Đilvesi Evelin,

GOAL ORIENTATION OF THE SEVENTH AND THE

EIGHTH GRADE SERBIAN ESL STUDENTS

1. Introduction

Learning is a complex process and includes many factors which may influence students’
success. Setting goals during the process of learning is considered as an important predictor of
success. It may be used to explain students’ reasons for wanting to academically achieve and
their behaviour while striving towards their goals. The aim of this research paper was to
determine whether the seventh and the eighth grade Serbian ESL students are oriented towards
performance, social affiliation and social approval goals to the same extent. The main research
question was whether there are goal orientation differences between the seventh and the eighth
grade Serbian ESL students. Besides that, the research tried to prove or reject four hypotheses
dealing with students’ goal orientation in relation to their gender, English language grade, grade
point average from the previous semester and attendance at the English language school
competition.

2. Theoretical framework

Goal orientation is one of the two crucial elements of self-regulation process. Self-
regulation is explained as a mechanism of learning process during which learners set their goals
and manage learning strategies (Kozlowski et al., 2001). The importance of goal orientation
theory has been emphasized by many authors. According to some of them, the goal orientation
theory is related to the achievement motivation and answers the questions such as way and how
learners are motivated to achieve their learning goals (Pintrich, 2000). The goal orientation theory
explains the reasons for being engaged with a learning process. Furthermore, Kozlowski et al.
(2001: 2) claim that the goal orientation influences the nature and quality of the learning process.
Moreover, it is agreed by Pintrich (2000) and Hsieh et al. (2007) that the goal orientation
influences students’ motivation and performance. The goal orientation theory explains elements
necessary for approaching and completing a certain task (Hsieh et al., 2007). There are authors
such as Kaplan and Maehr (2006), who analyzed the nature of goal orientation. They believe that
the goal orientation is part of learners’ cognitive life. Thus, there are two possible perspectives
for approaching the nature of the goal orientation. The first one is that the learners’ goal
orientation might derive from the features of learning environment, such as classroom. The
possible features in the classroom might be different types of tasks, the grading procedure etc.
(Wolters, 2004: 236). When it comes to the second perspective, it assumes goal orientation which
is based on students’ individual features, such as different needs and values. In conclusion,
students’ learning process, motivation and performance are highly influenced by goal orientation,
making it crucial for students’ academic achievement (Kozlowski et al., 2001: 2).

Goals may be defined as cognitive representations of various purposes which students

might adopt for learning in an achievement situation (Pintrich et al., 1993: 176). Therefore,
learning goals may be understood as a driving force for students’ behaviour and achievement in a
learning situation which directs their actions and provides motivation during a learning process.
Even though the ultimate goal could be academic success, there are various reasons for achieving
it. Those reasons might be to achieve high grades, to master the subject matter, to outperform
other students etc. Thus, different goal orientations must be recognized. In order to distinguish
different orientations, models of goal orientations were established. Different authors offer
different terminology, but mostly similar definitions, agreeing upon the existence of two general
goal orientation models. One of the models, introduced by Ames (1992) includes division into
goal orientation beliefs and task-specific goals. This model is based on the explanation that the
goal orientation is an integrated part of students’ beliefs. According to the author, goal orientation
beliefs are based on students’ perception of the learning situation. Therefore, individual
differences among students may be noticed. These beliefs and perceptions influence students’
general goals. When it comes to the task-specific goals, they are based on students’ specific
ambitions during a learning process. Ames (1992) divided task-specific goals into mastery and
performance goals. Mastery goals refer to students’ ambition to improve their skills and level of
competence in order to achieve a sense of mastery in a certain subject matter. On the other hand,
performance goals refer to students’ aim to improve themselves focusing on public recognition,
superiority and ability to outperform other students. The model presented by Dweck and Legget
(1998) introduces learning goals and performance goals. As for the learning goals, the definition
is in accordance with Ames’ mastery goals. However, these authors provide more specific
definition of performance goals, claiming they can include the urge to avoid performance and
possible negative judgment as well. So, students’ performance goals could be to demonstrate
ability if they are confident or avoid performance if they are not. However, some authors
questioned if the two-goal framework is sufficient for describing goal orientation and analyzing
students’ academic achievement. Therefore, work avoidance and social goals were introduced as
two additional goal orientations. Midgley et al. (1998) explain work avoidance as students’ desire
to complete schoolwork with minimal effort. Social goals are defined as social interpersonal
reasons for students’ engagement with achievement behaviour, such as gaining the approval of a
group or an individual and establishing the desired social interaction. There are subcategories of
social goals such as social affiliation, social responsibility and social concern. The combination
of these four goal orientation categories seems to be sufficient for analyzing students’ reasons for
the academic achievement.

As it was explained by Dowson and McInerney (2003: 93) academic or achievement

goals are students’ reasons for wanting to achieve success in an academic situation. Therefore,
these goals influence students’ actions and behaviour which lead them to the success in an
achievement situation. Academic goals may encourage students to achieve different aims in a
learning situation. That is why these goals are divided into three types: mastery, performance and
work avoidance goals. In a learning process mastery goals may be predictor of students’
academic achievement. As it was stated before, mastery goals refer to students’ ambition to
improve their skills and level of competence in order to achieve a sense of mastery in a certain
subject matter (Ames, 1992). Moreover, these goals influence the existence of higher level of
students’ self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation (Pintrich et al., 1996). Students who strive
towards mastery goals usually apply self-monitoring, controlling the cognition, striving for
sufficient approaches to learning and understanding the subject matter (Pintrich, 2000: 480). On
the other hand, performance goals might be negatively related with the students’ behaviour,
cognition and motivation (Pintrich, 2000). These goals are defined as students’ desire to develop
academically in order to demonstrate their ability, to outperform other students, to get better
grades, to be rewarded or to avoid negative judgment (Dowson and McInerney, 2003). If students
strive towards these goals, they tend to characterize their success of failure according to the
amount of their perceived ability and self-efficacy in the subject matter, and not in relation to the
amount of effort (Pintrich, 2000: 475). Therefore, it seems that performance goals are less likely
to lead students to academic achievement in comparison to mastery goals. However, it is possible
that performance goals have somewhat positive effect on students’ behaviour, cognition and
motivation. Namely, Pintrich (2000) explains that performance goals may have negative effect
but only when efficacy is low. In other words, if students perceive themselves as competent to
perform a certain task the effect may be positive, resulting in students’ complete engagement
with a learning process. As it was stated before, students may strive towards the performance or
avoidance of performance. Thus, performance goals are further divided into approach and
avoidance goals. According to Kaplan and Moehr (2006) students oriented towards performance
approach goals focus on demonstration of their high ability and engaging favourable judgment,
thus they are engaged with a task. On the other hand, students oriented towards performance
avoidance goals aim at escaping the possible unfavourable judgments, which results in low
grades, low self-efficacy, anxiety etc. Dowson and McInerney (2003:93) explain work avoidance
goals as a wish to academically achieve with as little effort as possible. Possible reasons for
adopting these goals are perceiving task as purposeless or avoiding sense of humiliation and
shame (Dowson and McInerney, 2003). Besides academic goals, there are social goals which
may be highly influential when it comes to students’ behaviour and motivation in a learning
situation. As Dowson and McInerney (2003) claim social goals are social reasons for wanting to
achieve in an academic situation. In a classroom environment, there are possible dimensions
which may influence students’ academic achievement such as teacher’s support, promotion of
interaction which includes collaboration and help seeking, promotion of mutual respect which
may include positive interaction, and promotion of healthy competition (Ryam and Patrick,
2001). Based on these possible dimensions, Dowson and McInerney (2003) proposed the
subtypes of social goal orientation: social affiliation, social approval, social concern, social
responsibility and social status. As these two authors explained, social performance is students’
wish to academically achieve in order to facilitate the feeling of belonging to a specific group
alongside the establishment or maintenance of interpersonal relationships. On the other hand,
social approval goals are explained as students’ wish to academically achieve in order to gain
positive approval from peers, parents and teachers. As for social concern goals, they are defined
as students’ wish to academically achieve in order to be able to assist or help other students in
their academic or personal development. Social responsibility goals may be defined as students’
wish to academically achieve in order to preserve social and moral rules and respect social role
obligations. Finally, social status goals are explained as students’ wish to academically achieve in
order to establish or maintain certain social position in school and in later life as well.

Based on the extensive research that has been done regarding the goal orientation, we can
conclude that there is a significant relationship between different types of goals and students’
academic success. In other words, we can use goal orientation theory for explaining students’
high or low grades, their desire to master the subject matter, to outperform other students, to
avoid negative judgment or work, or to be socially accepted. When it comes to the gender
differences, previous research revealed the relationship between students’ gender and goal
orientation. Namely, mastery and social goals are associated to greater extent with female
students, while achievement goals are more associated with male students (Wentzel 1998, cited in
Arias 2004). Moreover, Thorkildsen and Nicholas (1998, cited in Arias 2004) report more
mastery goals in females and more performance-approach goals in male students.

3. Method

In order to arrive at our results and to find the answer to our research question, we
conducted the research which included a total of 99 participants, who were the current students of
the seventh and the eighth grade of elementary school …. in Novi Sad. There were 45 seventh
grade and 54 eighth grade students. Of the total number of the participants 52 were female and 47
were male. Table 3.1 shows the number and percentage of the female and male students in
relation to the grade.
 Gender
Total
female male
Count 26 19 45
seventh
% of Total 26,3% 19,2% 45,5%
Grade
Count 26 28 54
eighth
% of Total 26,3% 28,3% 54,5%
Total Count 52 47 99
% of Total 52,5% 47,5% 100,0%
Table 3.1

The data was gathered by means of the Goal Orientation and Learning Strategies Survey
(GOALS-S). This 84-item survey was designed to measure students’ motivational goal
orientations and their cognitive and metacognitive strategies. For the purpose of this research,
only 18 items were used to measure performance, social affiliation and social approval goal
orientations. Out of 18 items:

-6 items measured performance:

 I want to do well in school because being better than others is important to me.
 I try to do well at school because I am only happy when I am one of the best in the
class.
 I want to learn things so that I can come near the top of the class.
 I want to learn things so that I can get good marks.
 When I do good schoolwork it’s because I am trying to be better than others.
 I want to do well in school so that I am one of the best in my class.

-6 items measured social affiliation:

 I want to do well at school so that I can feel close to my group of friends.

 When I want to do well at school it’s so that I can have a lot of friends.
 I try to understand my schoolwork so that I will feel part of my group of friends.
 I try to do well at school so that I won’t feel left out if I don’t do well.
 I do good schoolwork so that other people will want to be friends with me.
  I do my best at school so that my friends and I will be able to stay together.

-6 items measured social approval:

 I want to do well at school so that I can get praise from my friends.

 I do good work at school because I want to be recognized by my teachers.
 I want to get praise from my teachers for good schoolwork.
 I try to do well at school to please my teachers.
 I want to do well in my schoolwork to please my parents.
 I do good work at school so that I can get praise from my parents.

The participants were asked to read each statement carefully and to decide to what extent
each of them describes their behaviour. They were given the scale from 1- I don’t agree at all to
5- I agree completely. For the purpose of this research, each statement has been translated into
Serbian language in order to help participants to answer questions more easily, accurately and
precisely. These groups of statements represented dependent variables for our research. When it
comes to the independent variables, they included questions about the participants’ grade, age,
gender, English language grade and grade point average from the first semester. In addition, the
participants were asked to whether they participated in the English language school competition.
These variables were important for answering the research question, but also to test the following
hypotheses:

 There will not be differences in setting performance, social affiliation and social
approval goals between male and female students.
 There will not be differences in setting performance, social affiliation and social
approval goals between students who attended the English language school
competition and those who did not.
 There will not be differences in setting performance, social affiliation and social
approval goals among students with different English language grades.
 There will not be differences in setting performance, social affiliation and social
approval goals among students with different grade point average from the first
semester.
 The analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS Statistics 20.

4. Results

The first step in the analysis of the results was to determine the frequencies of dependent
variables. The results should reveal what are the differences between the seventh and eighth
grade participants when it comes to their average answers regarding the dependent variables:
performance, social affiliation and social approval. As for the first dependent variable, Figures
4.1 and 4.2 show that the average score on the scale from 1 to 5 was 2,66 for the seventh grade
and 2,94 for the eighth grade participants.

Figure 4.1 seventh grade Figure 4.2 eighth grade

When it comes to the dependent variable of social affiliation, there is the difference in the
average answers between the seventh and eighth grade participants. As Figures 4.3 and 4.4
illustrate, the average score for social affiliation was 1,30 for the seventh grade and 2,08 for the
eighth grade participants.
Figure 4.3 seventh grade Figure 4.4 eighth grade

Finally, the difference in the frequencies of the third dependent variable is presented in Figures
4.5 and 4.6. According to the figures, the average score for social approval was 3,17 for the
seventh grade and 3,44 for the eighth grade participants.

Figure 4.5 seventh grade Figure 4.6 eighth grade

The next step was to find the differences in the goal-setting in relation to the independent
variable- gender. The independent samples t-test was used for the analysis of answers from the
seventh and eighth grade participants.
 Table 4.1 shows the results for the seventh grade participants. The data indicates the mean
difference between -0,10 and 0,60 between female and male participants for the three dependent
variables. The mean score shows that the average answers for performance and social affiliation
are slightly different when it comes to the female and male participants. The data suggests that
female participants set performance goals slightly more frequently in comparison to male
participants. On the other hand, male participants tend to set social affiliation goals slightly more
often than female participants. However, when it comes to these two dependent variables, there
are no statistically significant differences since the values of p coefficients are not lower than
0,05. The only significant difference regarding gender was found in the case of social approval
goals. Namely, female participants set these goals more often than male participants.

Mean
Strategy Gender N Mean SD t p
Difference
Performance Female 26 2,74 0,77
,19 ,739 ,464
Male 19 2,55 0,96
Social affiliation Female 26 1,85 0,84
-,10 -,362 ,719
Male 19 1,96 1,08
Social approval Female 26 3,43 0,73
,60 2,301 ,026
Male 19 2,82 1,04
Table 4.1 Independent samples t-test

The results of an independent samples t-test for the eighth grade participants are shown in
the Table 4.2. According to the given data, the mean difference between female and male
participants ranges from 0,1 to 0,7. This would indicate that there are minimal differences in
striving towards performance, social affiliation and social approval goals when it comes to
female and male participants. However, in the case of the eighth grade participants, there are no
statistically significant differences since the values of p coefficients are not lower than 0,05.
Therefore, making generalizations about the differences in the goal setting in relation to the
gender among the eighth grade participants was limited.

Mean
Strategy Gender N Mean SD t p
Difference
 Performance Female 26 2,95 0,84
,01 ,058 ,954
male 28 2,93 0,95
Social affiliation female 26 2,12 0,86
,07 ,320 ,751
male 28 2,04 0,83
Social approval female 26 3,45 0,83
,02 ,084 ,933
male 28 3,43 0,92
Table 4.2 Independent samples t-test

The dependent variable which determined whether the participants attended the English
language school competition was analysed in relation to the performance, social affiliation and
social approval goals. The independent samples t-test was used for the analysis of answers from
the seventh and eighth grade participants.

Table 4.3 shows the results for the seventh grade participants. According to the table, the
mean difference between participants who competed and who did not compete ranges from -0,72
to 0,06. The results suggest there are slight differences in the performance, social affiliation and
social approval goals. Namely, the participants who competed slightly less frequently set
performance and social approval goals in comparison to those who did not compete. On the other
hand, those who competed slightly more often set social affiliation goals. However, according to
the values of p coefficients there are no statistically significant differences in the goal setting and
the participants who did not or did compete.

Mean
Strategy Competition N Mean SD t p
Difference
Performance No 39 2,67 0,87
,06 ,161 ,873
Yes 6 2,61 0,80
Social affiliation No 39 1,82 0,86
-,53 -1,313 ,196
Yes 6 2,36 1,35
Social approval No 39 3,08 0,93
-,72 -1,869 ,068
Yes 6 3,80 0,52
Table 4.3 Independent samples t-test

When it comes to the eighth grade participants, Table 4.4 indicates that the mean
difference between participants who competed and who did not compete ranges from 0,1 to 0,7 .
The participants who competed slightly more often set performance goals in comparison to those
who did not compete. On the other hand, those who did not compete slightly more often set
social affiliation and social approval goals. As it was the case with the seventh grade, there are no
statistically significant differences since the values of p coefficients are not lower than 0,05.

Mean
Strategy Competition N Mean SD t p
Difference
Performance no 46 2,89 0,88
,01 ,058 ,954
yes 8 3,21 0,97
Social affiliation no 46 2,13 0,87
,07 ,320 ,751
yes 8 1,77 0,53
Social approval no 46 3,53 0,81
,02 ,084 ,933
yes 8 2,92 1,06
Table 4.4 Independent samples t-test

The final step of the analysis included the correlational analysis of the types of goal
orientations and independent variables including English language grade and grade point average
from the previous semester. This analysis was applied to the data gathered from the seventh grade
and the eighth grade participants in order to test whether there is a statistically significant
relationship between the reported goal setting and English language grade and grade point
average from the previous semester.

The results of the correlational analysis for the seventh grade participants are shown I the
Table 4.5. Significant correlations were established for the independent variables grade and grade
point average and social approval goals. The most significant relationship is established for the
grade point average and social approval goals (r=,462). Positive values of r coefficients indicate
a linear relationship between these variables. On the other hand, no significant correlation was
established for the other two types of goals and independent variables. When it comes to the
relationship between the independent variables, the table proves that the participants with the
higher grade have the higher grade point average and vice-versa. As for the correlation among
dependent variables, performance and social affiliation goals are significantly related to the social
approval goals. However, there is no significant relation between performance and social
affiliation goals.
 Grade
Point Social Social
Grade Average Performance affiliation approval
Grade r 1 ,858** ,095 ,088 ,377*
p ,000 ,535 ,567 ,011
Grade Point r ,858** 1 ,179 ,038 ,462**
Average p ,000 ,240 ,806 ,001
Performance r ,095 ,179 1 ,278 ,493**
p ,535 ,240 ,064 ,001
Social affiliation r ,088 ,038 ,278 1 ,345*
p ,567 ,806 ,064 ,020
Social approval r ,377* ,462** ,493** ,345* 1
p ,011 ,001 ,001 ,020
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Table 4.5 Correlational analysis

According to the Table 4.6, which shows the results of the correlational analysis for the
eighth grade participants, there are no significant correlations established for the dependent
variables and the independent variables: grade and grade point average. The positive correlation
was established for the two independent variables analyzed. On the other hand, the only
significant relationship between dependent variables was established for performance and social
approval goals.

Grade
Point Social Social
Grade Average Performance affiliation approval
Grade r 1 ,683** ,121 -,084 -,257
p ,000 ,385 ,544 ,060
Grade Point r ,683** 1 ,150 -,177 -,258
Average p ,000 ,280 ,199 ,060
Performance r ,121 ,150 1 ,249 ,518**
p ,385 ,280 ,069 ,000
Social affiliation r -,084 -,177 ,249 1 ,249
p ,544 ,199 ,069 ,070
Social approval r -,257 -,258 ,518** ,249 1
p ,060 ,060 ,000 ,070
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Table 4.6 Correlational analysis
 5. Discussion

The aim of this research paper was to determine whether the seventh and the eighth grade
Serbian ESL students are oriented towards performance, social affiliation and social approval
goals to the same extent. The main research question was whether there are goal orientation
differences between the seventh and the eighth grade Serbian ESL students. Besides that, the
research tried to prove or reject four hypotheses dealing with students’ gender, English language
grade, grade point average from the previous semester and attendance at the English language
school competition.

First of all, we wanted to gain insight into goal orientation of the participants by analyzing
the average answers of the seventh and the eighth grade students. As it was shown in the previous
part, setting performance goals was slightly more frequent among the eighth grade students.
When it comes to social affiliation goals, the results also indicated that the eighth grade students
more often strive towards these goals in comparison to the seventh grade students. Finally, the
eighth grade students tend to set social approval goals more frequently than the seventh grade
students. According to the given results, we might conclude that the older students more often
strive towards these three types of goals. They try to show their abilities by outperforming other
students, aim at getting better grades, but they also focus on the feeling of belonging among other
students and gaining the approval from their peers, teachers and parents. It seems that the
performance goals which these students set are not in accordance with the social affiliation and
approval goals. Namely, if students strive to outperform others, it would mean that it is difficult
for them to gain approval and establish social relationship with other students. The possible
explanation could be that the students who strive towards performance goals focus on gaining the
social approval from the students with the same goal orientation.

In order to prove or reject the hypothesis which assumes that there will not be differences
in setting performance, social affiliation and social approval goals between male and female
students, an independent samples t-test was used to analyze the collected data. When it comes to
gender differences among the seventh grade students, the results show that the only significant
difference was found in the case of social approval goals. Namely, female students more often
want to achieve academically in order to gain positive social approval from other students,
teachers and parents. This result is in accordance with the finding from the previous research
which suggested that social goals are associated to greater extent with female students (Wentzel
1998, cited in Arias 2004). Even though the data suggests that female students set performance
goals slightly more frequently in comparison to male participants and male students tend to set
social affiliation goals slightly more often than female students, these results cannot be used for
making any generalizations since they are not statistically significant. As for the gender
differences among the eighth grade students, they are minimal in relation to performance, social
affiliation and social approval goals. However, these results are not statistically significant.
Therefore, making generalizations about the differences in the goal setting in relation to the
gender among the eighth grade students is limited. In conclusion, the first hypothesis is proved,
since the only gender difference was found in social approval goal-setting among the seventh
grade students.

The second hypothesis assumed that there will not be differences in setting performance,
social affiliation and social approval goals between students who attended the English language
school competition and those who did not. Namely, the seventh grade students who competed
slightly less frequently set performance and social approval goals in comparison to those who did
not compete. On the other hand, those who competed slightly more often set social affiliation
goals. As for the eighth grade students, those who competed slightly more often set performance
goals in comparison to those who did not compete. On the other hand, those who did not compete
slightly more often set social affiliation and social approval goals. However, there are no
statistically significant results for both seventh and eighth grade students. Thus, the second
hypothesis may be proved. It is possible that the results would be different is sampling was more
proportional in terms of students who attended the English language school competition.

Finally, the last step of analysis was to determine whether there was a statistically
significant relationship between the reported goal setting and English language grade and the
grade point average from the previous semester among the seventh and eighth grade students.
Correlational analysis indicated that social approval goals are related to English language grade
and the grade point average in case of the seventh grade students. The most significant
relationship is established for the grade point average and social approval goals. These results
suggest that the students want to get higher grades so that they can gain social approval from
their peers, teachers and parents. When it comes to the relationship between the independent
variables, the data proves that the students with the higher grade have the higher grade point
average and vice-versa. As for the correlation among dependent variables, performance and
social affiliation goals are significantly related to the social approval goals. These results indicate
that if the seventh grade students are more performance-oriented or social affiliation-oriented,
they will set more social approval goals as well. However, there are no significant correlations
established for the dependent variables and the independent variables: grade and grade point
average of the eighth grade students. The results confirmed that the eighth grade students with the
higher grade have the higher grade point average and vice-versa. On the other hand, the only
significant relationship between dependent variables was established for performance and social
approval goals. According to the given results, the third and fourth hypotheses need to be proved.

Taking into account the analyzed results, we were able to provide the answer to our
research question. Namely, there are goal orientation differences between the seventh and the
eighth grade Serbian ESL students. We proved that the eighth grade students tend to strive
towards performance, social affiliation and social affection goals more than the seventh grade
students. Moreover, we found the significant difference regarding gender of the seventh grade
students and the goal orientation, while there were no differences found among the eighth grade
students. Another difference was found when it comes to the influence of the seventh grade
students’ social approval goals on the English language grade and the grade point average from
the previous semester. Namely, goal orientation could be used to explain these two independent
variables only in case of the seventh grade students.

6. Conclusion

As it has previously been stated, learning is a complex process and it can be influenced by
many different factors, among which goal orientation is very important. Students’ goal
orientation is crucial for understanding and analyzing their behaviour, motivation and success.
Even though there are two general goal orientations, many subcategories of goal orientations may
be distinguished in order to answer why students want to achieve academically. The two general
goal orientations include mastery and performance goals. However, some authors added work
avoidance and social goals as important goal orientations, sufficient for explaining students’
desire to achieve academically. The present research aimed at finding out whether the seventh
and the eighth grade Serbian ESL students are oriented towards performance, social affiliation
and social approval goals to the same extent. The main research question was whether there are
goal orientation differences between the seventh and the eighth grade Serbian ESL students.
Besides that, the research tried to prove or reject four hypotheses dealing with students’ gender,
English language grade, grade point average from the previous semester and attendance at the
English language school competition. General conclusion is that there are goal orientation
differences between the seventh and the eighth grade Serbian ESL students. Namely, the research
suggests that the eighth grade students tend to strive towards performance, social affiliation and
social affection goals more than the seventh grade students. Moreover, we found the significant
difference regarding gender of the seventh grade students and the goal orientation- female
students want to achieve academically in order to gain positive social approval from other
students, teachers and parents. On the other hand, there were no differences found among the
eighth grade students’ goal orientations regarding gender Another difference was found when it
comes to the influence of the seventh grade students’ social approval goals on the English
language grade and the grade point average from the previous semester. Namely, goal orientation
could be used to explain these two independent variables only in case of the seventh grade
students. In sum, the present research proved that students’ goal orientation may be closely
related to students’ grade, gender, marks, which can all together be used to predict their academic
success.

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