MOTIVATION AND CLASSROOM GOALS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Academic performance has become a popular topic of discussion, with the goal of improving and raising students' school performance (Azmoundeh, 2003). Academic performance cannot be achieved outside of the classroom since here is where transfer thought begins, and students' capacity to do their best in the classroom has an influence on their potential to attain academic brilliance (Appleton, 2007). Over the last 25 years, the Nigerian classroom has altered dramatically. Most classrooms now feature computers and interactive software, and rows of student desks have been replaced with mobile tables and chairs that encourage collaborative learning between two or more students (Zak, 2005). Many governments and private schools have lowered class sizes to improve learning chances for children, particularly those who are young or at risk (Elias,2002). Block scheduling, advisory teams, schools-within-schools, and other structural innovations have been used in America's middle schools to address the developmental requirements of early adolescents (Eccles, 2004). Major professional organizations, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, have also advocated for paradigm adjustments in how teachers approach learning and teaching. Curriculum standards that emerged in the early 1990s stressed the significance of individual inquiry, problem solving, collaborative learning, and mastery of essential concepts, rather than rote learning and memorization. New federal law, the Leave No Child Behind Act of 2001, was adopted just as these changes were taking effect, increasing accountability and performance expectations for public schools. This new legislation is expected to narrow performance disparities and ensure that all the kids, prior of academic  disadvantages, make considerable advances in school (Maehr,1994). The effect of different accomplishment objectives on various developmental outcomes, such as measures of motivation to learn, classroom engagement and adjustment, and academic achievement, is assessed using a classroom goal framework (Ames, 1990). Every kid must be given the educational opportunities he or she requires to excel academically, according to educational reform. The goal orientation of the classroom setting may have an impact on an individual learner's achievement goal orientation (Urdan, 2001). Teachers who emphasize a learning or mastery goal orientation in the classroom are more likely to use collaborative or other forms of group learning, more learner-centered approaches to instruction, a focus on effort and improvement, and more authentic, individualized assignments and assessments, such as portfolios. Teachers who stress a performance goal orientation, on the other hand, are more likely to promote competition, grades, comparison, and performance (Anderman, 1994). According to Anderman (1994), in science classrooms, the employment of performance-oriented teaching tactics was linked to lower levels of mastery goal orientation. This research backed up the findings of Young (1994), demonstrating that students' views of the classroom goal structure predicted their own goal orientations. Urdan (1996) found that eighth-grade students' views of a task goal framework in the classroom were positively associated to self-efficacy, which was mediated through personal task goals that led to academic accomplishment. Perceiving a relative-ability classroom goal structure, on the other hand, was found to be adversely connected to self-efficacy, as mediated by personal task objectives. Furthermore, Gorrell (1999) discovered that sixth and seventh grade students in a classroom setting with a mastery oriented task goal structure used self-regulated learning strategies such as goal-setting and planning, self-evaluation, and seeking social assistance from adults significantly more than sixth and seventh grade students in a classroom setting with a performance oriented task goal structure. The manner in which specific types of instructional demands, environmental restrictions, or psychosocial traits connect to various cognitive and emotional outcomes in students have been repeatedly characterized in classroom and other learning situations. However, there has been little systematic examination of real classroom structures to see how different structures inside the classroom might make different aims more visible (Simpson, 1984). According to Rosenholtz (1984), some structures have been discovered to have an influence on a variety of motivating factors, including how students evaluate their ability and the degree to which ability becomes an evaluative feature of the classroom. These structures include, but are not limited to, task and learning activity design, assessment procedures and incentive utilization, and authority or responsibility allocation. The objective structure in the classroom is separated into three dimensions:

- A goal-oriented approach to mastery (understanding teaching materials).

- Performance-based strategy (students competition for obtaining better score and their encouragements).

- Performance avoidance (students want not to fall behind, which implies they don't want to get bad grades) (Caleon, 2013).

 The influence of classroom goal structure on student academic progress has been postulated, and it is built based on the school's aims and values (alkharusi, 2015). The application of the trichotomous model of personal accomplishment goals to the classroom structure, according to Midgley (2007), is done by distinguishing the performance goal structure in terms of approach and avoidance. As a consequence, three distinct classroom objective frameworks emerged.

i. A master goal structure in which the classroom environment is used to promote competence, particularly task and interpersonally oriented competence, in academic work.

ii. Personal performance approach aim structure, in which students are encouraged to engage in academic work in order to exhibit competence, particularly normative competence.

iii. A performance avoidance goal structure, in which students are encouraged to engage in academic work in order to avoid exhibiting incompetence, particularly normative incompetence.

Evidence suggests that motivation is a key factor in determining student progress (Stevens, 2007). Motivation involves numerous facets, including motivational orientations, as do other attitudinal actions. Motivational orientations, according to Johnson (2010), operate as a driving force that pushes a person to engage in an activity. Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, personal relevance, self-efficacy, self-determination, and evaluation anxiety are some of the components that make up motivational orientations. Intrinsic motivation is a force within pupils that drives them to participate in academic activities because they are interested in learning and love the process (Schiefele, 1991). Intrinsic motivation, according to Harter (1978), it is  the fundamental force in human nature that propels people to seek out and confront new difficulties. Even when there are no outward incentives, their talents are put to the test, and they are hungry to learn. Intrinsically motivated students are those that pursue comprehension and mastery of science information and abilities as a learning goal (Walker, 2003). Academic achievement requires a strong sense of motivation. Internal and external variables inspire people's desire and energy to remain engaged and devoted to their profession, function, or subject, or to make an attempt to achieve a goal. Motivation, according to Dornyei, explains why people choose to do something, how hard they will pursue it, and how long they will continue to do it. "Motivation is what gets you starting, keeps you going, and decides where you're aiming to go," to put it another way. According to Alderman (2004), children with high motivation have an advantage because they have adaptable attitudes and tactics, such as sustaining intrinsic interest, creating goals, and self-monitoring. Furthermore, motivational factors interact with cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors to disrupt self-control. Students perceive science education to be relevant to them in three ways, according to Holbrook (2003): first, the usefulness of science in society, which means they are more interested to learn if the content is related to societal issues; second, students' interest in science learning, which means they are motivated to learn and do the tasks and activities in science; and third, the importance of science in the course they are taking, which means the science.

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A condition in which there is no better secondary school building construction in Nigeria (covering both government and private institutions) (Sam (2000). No conducive learning environment, teachers who are almost incompetent in their field of specialization, a lack of appropriate educational facilities, a lack of control over the classroom environment, and secondary school students' active participation in the learning process all have an impact on secondary school students' academic achievement (ellias, 2002). This study was also driven by factors that impact student motivation, such as classroom atmosphere, self-belief, self-esteem, mastery goal orientation, and emotional stability.

As a result, the following research issues will be addressed in this study:

i. Is there a link between classroom objective structure and secondary school students' academic achievement?

ii. Will secondary school pupils' motivation have a substantial impact on their academic performance?

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the study's major objectives:

i. To see if the structure of a classroom's goals may predict secondary school students' school performance.

ii. To see if there is a statistically significant relationship between motivation and secondary school students' academic performance.

1.4      RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i. What is the structure of a classroom's goals that may predict secondary school students' school performance?

ii. Is there any  significant relationship between motivation and secondary school students' academic performance?

1.5     DEFINITION OF TERMS

CLASSROOM GOAL STRUCTURE: is defined as the relationship between specific types of instructional demands, environmental restrictions, or psychosocial features and various cognitive and emotional outcomes in students as evaluated by Midgley,et alPatterns .'s of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) (2002).

 STUDENT MOTIVATION: The force that motivates a student to perform or behave in a certain way, as measured by Mclerney et al's inventory of school motivation (1997).

ACADEMIC PEORMANCE: refers to a successful school performance achieved via effort, talent, or courage.

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