Motivational Factors, Learning Strategies and Resource Management as Predictors of Course Grades.

This study investigated the association between motivational factors and course grades for freshman and upper level college students (measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionaire, MSLQ). Self-efficacy and effort regulation were strong predictors for both groups. Instrinsic motivation was associated with course grades, but not extrinsic. The study suggests the MSLQ may be useful for both university faculty and staff to enhance student diagnosis and learning effectiveness. ********** Faculty and staff need diagnostic information to suggest what might be done to improve college level learning. A theoretically valid assessment instrument that both predicts course grades and informs academic intervention would be most useful. This study investigates the relationship between responses to the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and course grades. The MSLQ is designed to be sensitive to relevant motivational and study strategies factors. The motivational model adopted by the current study suggests that motivation to learn is influenced by values, expectancy, and affect factors (Pintrich, 1988). The values identified in this research are intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, and task value. Intrinsically oriented students view learning as worthwhile to satisfy their own curiosity and thirst for knowledge, whereas extrinsically oriented students work to satisfy external goals (such as good grades or to please others). Task value is the extent to which a student finds a course useful, valuable, or interesting. The expectancy factor refers to student perception such as control orientation in which they believe they have control over their learning strategies and learning environment. Self-efficacy refers to student's self-confidence that they can master the course demands, while expectancy for success indicates the extent to which they believe they will reach their self-defined course performance. Previous research by Pintrich, McKeachie, and Smith (1989) found that control, self-efficacy, and high scores in expectancy for success were associated with greater cognitive engagement and course success. The MSLQ also assesses test anxiety. Test anxiety has been shown to be negatively related to academic performance and effects future learning beliefs and behavior. Learning strategies investigated here derive from an extensive body of cognitive research indicating that cognitive processing affects the quality of student learning. Learning strategies include rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, and metacognitive-regulation. Students must use different strategies for different learning demands. Rehearsal is a learning strategy effective for learning discrete information. However, rehearsal does not provide the depth of knowledge to understand relationships between ideas within an academic field. This requires deeper processing using cognitive strategies that attend to the structure of knowledge within a field. Elaboration helps students develop this richer knowledge base. Paraphrasing, summarizing, creating analogies, and generative note taking are examples of elaborative strategies. Academic disciplines consist of a body of knowledge organized in a particular way. Becoming proficient within a major therefore requires an organization cognitive strategy such as clustering, outlining, and distinguishing between the main idea and supporting ideas in a text or lecture. As used in this study, Critical thinking is "the extent to which students report applying previous knowledge to new situations in order to solve problems, reach decisions, or make critical evaluations with respect to standards of excellence. " (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991, p. 22). Metacognitive-regulation investigated in this study refers to metacognitive processing, a student's awareness, knowledge, and control of their learning. …