What Do Students Think About When Evaluating Their Classroomʹs Mastery Goal Structure? An Examination of Young Adolescentsʹ Explanations

In this article, the authors investigated the teacher practices that middle school students attend to when appraising their classroomʹs mastery goal structure. After students rated each item on the mastery goal structure scale, they wrote what their teacher did or said that led them to make that choice. Studentsʹ responses to the open-ended questions were coded thematically. The categories mentioned most often involved the pedagogical and affective nature of teachersʹ interactions with students. Recognition and evaluation practices and teachersʹ use of time were also salient to students. There were no differences in the practices that students attended to in classrooms with high, compared with low, mastery goal structure.