Teacher-Student Interaction as a Determinant of Academic Grades in the Secondary School

Atkinson’s Theory of Achievement Motivation: First Step Toward a Theory of Academic Motivation?

“…The theory is primarily concerned with how specialized environmental events differen-3 Parenthetically, it may be noted that a number of studies (e.g., McKeachie, 1961;McKeachie, Lin, Milholland, & Isaacson, 1966;McKeachie, Isaacson, Milholland, & Lin, 1968;Morris, 1967) have explored the interaction of classroom environment (e.g., achievement oriented, affiliation oriented) and personal orientation (e.g., low-high nAch). In general, results have provided some but not consistent confirmation of trie basic notion that high and low nAch Ss should be most motivated in presumably matching high-low nAch environments.…”

“…Subsequently, Bartman (as quoted in Heckhausen, 1967) found evidence that high nAch Ss were indeed more able to handle an independent program of study than low nAch Ss. Moreover, McKeachie (1961) and Morris (1967), while exploring personality-environment interactions in the classroom, uncovered an interesting fact. Both studies found evidence to suggest that high nAch Ss outperform low nAch Ss in classrooms which allow for or are more dependent on self-motivation.…”