Academic writing genres and their relationship to task goals and self-efficacy in community college composition courses

This study examined whether academic writing genres assigned in the community college composition classroom affected student self-efficacy and goal-orientation. The impact of student motivation on success is well documented in the literature reviewed, as is the fact that motivation is itself impacted by task. However, the relationship between writing task and motivational factors related to writing goals and writing self-efficacy are less clear. Guided by social-cognitive theory, the study employs embedded mixed-methods research to qualitatively code instructor assignments in an emergent fashion. Two quantitative surveys were used to measure student Achievement Goal and writing self-efficacy with respect to instructor assignment genres. Results from this study indicate that student Achievement Goals do not change in relation to assignment genre, but that there are significant differences in self-efficacy between writing genres. In particular, Mastery Goals are positively correlated with self-efficacy, while Performance Avoidance Goals are negatively correlated with self-efficacy, Relational Reflective Writing, and Creative Identity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Petrea, Zach S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kalantzis, Mary
• Cope, William
• Kang, Hyum-Sook
• You, Yu-ling

• Community College
• Composition
• Writing
• Genre
• Self-efficacy
• Goal-orientation
• Mixed-methods
• Achievement Goal

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Zachary Petrea

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127196

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F127196