Achievement Goals in Physical Education

The way individuals approach a certain activity or task differs; some individuals can put in consistent effort and overcome adversities along the way while others may try to avoid being in such undermining situation in the first place. For the latter, when things are going south, the initial intuition would be to ‘cut all losses’ and restrain effort. Why is that so?

This article will attempt to provide a physical education (PE) perspective through the achievement goals’ lens. To positively sustain students’ quality participation in PE class, there is a need for greater understanding of how they approach challenges and form their individual goals.

Achievement goals reflect the meaning that we attribute towards challenges, which are also called achievement situations. These goals contribute to our perceived definition of success and failure in these challenges, which then determine the goal attainment outcome ¹. The ongoing reflection is a cognitive process that facilitates our motivation and emotional responses, leading to the behaviour reflected through the amount of effort and persistence we put in towards the attainment of the goal.

Are you predominantly a task- or ego-oriented individual?

Competence – or the concept of ability – is the foundation towards understanding achievement goals motivation. Our perceived competence drives our behaviour towards the attainment of a goal. Generally, we tend to behave in a manner to develop or demonstrate our competence ². There are two goal achievement orientations: (1) task and (2) ego.

For task-oriented individuals, they feel a sense of competence when they gain personal mastery of a skill or task. Self-reference is a crucial construct; the individuals always strive to improve their skills or learning of the task. These individuals believe in putting in the required amount of effort to master a skill. Achieving ‘personal bests’ provide them with the greatest feelings of achievement.

For ego-oriented individuals, they feel a sense of competence when they can demonstrate superior performance over others through using equal or less effort. They strive to be better than others and view others as their benchmark for success.

Task-oriented individuals tend to select moderate to demanding tasks, while ego-oriented individuals tend to engage in tasks where they can outdo others.

Achievement goals in the PE context

Task-oriented students are more focused on mastering skills, enabling an active engagement of their metacognition: thinking about their thinking through a self-regulated learning process ³. Naturally, these students would seek relevant feedback for self-improvement and self-awareness. When assessing their performance, task-oriented students take an objective approach ⁴.

Ego-oriented students with low perceived competence would put lesser effort in challenging activities. They would attribute their poor performance to their intentional lack of effort. Some would go to the extent of non-participation to avoid any negative feedback, hence preserving their self-worth altogether ⁵. Conversely, ego-oriented students with high perceived competence would attempt to demonstrate their superiority over others through minimal effort.

Can an individual possess both high task and ego orientations? Think of an athlete who spends countless hours before and after training to hone his/her skills while always talking up to be the best athlete there ever is.

Situational factors influencing one’s achievement goals orientation

Situational cues play a large role in influencing an individual’s achievement goals orientation. For instance, an individual who predominantly adopts an ego orientation in most achievement situations might be more inclined towards the task orientation in a non-competitive environment. In such an environment, working towards improving one’s skills could be highly valued. Furthermore, rewards meted out could be in the form of ‘personal bests’ achievements and efforts produced. The decisive situational factor would influence the individual to adopt a task orientation as ego-involving situational cues were missing.

Implications for PE class

Students naturally have a tendency to display either a predominantly task or ego orientation goal. With a deeper understanding of achievement goals orientation, PE teachers will be able to better predict students’ series of behaviour and decision-making during PE lessons.

Hence, PE teachers play an imperative role to meaningfully curate a mastery-involving motivational climate that can influence students’ goal orientation towards task orientation. Teachers can design their lessons to meaningfully incorporate progressive mastery-involving activities while considering individual differences. The long-term objective of maintaining maximum quality student participation in PE class can then be better realised.

One of the ways to adopt a mastery-involving motivational climate is to change the design of PE assessments – both formative and summative. How can this be done?

References

1.         Smith, M.;  Duda, J.;  Allen, J.; Hall, H., Contemporary measures of approach and avoidance goal orientations: Similarities and differences. British Journal of Educational Psychology 2002, 72 (2), 155-190.

2.         Nicholls, J. G., The competitive ethos and democratic education. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1989.

3.         Pintrich, P. R., An achievement goal theory perspective on issues in motivation terminology, theory, and research. Contemporary Educational Psychology 2000, 25 (1), 92-104.

4.         Stone, N. J., Exploring the relationship between calibration and self-regulated learning. Educational Psychology Review 2000, 12 (4), 437-475.

5.         Skaalvik, E. M., Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology 1997, 89 (1), 71.