Factor structure and predictive utility of the 2 x 2 achievement goal model in a sample of Taiwan students

Abstract

This study examined structure and predictive utility of the 2 x 2 achievement goal model among Taiwan pre-university school students (ages 10 to 16) who learned Chinese language arts. The confirmatory factor analyses of Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Chinese version provided good fitting between the factorial and dimensional structures with the data. The mastery-avoidance goals are distinctive perceived by Taiwan students but do not mediate between self-efficacy and Chinese performance while other three achievement goals are effective mediators. When examining the mediating effects of the dimensional goal structure, the approach-avoidance factors along the valence dimension seemed to be more successful than the mastery-performance factors along the definition dimension. Taken together, our data strongly supports that AGQ-C is a reliable and valid measure for the 2 x 2 achievement goals. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.