Goal-setting support, motivation, and engagement in alternative math classes

Abstract

Helping low-achieving students with learning disabilities and/or emotional-behavioural difficulties to develop the component skills for Self- Regulated Learning (SRL), such as setting and monitoring learning goals, is important for their success, both in and beyond school. This study examined the effects of a goal setting intervention on self-efficacy, motivational beliefs, and academic engagement in alternative Grade 10 mathematics classes for learners with special needs. The teacher modeled and scaffolded students' writing of daily learning goals throughout a onesemester mathematics course, with the goal of increasing student engagement and self-efficacy in mathematics. Research questions focused on changes in students' engagement, learning behaviours, and mathrelated motivational beliefs during the course, as their goal statements became more focused and descriptive. Although individual variability in responses to motivation and self-efficacy measures typified the data from this small sample of learners, the goal-setting intervention appeared to help most students to stay engaged in achievement-oriented classroom behaviour.