Predicting academic engagement based on goal orientation and intelligence and motivational beliefs in students

The aim of this study was to predict academic conflict based on goal orientation, intelligence, and motivational beliefs in students.
In this descriptive-correlational study, the statistical population included all students of Hamadan University who were studying in the academic year 1399-1400. The sample size was selected based on Cochran's formula of 384 people using the convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were the Academic Conflict Questionnaire by Rio and Tsang (2011), Elliott and McGregor's goal orientation questionnaire (2011), Babaei's Intelligence Beliefs Questionnaire (1998), and Pantrich and De Groot's Motivational Beliefs Questionnaire (1990). Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were simultaneously analyzed using SPSS software.
The results showed a significant positive correlation between avoidance mastery, performance-orientation, intelligence enhancement, self-efficacy, internal evaluation, and goal orientation with academic engagement, and a significant negative correlation between avoidance mastery, avoidance performance, intrinsicity, and test anxiety with academic engagement (p < 0.01). Beta coefficients in goal orientation and intelligence and motivational beliefs show that performance-tendency, increased intelligence, self-efficacy, and internal evaluation are positive and significant predictors of academic engagement, while performance-avoidance, innate intelligence, and test anxiety are negative predictors and significantly contribute to academic conflict (p < 0.05).
The results of this study can help higher education planners and implementers to adopt appropriate educational policies for students' academic engagement and the factors affecting it.
Extended abstract
Today, educational systems are facing many changes. One of the important challenges in the field of improving the quality of education and the success of students in their studies is to motivate them, and one of its most important indicators is the involvement of students in their studies (Wan and colleagues, 2014). The active involvement of the learner in academic affairs is one of the most important predictors of academic outcomes such as high grades, attendance at school, effective coping, and resilience (Skinner and Pitzen, 2014). By engaging in learning and learning tasks, cognitive and behavioral goals can be achieved (Azadi et al., 2018; Wang, 2013). Other factors also affect the cognitive engagement of students, one of the most important of which is goal orientation (Pospoki, 2018; Koopman et al., 2014). Goal orientation reflects the goals that students pursue while learning; Like motivation, goal orientation changes from internal to external (Koopman et al., 2014). Another factor related to academic conflict is intelligence beliefs. There is a significant relationship between intelligence beliefs and academic engagement (Hejazi Rastegar et al., 2018). Dweck considers intelligence beliefs to include intrinsic beliefs and incremental beliefs. Learners who have an incremental belief about intelligence mainly emphasize improving their skills and acquiring new knowledge and try to overcome past failures and believe that intelligence is not a fixed and unchangeable substance, but can be increased through effort and experience (Dweck and Molden, 2017). Another factor that is related to academic engagement is motivational beliefs (Mazhlumian et al., 2014), which according to Pintridge and DeGroot, is classified into three components: expectation, value, and emotion. The expectation component includes students' beliefs about their abilities to perform the assignment. The value component includes students' goals and their beliefs about the importance and interest in the assignment. The emotional component includes emotional reactions to the task (Rezaei et al., 2011).
 
In this descriptive-correlational study, the statistical population included all students of Hamadan University in the academic year of 2021. In this research, there were 10 predictive variables, which required at least 150 sample people. However, for better generalization, 384 people were selected to participate in the research. This research was conducted in the first half of the academic year 2021 among undergraduate students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. From the research population, 384 people were selected as available from the educational groups of health and paramedical faculties. The criterion for determining the sample size in the present study was Cochran's formula with a probability of 95%. According to the current conditions and the quarantine period caused by the spread of the coronavirus, data collection was done in the form of an internet link in the Porsline system and it was distributed in student groups. In this research, a questionnaire was used to collect the necessary data.
 
The results of the correlation matrix between research variables showed that there is a significant positive correlation with academic involvement between tendency mastery (p < 0.01, r = 0.729), tendency performance (p < 0.01, r = 0.741), increasing intelligence (p < 0.01, r = 0.288), self-efficacy (p < 0.01, r = 0.435), goal orientation (p < 0.01, r = 0.323), internal evaluation (p < 0.01, r = 0.559). There is a significant negative correlation with academic involvement between avoidance mastery (r = -0.446, p < 0.01), avoidance performance (r = -0.418, p < 0.01), belief in the innateness of intelligence (r = -0.685, p < 0.01), exam anxiety (p < 0.01, r = -0.400). To predict educational conflict based on goal orientation, intelligence, and motivational beliefs, multivariate regression analysis was done simultaneously. Beta coefficients showed that performance-orientation (β = 0.459), increased intelligence (β = 0.198), self-efficacy (β = 0.115), and internal valuation (β = 0.068) are positive and significant predictors of academic engagement, while performance-avoidance (β = -0.217), the innateness of intelligence (β = -0.263), and test anxiety (β = -0.269) are negative and significant predictors of academic conflicts. These findings are consistent with the researches (Rio, 2011; Saif, 2015; Azadi, 2018; Grochia, 2018; Pospoki, 2018; Mazloumian, 2013).
 
According to the results of the present research, due to the influence of orientational performance on academic engagement, it is better that the subjects of the study are recognized as enjoyable and useful for life in the eyes of the students, so that their internal motivation to learn increases, and in this way, they will have more insistence on learning. Also, considering the effectiveness of the avoidance function of academic inclusion, personal and educational experiences, and avoidance strategies of students, the importance of professional help to them to deal with stressful academic problems, knowledge of solutions to face problems, and teaching communication skills. Stress management techniques are important and should be considered. Students who hold innate intelligence beliefs focus on achieving adequate performance and expend minimal effort to overcome problems. Students who believe that intelligence is an innate and inflexible trait are more prone to learned helplessness and believe that hard work has no effect on improving this trait. Students with higher levels of hope are more focused on their goals and more motivated. Hope, as a positive psychological force, creates motivation in people that encourages them to achieve success and causes them to try and manage more in academic affairs to achieve success.
The findings of this research showed that tendency performance, avoidance performance, innate intelligence, additive intelligence, self-efficacy, internal evaluation, and test anxiety have the ability to predict students' academic engagement. According to the findings of the research, in order to increase the level of students' academic involvement, it is necessary to design and implement a formal and regular planning during the academic year, including the provision of psychological capital training workshops to strengthen and promote students' academic involvement.