Goal Contents and Goal Contexts: Experiments With Chinese Students

Using samples of Chinese middle school students, the 2 experimental studies presented here examined the effects of goal content and goal context on test performance, free-choice engagement, and test anxiety within the framework of self-determination theory. Students’ learning goals were induced as intrinsic or extrinsic with the learning contexts of either autonomy-supportive or controlling. Results suggested that as the more recent extensions of self-determination theory, goal content and goal context effects existed among our samples of Chinese middle school students. However, there was some inconsistency between the authors’ findings and previous findings in Western culture.