These are task goals and ability goals. A task goal orientation represents the belief that the purpose of achieving is personal improvement and understanding. Students with a task goal orientation focus on their own progress in mastering skills and knowledge, and they define success in those terms. Students with an ability goal orientation focus on appearing competent, often in comparison to others, and define success accordingly. If adopting a task goal orientation is related to positive educational outcomes for students, the question then arises as to how such an orientation can be fostered.
Competence involves understanding how to, and believing that one can, achieve various outcomes.
Relatedness involves developing satisfactory connections to others in one's social group. Autonomy involves initiating and regulating one's own actions. Most of the research in self-determination theory focuses on the last of these three needs. Within the classroom, autonomy needs could be addressed through allowing some student choice and input on classroom decision making. For young adolescent students, with their increased cognitive abilities and developing sense of identify, a sense of autonomy may be particularly important.