Purpose: This present paper draws on a doctoral study which provides an innovative insight into the extent to which parents influence their child's motivation to learn a foreign language. Methodology: An exploratory methodology was adopted to approach this study from multiple angles, using a sequential mixed-methods research design. A…

Triggered by the pilot of the "Gao-Kao" reform, the avoidance of physics courses in senior high school has aroused the concern of society in China. The factors that influence the motivation to learn physics are an important research topic, especially for countries that have a disciplinary-based education tradition in secondary school.…

Adolescents growing up in low-income communities experience decreases in school engagement during their transition to middle school due to multiple stressors. Holding goals for their futures increases their resilience, yet research on the types of goals that are most beneficial and on parents' influence on the formation of future goals is limited.…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the learning process into the home and family space, such that parent marital status can affect the student's studies. These circumstances might pose a challenge for students in general and in particular for those coping, in addition to COVID-19, with family difficulties such as their parents' divorce. Hence, it is…

Empirically rigorous research on teacher education entry is extremely limited. Evidence on who enters teacher education and why is crucial for identifying undesired gaps in entry and can assist with teacher recruitment. Grounded in prior research, we identified four primary groups of relevant individual-level variables: student/family background,…

Research on perceived instrumentality of students' academic work for attaining life goals has shown to have positive effects on academic achievement and motivation The purpose of the study was to examine the changes in perceived instrumentality over time and to identify how significant others such as parents, teachers and peers affect changes in…

Schools in China and elsewhere are starting to teach English as a second language or foreign language (FL) to students at increasingly earlier ages. Although young learners (YLs), due to their developmental stage, are likely to be particularly susceptible to the influence of parents, parents' roles in YLs' motivation to learn English as an FL is…

We examined (a) the relative importance of perceived social support from parents, peers, and teachers; (b) the consequences associated with different types of perceived social support; and (c) the mediation by achievement goals in the relationship between perceived social support and academic outcomes. We analyzed the first 3 waves of the Korean…

Individuals are at an increased risk to drop out of the STEM pipeline if they are female or Latino, and during certain periods including high school. Families are a potential untapped resource of support for high school students. Based on the expectancy-value model, we examined if a variety of parental behaviors predicted students' ability…

Achievement goal theory distinguishes between mastery goals (the goals of developing competence) and performance goals (the goals of demonstrating competence) [Ames [1992] "Journal of Educational Psychology" 84: 261-271]. In this study, we employed this theory aiming to better understand why adolescents' motivation to learn science…

This study, conducted in four urban schools, utilized student voice to address the relationship between early adolescent developmental needs, classroom instructional practices, and academic motivation and achievement. Results indicated effective instructional design and delivery alone may not optimize junior high students' engagement and…