Differences in achievement motivation and learning motivation in students exhibiting different types of academic attainment (Unified State Examination (USE) scores, academic competition results, academic records)

Abstract

The paper presents two empirical studies analyzing the motivational structure of students exhibiting different types of academic achievements. Using a systemic-dynamic approach to academic achievement motivation, the authors proposed a range of variables predicting academic achievement that reflect motivation and meaning of activity, goal-setting regulation, cognitive aspects of motivation and its integrative behavioral outcomes. Longitudinal studies investigating the associations between these variables and three types of academic achievements (Unified State Examination (USE) scores, academic contest results, and university grade point average (GPA)) were undertaken in two cohorts of first-year university students (N = 166 and N = 127). The results indicate that all three types of achievement are associated with grit, but only academic contest results and high GPA are associated with intrinsic motivation (interest and achievement motivation), whereas the USE scores have only indirect association with it.