A study explored adult undergraduate students' perceptions of the impact of the educational experience on attitudes, values, interests, and aspirations. A sequence of open-ended interview questions in four content areas was developed from a study of relevant literature, advice of a committee of adult educators, and categories that emerged from two…

A pre- and posttest academic year longitudinal design was used to document the early transition experience of adult women entering or returning to college who differ along motivational dimensions and expectations. In 1981 and 1982, two cohorts of volunteer subjects were recruited from Fordham University's EXCEL program, a special entry program for…

Women have historically been under-represented in the medical profession in part because the norms of feminine behavior have deviated from behavior expected of physicians. To determine the career and family expectations of current medical students, 320 medical students were surveyed. Results confirmed the hypothesis that even sex-role-modern women…

Part of a collection of papers commissioned by Foundations (a project designed to determine the career development needs of deaf postsecondary students), the paper reviews research on student motivation. The first section addresses research on normally hearing students in classrooms with different motivational orientations. Advantages and…

Success or failure of a language laboratory is due to a complex set of reasons. An often neglected factor lies in teacher and student attitudes to learner-machine-materials interrelationships. This paper specifies significant factors affecting the establishment of positive attitudes in teachers and students through training. The paper has four…

This study was conducted at Flagstaff Arizona High School from November to December 1969. School communications as determined by the teachers, administrators, and staff of the school were surveyed. The student perspective of interpersonal communications in the school is also presented. The students see their communications with various members of…

Examines the sources of alienation of children from their schools, and describes a study which indicates a strong relationship between goal-centered learning and feelings of alienation. (GO)

Israeli soldiers who have not finished elementary school take special classes taught mostly by female volunteers who are not trained teachers. Special problems the teachers confront concerning cultural and class differences, discipline, and motivation are discussed as they are presented in a three-month preparatory course for the teachers. (PP)

Describes research project efforts in developmental studies programs for nontraditional students in New York two-year colleges and also identifies characteristics of occupational educational students enrolled in these programs who can be classified as successful. Student inventories indicated that personal value factors were important in academic…

Examines the relationship between completion of a freshman orientation course at the University of South Florida and retention (enrollment during a subsequent semester following completion of the course), academic performance, and graduation. Findings show that course participants performed better on measures of retention and academic performance,…

Israeli 2nd and 6th graders (n=159) working puzzles in task or ego goal conditions were more likely to request help and to explain help avoidance as motivated by effort toward independent mastery in the task-focus condition. Results clarify the role of motivational factors in academic help seeking. (SLD)

We investigated how adolescents' and parents' future beliefs, i.e. their goals and probability estimations (regarding future career, social and family life) were (1) structured, (2) interrelated, and (3) whether adolescents' perceived family interaction mediated parents' and adolescents' beliefs, among 239 11--16-year olds and 197 parents. Using…

This study uses the foreign language classroom to examine students' beliefs about learning, perceptions of goal attainment, and motivation to continue language study. Survey and interview results indicated students' attributions for success and failure and their expectations for certain subjects' learnability played a role in the relationship…

In this study we examined the interrelationship among extrinsic rewards and achievement goals (including a work-avoidance goal), competence beliefs, and task values associated with health-enhancing running tasks over a school year. A group of elementary school students (n = 119) from a program that promoted running for running's sake and another…

This exploratory study examined the range of gender-based achievement motivation patterns evident in a group of Australian final year high school students. Single, dual and multiple goal complexes were compared, enabling an evaluation of the relative impact of each of the goals on these patterns, as well as their relationships with academic…