BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.17, No.2, 2024, BECE 1869 

 

 

 

 

The Relationship between Achievement Goal 

Orientation and Academic Achievement in Senior 

Secondary School Students: The Mediating 

Effect of Self-Regulated Learning 

By Sun, W., Guo, K., Zhao, X., Zhang, J., Luo, R., & Si, J. 
Correspondence to: Jiwei Si, Shandong Normal University. E-mail: 

sijiwei1974@126.com 

CADEMIC achievement is not only an indicator of students’ learning 

outcomes but also a predictor of their future academic well-being, so-

cial adaptation, and career development. The achievement goal, as a basic 

component of the achievement motivation of the individual, has the potential 

to pose significant impacts on student academic performance. According to 

the achievement goal orientation theory, student achievement goals include 

the performance approach goal, performance avoidance goal mastery ap-

proach goal, and mastery avoidance goal. This article is a close examination 

of the relation between the achievement goal orientation and academic 

achievement in Chinese senior secondary school students as well as the me-

diating effect of self-regulated learning on this relationship. The research is 

based on a longitudinal survey of academic results of 1,389 10th and 11th 

graders within six months.  

 Research findings:  

• The mastery approach and avoidance goals had significantly 

positive and direct effects on students’ immediate and ensuing 

academic results, as opposed to the significantly negative and 

direct effects of the performance avoidance goal. 

• The performance approach, mastery approach, and mastery 

avoidance goals could indirectly and positively predict students’ 

immediate and ensuing academic results via the mediation of 

student self-regulated learning. On the contrary, the perfor-

mance avoidance goal could indirectly and negatively predict 

students’ immediate and ensuing academic results via the medi-

ating effect of student self-regulated learning.  

The research demonstrates that there are variations in the effect on 

student academic results among distinct achievement goals. It provides em-

pirical evidence to explorations of how to help high school students establish 

appropriate achievement goals and increase self-regulated learning capacities 

for improving their academic achievement. 

A 

mailto:sijiwei1974@126.com


 

Vol.17, No.2, 2024, BECE 1870 

 
Source: Psychological Science, 2024; 17(1):78-86.