Abstract:

Motivation is the reason for people’s actions, desires, and needs. Academic motivation is a key factor in the education process. Motivation has been shown to positively influence various aspects (e.g. learning styles, study strategy, adjustment, well-being) as well as students’ academic achievement (Kusurkar, Catev Vos, Westers, & Croiset, 2013; Vansteenkiste, Zhou, Lens, & Soenens, 2005). Academic achievement plays a vital role in education. It is one of the most important outcomes of the education process – a crucial mechanism through which students learn about their talent, abilities, and competences. Thus the aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between these important factors: academic motivation and academic achievement. The main research questions were “Is academic motivation associated with academic achievement?” and “Are these potential relationships influenced by the demographics?” The research sample consisted of 710 university students (mean age = 22.61, SD = 4.173, range 19-55 years) of whom 116 were male (mean age = 23.34, SD = 3.578) and 594 were female (mean age = 22.47, SD = 4.268). The study was conducted in compliance with applicable ethical principles. The research method included the application of two questionnaires. The Academic Achievement Questionnaire (AAQ, Novotný & Křeménková, in preparation) is a new 9-item questionnaire designed to measure academic achievement. The questionnaire includes three subscales: study performance, coping with study requirements, and social adaptation. The reliability of the questionnaire subscales equals ω = 0.801, 0.810 and 0.638. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMSC-28, Vallerand, et al., 1992) is a scale based on the self-determination theory and comprises 28 items divided into 7 subscales assessing 3 types of intrinsic motivation, 3 types of extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. The reliability of the questionnaire reaches an acceptable level of ω = .81 (Vallerand, et al., 1992). The data were analysed in SPSS 21 using descriptive statistics calculation, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression (Stepwise method). The correlation analysis confirmed the assumption suggesting a relationship between academic motivation and academic achievement. Higher motivation is positively correlated with better academic achievement in all of its dimensions, while amotivation is negatively correlated. The subsequent multiple regression analysis confirmed and particularized these findings. The final model explained 14% of the variance of the total score of academic achievement (adj. R2 = 0.140), 3% of the variance of study performance (adj. R2 = 0.030), 11% of the variance of coping with study requirements (adj. R2 = 0.108), and 9% of the variance of social adaptation (adj. R2 = 0.091) of academic motivation. On the contrary, in relation to demographic variables the partial correlations did not confirm that demographic characteristics of the respondents (gender, year of study, type of study, field of study, and special educational needs) would affect the relationship between academic motivation and academic achievement. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Keywords:

Academic motivation, academic achievement, university students.