Abstract

Former studies have indicated that goal plays a leading role in individuals’ development and for students study, learning goal is indispensable. The significance of learning goal has been emphasized in several studies before and it is mentioned that students with specific learning goal perform better than those without, and learning goals can be influenced by teachers’ intervention. However, as students are facing with the new requirement of the reform of university entrance examination, the goal setting for them are more important. This study mainly investigated the effects of learning goal setting strategies on senior high school students, especially on their English academic performance and the correlation between learning goal awareness and academic performance under the background of the new form of university entrance examination. A set of questionnaires for the assessment of goal settings, goal awareness and problems of learning English were administered to 258 students form three grades, and their test grades were also taken into consideration as a measure of academic performance. The research revealed that learning goals to a certain degree can be set and developed by a series of goal setting strategies as well as the academic performance. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between learning goals and academic performance. And The present research examined the prediction of school students' grades in an upcoming English test via their minimal grade goals. The findings of the present study can be applied in helping students set and develop their learning goals, improve their academic performance and predict their real test grade in the future.

Keywords: learning goal, strategies, English academic performance, minimal grade goal

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-6

2. Literature Review-8

2.1 Learning goal and learning performance-8

2.1.1 The concept of learning goal-8

2.1.2 Minimal grade goal-8

2.1.3 The Learning goal orientation-9

2.1.4 The dimensions of learning goals-9

2.1.5 Learning goal and learning performance-10

2.2 English learning goal and goal setting strategies-10

2.2.1 Language learning goal-10

2.2.2 English learning goal for senior high school students-12

2.2.3 Goal setting and strategies planning-13

3. Research design-16

3.1 Hypothesis and research questions-16

3.2 Participants-16

3.3 Instruments-17

3.3.1 Learning goal questionnaire-17

3.3.2 English tests-18

3.3.3 Interview-18

3.3.4 Data analysis tool-19

3.4 Goal setting strategies-19

3.4.1 Theoretical stage-19

3.4.2 Goal choice strategy training-19

3.4.3 Goal commitment strategy training-20

3.5 Procedure-21

4. Results and discussion-22

4.1 The effects of the goal setting strategies on students’ English performance-22

4.2 The correlation between students’ real English academic performance and their learning goals.-24

4.3 The prediction of the next test grades based on the minimal grade goal.-25

4.4 Students’ perception on the learning goal strategy training-31

5. Conclusion and suggestions-32

5.1 Findings and suggestions-32

5.2 Limitation and future expectations-32

References-33

Appendix-38