Abstracts - Earli

We observed positive effects on motivation and knowledge acquisition within both traininggroups. As expected, an enhancement of the control strategies was only evident in the selfregulationcondition. Moreover, the additional self-regulation training led to better knowledgeacquisition than the exclusive motivational training.Conceptual and empirical dimensions of students’ evaluation-related goalsMarina Serra de Lemos, University of Porto, PortugalTelma Leite, University of Porto, PortugalClaudia Lopes, University of Porto, PortugalTo clarify the current debate within achievement goal theory concerning performance goals, wesuggest that there is more to students’ evaluation-related goals than the concept of performancegoals comprises. Goal theory identified three dimensions of performance goals: approachavoidant,competition, and appearance concerns (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; Grant & Dweck,2003). However, whereas evaluation-related goals may include strong goal statements stressingcompetition and/or appearance, they mainly consist of weaker goal statements such as receivingpositive evaluations or avoiding negative ones (Lemos, 1996). Moreover, research has questionedthe very relevance of performance goals (Brophy, 2005; Lemos, 1996; Urdan, 2001). This studydefined three main aims: to establish (1) the distinctiveness and (2) the relevance of competitiveand appearance concerns (performance goals) within students’ overall evaluation-related goals,and (3) whether approach and avoidant goals are empirically distinct. A pool of evaluation-relatedgoals was formed combining three dimensions: approach-avoidance, appearance (present-absent),and competition (present-absent). From the eight resulting combinations, 2 refer to goals withappearance and competitive purposes, 2 to only appearance purposes, 2 to only competitivepurposes, and 2 to evaluation goals (without reference to appearance or competition). 120, fifthand sixth grade students from two city schools in the North of Portugal, answered the evaluationrelatedgoals items (9 point Likert scale); two weeks later they also completed the personal goalsscales of the PALS (Midgley et al, 2000). Principal component analysis confirmed thatperformance goals involving competition and/or appearance only partially cover the conceptualand empirical field of students’ evaluation-related goals. Moreover, the analysis of goal prioritiesrevealed that students focus mainly on getting positive evaluations and avoiding poor ones, andonly to a smaller extent on competition.Balancing cocial and academic goals at high schoolMichael Townsend, Massey University, New ZealandMei Lai, University of Auckland, New ZealandBalancing Social and Academic Goals at High School Recent research has focused on theinterplay between social goals and academic goals, often perceived by students and teachers to bein conflict. Using Dodge et al’s (1989) theoretical account of strategies to coordinate multiplegoals, this study examined how high school students deal with a typical situation in which anacademic goal (completing an assignment for credit) is in potential conflict with a social goal(attending a best friend’s birthday party). In four iterations of the situation, the goals weresystematically varied in urgency. Using ratings of the likelihood of using particular strategies, andinterviews with students, it was found that although students valued both academic and socialgoals, their preference was to maximise the social goal. If the academic goal was not urgent,students favoured a strategy deferring the academic goal in favour of the social goal. If theacademic goal was urgent, students favoured a single integrative strategy in which both goals weresimilarly favoured without modification of either goal. The results are discussed in terms of the– 84 –