Goals, Goal Structures, and Patterns of Adaptive Learning by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 425438
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

7

Can Achievement Goal Theory Enhance Our Understanding of the Motivation and Performance of African American Young Adolescents?

Kimberley Edelin Freeman

Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, Fairfax, Virginia

Leslie Morrison Gutman

University of Michigan

Carol Midgley

University of Michigan

The study of the motivational characteristics of African American students has a long history in psychological research, in an attempt to determine the origins of this group’s persistent underachievement in school. Although the achievement motivation of African Americans has undergone extensive investigation in psychological research, the theories, assumptions, and explanations offered have not received consistent support (Kaplan & Maehr, 1999). Early studies narrowly defined the achievement motivation of African Americans as lacking and negative, whereas contemporary research often takes a more holistic approach and views their motivation in context and as positive and adaptive.

Many of the early explanations of the achievement motivation of African Americans can be characterized as “deficit” theories, or theories that blame the victim for his or her failures. These perspectives view the African American child (and family) as the problem and fail to consider characteristics of schools and classrooms that might contribute to the seemingly poor motivational orientation of African American students (Maehr & Midgley, 1999). Some researchers posit that African American learners are “culturally deprived” and not prepared to succeed academically because of inadequate parental socialization and disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., Moynihan, 1965). Other researchers suggest that because of societal racism and discrimination, African American students have low self-esteem, and feel hopeless and defeated, resulting in little motivation for school (Cummings, 1997). Finally, some researchers examining the motivational characteristics of African American students assert that these learners have little intrinsic drive for learning, and are externally motivated and in need of reinforcement to maintain their engagement in schoolwork (see Banks, McQuater, & Hubbard, 1978; Banks, Ward, McQuater, & DeBritto, 1991, for reviews). This body of research has also consistently compared the motivational characteristics of African Americans to Whites and has classified African Americans as inferior (see Banks et al., 1978; Graham, 1994, for reviews).

Cultural and structural theories have dissented from deficit perspectives and have focused instead on the cultural strengths of African American learners, and the societal and school factors that may be related to their lower school achievement (Boykin, 1986; Delpit, 1988; Ladson-Billings, 1994; McLoyd, 1991; Ogbu, 1988; Steele, 1997). These researchers recognize the cultural integrity of African American students and/or the structural barriers that they confront in society and in the school system. Delpit and Boykin both focused on the “cultural capital” that White students are afforded in the classroom because American education is predicated upon a White, middle-class cultural frame of reference, and White students are members of this culture of power. They posited that African American students, especially those who are poor, are not participants in the culture of power, and thus are disadvantaged and placed at risk for failure in the classroom. Success in school, then, is dependent on the acquisition of White, middle-class culture (Delpit, 1988). Delpit asserted, however, that African American students (and other students outside the culture of power) are not given sufficient access to the rules and codes of the dominant culture.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.