The relations between self-determination, achievement motivation and academic achievement

Abstract

This study's aim was to investigate whether self-determined behaviour and achievement motivation impact learner's academic performance. Convenient geographic sampling was used to select three pnmary schools in Soshanguve. A likert type questionnaire was used to collect data from 120 learners. Item analyses were preformed to investigate the reliability of subscales. Three hypotheses were tested using analysis of variance and Pearson product moment correlations. The first, which predicted that intrinsic motivation is positively related to academic achievement, was not supported. Both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated learners achieved better in academic tasks than amotivated learners. The second, which predicted a negative correlation between extrinsic motivation extrinsic motivation and academic performance, was also not supported. The third, which predicted that there is a negative correlation between amotivation and academic performance, was confirmed. General conclusions, recommendations, and limitations of the study are discussed.