Relationships among motivational style, academic achievement, and satisfaction with classroom structure for third and sixth-graders

This study examined the interrelationships among the following variables: (a) students\u27 current motivational style--through the use of the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ), (b) academic achievement--assessed through the Reading Comprehension and Mathematics Computation subtests of the California Achievement Test (CAT),(c) satisfaction with classroom structure--as measured by the Attitude toward Learning Processes Scale (ALP), (d) grade level, and (e) gender. The sample of 105 third and 101 sixth graders chosen to represent a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic sample, responded to the two self-report instruments, the SRQ and ALP. Their scores on these measures were compared with their reading comprehension and mathematics computation subtest scores on the CAT. Statistical analyses included the Pearson product-moment correlation, t-test of the correlation coefficient, z-test for the difference between independent correlations and a two- or three-way analysis of variance. The findings from this study indicated that third graders showed more significant and consistent relationships among all three dependent variables than their sixth grade counterparts. Third graders were likely to report more internal motivational styles, show a higher correlation between a more internalized motivational style with higher achievement test scores, and report more satisfaction with classroom structure and overall level of motivation. Third graders who had low scores on mathematics computation were slightly more likely to be externally motivated. There were no grade level differences noted regarding the external motivational style. Males showed a weak positive relationship between a more internalized motivational style with mathematics computation, while their female counterparts did not. Females had higher scores on the identified motivational style (task involvement) than their male peers. The implications of these results were discussed as they impact on educators\u27 choice of motivational strategies to meet the individual needs of their students