Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

The current study examined the types of achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) adopted by students in Singapore, the predictors of achievement goals (personal and environmental factors) as well as the academic outcomes, adaptive (self-regulated learning, intrinsic motivation, control and relevance of schoolwork, and future aspirations and goals) and maladaptive outcomes (self-handicapping and anxiety) of achievement goal adoption.

468 secondary one students in two mainstream secondary schools participated in the study. An 89-item self-report questionnaire was administered to the participants in their school during the post-examination period in May 2008. The survey administrators were the teachers of the school. An instruction sheet was provided to the administrators to ensure consistency of instructions to the participants.

The finding suggests that males were more likely than females to adopt either the performance-approach or performance-avoidance goals while the females were more likely to adopt mastery goals. The students in the Normal (Technical) Stream were more likely to adopt performance-approach goals. Achievement goals were not found to be predictors of academic performance. The personal factors of academic resilience and academic efficacy were found to be the strongest predictors of mastery goals. Similarly classroom social environment was a strong predictor of mastery goals. On the whole, personal factors are stronger predictors of mastery goals than classroom social environment. Mastery goal was the strongest predictor of all four adaptive outcomes while performance-avoidance goal was the strongest predictor of the two maladaptive outcomes. The study did not find a relationship between adaptive outcomes and academic achievement but found that maladaptive outcomes, particularly anxiety, negatively predicted academic achievement.

The findings of the study provide evidence of the applicability of the achievement goal theory framework in our local context. Implications for educational practice such as increasing students' self-efficacious beliefs, encouragement of the adoption of mastery goals, and building a positive classroom social environment were discussed. The study made some recommendations for future research that include collecting data at different time points, using a more standardised form of assessment for the measure of academic achievement and extending research to other student populations.