Achievement motivation for band: A cross-cultural examination of the 2 × 2 achievement goal motivation framework

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the achievement goal motivation orientations of instrumental music students in the US and Singapore. Participants in this study were volunteer band students ( N = 359) from eight American public high schools ( n = 217) and five polytechnics in Singapore ( n = 142). Data were collected via a questionnaire that included measures of (a) the 2 × 2 achievement goal orientation constructs (mastery approach, mastery avoid, performance approach, and performance avoid), (b) flow in band rehearsal, (c) grit in practicing, and (d) commitment to band. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework specifying four latent variables (mastery approach, mastery avoid, performance approach, performance avoid) was the best relative fit to the data when compared with competing dichotomous and trichotomous models. In contrast to previous research comparing achievement goals of learners from collectivistic and individualistic cultures, no significant differences in achievement goal sub-scale means were found as a function of culture. However, some differentiated patterns of relationship were found between the achievement goal sub-scales and flow, grit, and commitment to band as a function of culture.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of University Students’ Motivation Toward Band and Academics in Singapore and the United States

“…Miksza (2009a) examined the validity of the 2 × 2 achievement goal model using self-report data from secondary instrumental students. In line with research conducted in academic and sports settings (Elliot & McGregor, 2001;Elliot & Murayama, 2008;Wang, Biddle, & Elliot, 2007), confirmatory factor analyses indicated that when compared with competing dichotomous and trichotomous models, the 2 × 2 achievement goal model was the best relative fit to the data, a finding replicated in a follow-up study (Miksza, Tan, & Dye, 2016). In both studies, fair amounts of covariance were detected between the approach and avoidance dimensions of both mastery and performance constructs.…”

Measuring pre-service music teachers’ creative identities: a cross-cultural comparison of the United States and Singapore

“…On the whole, the individual item scores of the Singapore participants appeared higher than those of their US counterparts. These findings stand in contrast to a line of Singapore-US cross-cultural research in music education which found no significant differences among instrumental students' achievement goal orientations toward band (Miksza, Tan and Dye, 2016;Tan & Miksza, 2018), and little differences among general music teachers' pedagogical creativity (Abramo & Tan, 2017). Given that Asians are in general less likely to indicate extreme scores in Likert-type scales (Chen, Lee and Stevenson, 1995), the higher scores reported in this study suggest some possible avenues for fruitful comparisons in music teacher education between the two countries.…”

The 2 × 2 Standpoints Model of Achievement Goals

“…Some achievement motivation research has suggested that individuals in Eastern countries such as Japan, South Korea, and China, are more avoidance-oriented, focus more on the process of improvement than on outcomes per se , and desire to fit in rather than stand out (Dekker and Fischer, 2008 ; Heine, 2008 ; Elliot et al, 2012 ; King and McInnerney, 2014 ). It would be interesting to extend research on the 2 × 2 standpoints model to these countries and to conduct cross-cultural comparisons of the prevalence and implications of adopting these goals in different cultural contexts (for related work using the 2 × 2 standards model, see King, 2015 ; Miksza et al, 2016 ; Poondej and Lerdpornkulrat, 2016 ). Another limitation is that we focused only on the predictive utility of goal pursuit and did not examine antecedents of goal adoption.…”