The Relationship between English Language Learners’ Achievement Goals and Academic Performance: A look at Learners’ Goal Motives

The present mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between learners’ achievement goals and academic performance. It also explored the goal motives of English language learners. The research, a cross-sectional survey, studied 372 BA University English language learners majoring in English language teaching, translation studies, and English literature at Islamic Azad University, Kerman and Zahedan branches. To collect the data, the learners’ Achievement Goal Questionnaire (Elliot et al., 2011) was submitted to English language learners either in person or via email. Their academic achievement was calculated based on the university report including both theoretical and practical courses. In addition, a semi-structured interview was used to explore the learners’ reflections concerning the orientations of their achievement goals. Correlations showed that achievement goals correlated positively with academic performance among English language learners. And among learners’ achievement goals, task-avoidance goals, other-approach goals, and other-avoidance goals could predict learners’ academic performance meaningfully. Besides, the qualitative findings revealed that English language learners’ goals are motivated by prior experience, personality, academic achievements, and interests. In brief, the study of the academic goals of students can facilitate the identification of their goal orientations and therefore can become a support tool for teachers when selecting materials and adapting the contents of the curricular program accordingly.