The Relationships Between Achievement Goal, Teacher Instructional Practices and Students’ Academic Achievement

Abstract

Among the many factors contributing to the students’ competency in learning are students’ motivation and teacher instructional practices. Motivation is the internal state of an individual that arouses, directs and sustains behaviour. Achievement goal theory has been one of the most prominent theories of motivation in educational research for more than 25 years (Senko, Hulleman, & Harackiewicz, 2011). It has been used in order to identify students’ motivation and achievementrelated behaviours. On the other hand, teacher instructional practices are one of the factors that could influence students’ learning (Maulana, Opdenakker & Bosker, 2016). Many studies have described that teaching practices are related to effective classroom learning and students’ outcome (Mercer & DeRosier, 2010). Different experts emphasised that different practices in teaching could efficiently move students forward in their learning. Therefore, this paper explores the relationships between students’ achievement goals and academic achievement and also the possible moderation by teacher instructional practices. As this paper is driven by a concept paper approach, discussions on the findings are based on relevant literature review, which includes discussions on the theories and past research findings. A framework that signifies the possible relationship among the variables is provided.