Middle School Students Academic Motivation: A Missing Element in a General Education Quality Improvement Program in Ethiopia

Abstract

This research was conducted to show policy makers and quality improvement personnel how the classroom and personal goals related to academic effort and intrinsic motivation employing the revised goal theory of motivation. 809 middle school students were taken from different schools by stratified and systematic sampling techniques from Jimma zone, Ethiopia. The study found out mastery classroom goal was high (Mean =2.49, S=.42) relative to performance-approach classroom goal (Mean =2.48, S=.42) and performance-avoidance classroom goal (Mean =2.28, S=.57); and also mastery goal was high (Mean =2.89, S=.24) as compared to performance avoidance goal (Mean =2.52, S=.49) and performance approach goal (Mean =2.38, S=.57). A test of one-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant mean differences in students’ mastery goal between grade 6 and 7 students and between grade 6 and 8 students, F (2,647) = 6.085, p=.002. 7% of the variance in students’ intrinsic motivation in the academic task was explained for by the linear combination of the independent variables. Similarly, 11% of the variance in students’ effort in the academic task was explained for by the linear combination of the independent variables. Moreover, the study found out mastery goals and performance goals had positive and negative outcomes, respectively. The study implies the General Education Quality Improvement Programs (GEQIP) in Ethiopia should be revisited in a way that addresses explicitly the motivation of middle school students at a classroom level.