The impact of ability and motivation on achievement in college-level mathematics

This study examined the relative impact of ability and motivational variables on achievement in college-level mathematics and explored the relationships among those motivational variables. Scholastic Assessment Test- Mathematics (SAT-M) score and the university\u27s Mathematics Placement Test Score (MPTS) were used as measures of general mathematics ability and background knowledge in mathematics respectively. Motivational variables included were implicit beliefs about ability, academic goal orientation, attribution for success and failure in mathematics, self- efficacy/confidence in learning mathematics, and perceived usefulness/utility value of mathematics. These variables were assessed with a 58-item motivational questionnaire. Final mathematics course grade was used as the measure of mathematics achievement. Complete data were obtained for 214 volunteer undergraduate students. A structural equation model of the relationships among the variables in the study was proposed and tested. Model modifications yielded a better fitting and more parsimonious model than was originally proposed. Attributional variables and performance goal orientation were dropped from the final model. Final mathematics course grade was found to be a function of SAT-M score, perceived usefulness/utility value of mathematics, and confidence in learning mathematics. SAT-M score accounted for 22% of the variability in final course grade. The addition of the motivational variables increased the proportion of variability accounted for to 43%. Level of learning goal orientation was a direct function of implicit beliefs about ability and perceived usefulness/utility value of mathematics. These variables accounted for approximately 35% of the variability in level of learning goal orientation. Confidence in learning mathematics was a function of five variables: SAT-M score, MPTS, perceived usefulness/utility value of mathematics, implicit beliefs about ability, and learning goal orientation. The combination of these variables accounted for approximately 60% of the variability in level of confidence in learning mathematics. The final model clarified the relationships among the motivational variables in the study. The importance of motivational variables, in addition to the impact of ability, on mathematics course achievement was demonstrated