Distinct Roles of Different Types of Cost in Predicting Adolescent Students' Academic Motivation and Achievement

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Social and Cultural Contexts in Learning and Instruction

Abstract

In the context of learning, cost has mostly been discussed under the expectancy-value framework and conceptualized as reflecting the negative aspects of task engagement. Cost has multiple facets but its role in predicting students’ academic outcomes is underexplored in the empirical literature. In the present study, we investigated the potential distinct roles of different types of cost in predicting academic motivation and achievement. The results revealed that different types of cost have distinctively predicted students’ academic outcomes. Specifically, effort cost directly and negatively predicted academic achievement. Emotional cost directly predicted avoidance intentions. Ego cost predicted performance-avoidance goals, which were subsequently linked to avoidance intentions. Opportunity cost, in contrast, had less predictive power than the other types of cost.

Author

• Yi Jiang, East China Normal University