Testing the Relevance of Expectancy-Value Theory in the Caribbean Context

• In Event: Social and Cultural Influences on Motivation and Engagement

Abstract

According to expectancy-value theory (EVT), students make achievement-related choices based on their expectations for success, and their valuing of tasks within a domain. Expectancies and values are influenced by the motivation of significant others in their social environment—parents, teachers, and peers— (the perceived motivation milieu) and are also major predictors of student academic engagement and achievement. We tested the EVT framework in Jamaican schools analyzing data from 585 students. Results show a) students’ own motivation is influenced by their motivation milieu and b) engagement mediated the student motivation to achievement relationship. Findings demonstrate the viability of EVT as a framework for studying student motivation in the Caribbean—a region relatively neglected in academic motivation and engagement research to date.

Authors

• Tamica G. Martin, University of New South Wales

• Paul Evans, School of Education

• Andrew J. Martin, The University of New South Wales