Whose goal emphases play a more important role in ESL/EFL learners’ motivation, self-regulated learning and achievement?: Teachers’ or parents’

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relations between achievement goals, self-regulated learning (SRL), and English learning achievement as well as the contributions of perceived teachers’ and parents’ goal emphases to students’ achievement goal adoption. Participants were 520 4^th graders in Hong Kong, who learn English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL). Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) revealed that high achievers reported a higher level of mastery goals and SRL strategy use than average achievers, who in turn outperformed low achievers. Mastery goals positively predicted SRL strategy use, whereas performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted SRL strategy use. SRL strategy use, in turn, was a significant predictor of English learning achievement. Perceived teachers’ and parents’ mastery goal emphases positively predicted students’ mastery goals; parents’ performance goal emphases positively predicted students’ performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Parents’ mastery goal emphases negatively predicted students’ performance-avoidance goals. Important implications are drawn.

KEYWORDS:

• Achievement goals
• teachers’ and parents’ goal emphases
• self-regulated learning
• english as a second or foreign language (esl/efl)
• teaching and learning of esl/efl

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by the Chinese National Social Sciences Fund (Education) for Young Scholars: Students' Self-regulated Learning and Support from Teachers and Parents in the Digital Era [Project number: CCA210257].

References

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jing Wang

Dr. Jing Wang is an assistant professor at the College of Education, Zhejiang University, China. Her research area is self-regulated learning, English as a Second Language learning and teaching, and computer assisted language learning. Her work appears in Cambridge Journal of Education, Language Teaching Research, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Psychology in the Schools, and European Journal of Psychology of Education.

Barry Bai

Dr. Barry Bai is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he mainly teaches ELT-related courses. He has extensive teaching and teacher training experience in Singapore, Hong Kong and the mainland China. His research interests include teaching ESL/EFL, writing strategies, and teacher education. His work appears in Cambridge Journal of Education, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Applied Linguistics Review, TESOL Quarterly, Reading and Writing Quarterly, ELT Journal, System, The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, and Journal of Education for Teaching