Impact of Expectancy-Value and Situational Interest Motivation Specificity on Physical Education Outcomes

Abstract

To be successful in learning, students need to be motivated to engage and learn. The domain-specificity motivation theory articulates that student motivation is often determined by the content being taught to them. The purpose of this study was to extend the theory by determining domain-specificity of situational interest and expectancy-value motivation in terms of engagement and achievement outcomes in physical education. A random student sample (N = 346) from eight Chinese middle schools provided data of situational interest, expectancy-value, engagement, and knowledge and skills acquired. Results from correlation, regression, and structural equation model analyses revealed causal inferences demonstrating differentiated effects of motivation components on the outcome measures: task values were specific to knowledge outcome, expectancy beliefs to skills, and situational interest to engagement. The findings imply that physical educators need to adopt motivation strategies compatible to specific learning outcomes to maximize student motivation for engagement and achievement.

Changes in self-efficacy and task value in online learning

“…In various studies, task value was found to be a significant predictor of both student learning achievement and satisfaction with both traditional courses (Ding, Sun, & Chen, 2013;Niculescuc & Cosma, 2013;Zhang, Solmon, & Gu, 2012) and online courses (Artino, 2008;Bong, 2001;Chiu & Wang, 2008;Lin, Lin, & Laffey, 2008;Yukselturk & Bulut, 2007). Pintrich (1989) and Dweck (1989) proposed that task value -whether utility, interest, or importance -encourages student engagement in the task, which in turn fosters a deeper approach to learning.…”

“…In previous studies (i.e., Bates & Khasawneh, 2007;Bong, 2001;DeTure, 2004;Ding, Sun, & Chen, 2013;Holder, 2007;Niculescuc & Cosma, 2013;Sun et al, 2008;Wang & Newlin, 2002;Wang et al, 2013;Yukselturk & Bulut, 2007;Zhang, Solmon, & Gu, 2012), the motivational constructs, course content self-efficacy, online technologies self-efficacy, and task value, were assumed to be stable over time and were used to predict the learning outcomes, such as student satisfaction and performance. In this study, these three variables are not assumed to be stable, and they are examined regarding whether they fluctuate across a semester.…”

Relationship Between Motivation and Learning in Physical Education and After-School Physical Activity

“…A recent meta-analysis in physical education has revealed that expectancy value and situational interest are the most prevalent motivational sources for K -12 learners (S. . Ding, Sun, and Chen (2013) further indicated that the situational interest components are strongly associated with physical engagement (i.e., caloric expenditure), while the expectancy-value components are associated with knowledge and skill-learning outcomes in middle school physical education. Situational interest can also result in increased topic interest, which influences learners' positive affective responses and subsequently leads to increased persistence in learning behaviors and increased achievement (Ainley, Hidi, & Berndorff, 2002).…”

Antecedents of Engagement in Community-Based Crowdsourcing

“…However, researchers in online education reported similar findings in recent years. For example, Ding et al [23] found that both the success of motivational strategies used by the educators and engagement of the students in the task was determined by the level of inherent personal interest of the students towards the task itself. Flowerday and Shell [25] found that both topical and situational interests were related to engagement directly and also indirectly through motivation.…”