in second language (L2) motivation research. This study investigated and compared the motivational profiles of first-year and second-year students majoring in Spanish, grounded on the proposition of bifurcating ideal and ought selves into "Own" and…