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Teachers' And Students' Perceptions Of Goal Orientation Theory In Secondary Instrumental Music Classrooms: A Case Study, Carlye Mcgregor

LSU Master's Theses

Goal orientation theory (Ames, 1992; Blumenfeld, 1992) is a cognitive theory that identifies how goals affect motivation in students. The benefits of mastery goal orientation — aspects of instruction which support the connection between effort and achievement — on student motivation and participation have been well-documented. Researchers (Ames & Archer, 1988; Patrick, et al., 2001) found students can pick up on goal cues and identify traits of each theory apparent in their classroom. Teachers communicate their values through goal structures, and student motivation can be improved by consistent goal structures, or negatively affected by misaligned goal structures (Ames & Archer, …