Explanation
Goals are the rationale for why students engage in
particular learning activities. Researchers have identified
two broad types of goals: mastery goals and
performance goals. Mastery goals are oriented toward
acquiring new skills or improving levels of competence.
Students who hold mastery goals are motivated
to learn new skills or achieve mastery in a content area
or on a task. In contrast, students who adopt performance
goals are motivated to demonstrate that they
have adequate ability or to avoid tasks in an effort to
conceal a perception of having low ability. According
to this analysis, individuals can engage in
achievement activities for two very different
reasons: They may strive to develop competence
by learning as much as they can (mastery
goals), or they may strive to display their
competence by trying to outperform others
(performance goals). Performance goals can
lead to students’ avoiding challenges if they are
overly concerned about performing as well as
other students. In typical classroom situations,
when students encounter challenging materials,
mastery goals are generally more useful
than performance goals.