Goal Orientation

What is It?

A goal orientation represents the reasons behind a student’s effort to achieve. A “learning” or “mastery” or “task” goal orientation represents a desire to achieve purely for the purpose of obtaining knowledge and increasing skills. In contrast, a “performance” goal orientation represents the desire to succeed in comparison to others, and thus the purpose of all activity in the classroom is not the enjoyment of learning or to satisfy personal interest but to demonstrate superiority or avoid the appearance of failure.

Why is it Important in School?

Students with task goal orientations seek challenges and show persistence in the face of adversity, use more effective learning strategies and have more positive attitudes, and are more cognitively engaged in learning. A task goal orientation is very much internal to the student, without need for external comparisons, and as a consequence has been linked to higher levels of motivation and, in turn, academic achievement.

Students with a performance goal orientation seek to avoid challenge and, in the face of failure, attribute their results to lack of ability and exhibit a “learned helplessness” response (i.e. negative affect, strategy deterioration and disengagement). As a result, performance goal orientation leads to reduced motivation and academic achievement.