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The Journal of General Psychology, 2014, 141(3), 247–262 Copyright C© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Relationship Between Academic Motivation and Mathematics
Achievement Among Indian Adolescents in Canada and India
SHALJAN AREEPATTAMANNIL National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
ABSTRACT. This study examined the relationships between academic motivation— intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation—and mathematics achievement among 363 Indian adolescents in India and 355 Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that intrinsic motivation, extrin- sic motivation, and amotivation were not statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian adolescents in India. In contrast, both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation were statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. While intrinsic motivation was a statisti- cally significant positive predictor of mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, extrinsic motivation was a statistically significant negative predictor of mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Amotivation was not statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian im- migrant adolescents in Canada. Implications of the findings for pedagogy and practice are discussed.
Keywords: academic motivation, amotivation, extrinsic motivation, Indian adolescents, Indian immigrant adolescents, intrinsic motivation, mathematics achievement
IN THE PAST TWO DECADES, UNPRECEDENTED WAVES OF IMMI- GRATION have changed the demographic composition of Canada’s population (Statistics Canada, 2010). According to the 2006 Census, one in five of the recent immigrants to Canada was aged 14 and under (approximately 223,200 children), while about 167,600 recent immigrants were aged 15 to 24 (Statistics Canada, 2007). Further, according to Statistics Canada (2010), China and India alone are the birthplaces of more than 29% of all immigrants to Canada. In 2009 alone, the vast majority of immigrant students and their families came from China (12%) and India (10%) (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2010), and it is projected
Address correspondence to Shaljan Areepattamannil; [email protected] (e-mail).
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that, among all the visible minority groups in Canada, South Asians and Chinese will still be the largest visible minority groups in 2031 (Statistics Canada, 2010).
The Indian community in Canada is highly concentrated in Ontario (58%) and British Columbia (26%), with the majority of Indian immigrants living in or near Toronto or Vancouver (68%; Statistics Canada, 2007). In 2001, 23% of the Indian community were children under the age of 15 years, while 16% of the Indian community were aged 15 to 24 years (Statistics Canada, 2007). The massive waves of immigration have exacerbated gaps in academic achievement among children of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds in Canada (e.g., Anisef, Brown, Phythian, Sweet, & Walters, 2008). Although variations in children’s cognitive abilities and skills may explain gaps in academic achievement among children of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds (Hansen, Liu, & Kučera, 2010), such abilities and skills may not fully explain their academic achievement (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007), suggesting that noncognitive correlates of academic achievement, such as academic motivation, may also play a crucial role in determining children’s academic achievement (see Areepattamannil & Freeman, 2008; Areepattamannil, Freeman, & Klinger, 2011a, 2011b).
Nonetheless, contemporary theories of academic motivation are primarily the offspring of Western theorizing and research, and the research participants are predominantly Western, particularly North American and European, school chil- dren. Moreover, the burgeoning immigrant student population in major immigrant receiving societies across the globe necessitates the need to broaden the purview of motivation theories and research to account for the experiences of these cultur- ally diverse groups. However, McInerney (2007) posits that “when motivational and learning theories are transported to new cultural and social settings to under- stand and manage individual and group behaviour, there might be a mismatch” (p. 369). Therefore, more empirical research, examining the relations of academic motivation to student learning outcomes across cultures, is warranted. As Gilman, Huebner, and Furlong (2009) remark,
If the ultimate goal of schools is to educate young people to become responsible and critically thinking citizens who can succeed in life, understanding factors that stimulate them to become active agents in their own learning is critical. (p. 1)
Although there is a growing body of research on academic motivation and academic achievement of school children across East Asian cultures (e.g., Liem & Nie, 2008), no study to date has examined the relationships between academic mo- tivation and mathematics achievement for adolescents in South Asia, particularly for Indian adolescents in India in comparison to their Indian immigrant coun- terparts in Canada. Furthermore, the Indian adolescents belong to a moderately collectivist culture, India, and the Indian immigrant adolescents have been living
Areepattamannil 249
in a highly individualist culture, Canada, for a while. As Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov (2010) state:
The purpose of education is perceived differently between the individualist and the collectivist societies. In the former, it aims at preparing the individual for a place in a society of other individuals. The purpose of learning is less to know how to do than to know how to learn. In a collectivist society, there is a stress on adaptation to the skills and virtues necessary to be an acceptable group member. Learning is more often seen as a onetime process, reserved for young people, who have to learn how to do things in order to participate in society. (pp. 118–119)
Therefore, examining the academic trajectories of Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada in comparison to their counterparts in India may help us to better un- derstand the impact of travel and relocation from one culture to another culture on Indian immigrant adolescents’ academic motivation and academic achieve- ment. Given the dearth of research surrounding the academic trajectories of Indian adolescents in India and Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between academic motivation and mathematics achievement among Indian adolescents in India and Indian im- migrant adolescents in Canada. Specifically, the study examined whether or not academic motivation would predict mathematics achievement differently among Indian adolescents in India and Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada.
Academic Motivation and Mathematics Achievement
Although researchers have propounded various theories to explicate the re- lationships between academic motivation and academic achievement, one of the well-delineated theories is Deci & Ryan’s (1985, 1991, 2000) self-determination theory (SDT). It is a “macro-theory of human motivation, emotion, and develop- ment that takes interest in factors that either facilitate or forestall the assimilative and growth-oriented processes in people” (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009, p. 134). SDT postulates that academic motivation is multidimensional in nature, and comprises three types of global motivation: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000, 2008). When students are intrinsically motivated, they engage in learning activities freely for the inherent satisfaction, fun, and enjoyment that they derive from the participation itself (Deci & Ryan, 2002). In contrast, when students are extrinsically motivated, they engage in learn- ing activities for instrumental reasons rather than for intrinsic reasons (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002). Finally, amotivation refers to lack of either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. SDT further posits that both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic moti- vation are multidimensional in nature as well (Deci & Ryan, 2002). The tripartite taxonomy of intrinsic motivation include: intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation to accomplish things, and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002); and the four types of extrinsic behavioural regulation
250 The Journal of General Psychology
are external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation (Deci & Ryan, 2002).
Despite a large body of research on the links between academic motiva- tion and academic achievement, only a small body of research has examined the relations of academic motivation to academic achievement employing an SDT perspective. Moreover, very few studies have specifically explored the relations between academic motivation and mathematics achievement for school children from the stance of SDT. For example, Fortier, Vallerand, and Guay (1995) in- vestigated the effects of perceived academic self-determination and perceived academic competence on autonomous academic motivation and the influence of autonomous academic motivation on student performance in mathematics among a sample of 263 French-speaking secondary students in Canada. The authors found that students’ perceived academic self-determination and perceived aca- demic competence positively influenced their autonomous academic motivation, which, in turn, had a positive effect on French-Canadian children’s performance in mathematics. The latent construct of autonomous academic motivation in the study comprised of four separate autonomy indices based on seven motiva- tional constructs: amotivation, extrinsic motivation-external regulation, extrinsic motivation-introjected regulation, extrinsic motivation-identified regulation, in- trinsic motivation-knowlwdge, intrinsic motivation-accomplishment, and intrin- sic motivation-stimulation. Similarly, Miserandino (1996), employing the SDT framework, demonstrated the impact of perceived competence and perceived au- tonomy (i.e., perceived autonomous motivation versus external motivation) on mathematics performance among 77 above-average elementary school children in the United States. Children with higher perceived competence and perceived au- tonomous motivation were found to be more engaged in school and academics than did their peers with lower perceived competence and lower perceived autonomous motivation.
The findings of these studies generally suggest that intrinsically or au- tonomously motivated school children are more likely to perform better than their extrinsically motivated peers. Studies that used other motivational perspec- tives, such as achievement motivation, achievement goal, and academic intrinsic motivation, have also found that intrinsically motivated students tend to have higher academic achievement (e.g., Gottfried, Marcoulides, Gottfried, Oliver, & Guerin, 2007), higher intellectual performance (e.g., Gottfried & Gottfried, 2004), less academic anxiety (e.g., Gottfried, 1990), and mastery-oriented coping with failure (e.g., Dweck, 1975). Similarly, intrinsically motivated students tend to have enhanced deep or conceptual learning (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988), greater creativity (e.g., Eisenberger & Shanock, 2003), enhanced cognitive flexibility and engagement (e.g., Walker, Greene, & Mansell, 2006), enhanced subjective or psy- chological well-being (e.g., Burton, Lydon, D’Alessandro, & Koestner, 2006), and less extrinsic motivation (e.g., Gottfried, Gottfried, Cook, & Morris, 2005). A large body of research has also demonstrated the effects of extrinsic motivation
Areepattamannil 251
on student learning outcomes. For example, prior research documents that extrin- sically motivated students are more likely to have lower academic achievement (e.g., Becker et al., 2010), and to engage in surface learning (e.g., Biggs, 1991). However, these studies were predominantly conducted in North America and Europe, and the participants were primarily White children. Moreover, no study to date has examined whether or not the relations between academic motivation and academic achievement would change when children relocate from a collectivist society to an individualist society. Such an examination is crucial, given the bur- geoning immigrant children population in major immigrant-receiving countries such as Canada.
Method
Sample
Separate samples were drawn from secondary students in India and Canada. Students whose parents agreed for them to participate and who themselves agreed to participate in the study completed the research measures. No incentives were given for participation in the survey. Participants in the Canadian sample comprised of 355 Indian immigrant adolescents (male = 179; female = 176) from secondary schools in Central Canada. Participants in the Indian sample consisted of 363 adolescents (male = 192; female = 171) from English medium secondary schools in India, which were more or less on par with secondary schools in Canada in terms of infrastructural facilities. The age of the participants in the Indian sample ranged from 13 to 18 years, with a mean age of 16.04 years (SD = 1.16). The age of the participants in the Canadian sample ranged from 16 to 19 years, with a mean age of 16.88 years (SD = .89).
Instruments
Demographic Questionnaire The demographic questionnaire asked respondents to report their age, gender,
country of origin, and current grades in school.
Mathematics Achievement The outcome measure in the present study was mathematics achievement.
Participants were asked to report their mathematics GPA on a 5-point scale, ranging from 5 = A (Mostly 90s) to 1 = F (Mostly 50s).
Academic Motivation Academic motivation was measured with the Academic Motivation
Scale–high school version (AMS; Vallerand et al., 1992). The AMS is the English translation of the Echelle de Motivation en Education (Vallerand et al.,
252 The Journal of General Psychology
1992, 1993). Based on SDT, this 28-item instrument is divided into seven sub- scales, reflecting one subscale of amotivation, three ordered subscales of extrinsic motivation (external, introjected, and identified regulation), and three distinct, unordered subscales of intrinsic motivation (intrinsic motivation to know, to ac- complish things, and to experience stimulation). The items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 = does not correspond at all to 7 = corresponds exactly. Each subscale consisted of four items; thus subscale scores could range from 4 to 28. A high score on a subscale indicates high endorsement of that particular motivation.
Several empirical studies investigating issues related to motivation have used both the French (e.g., Guay, Marsh, & Boivin, 2003 ) and English (e.g., Areepat- tamannil & Freeman, 2008) versions of the AMS scale. Furthermore, numerous studies have explored the measurement properties of the AMS (e.g., Vallerand et al., 1992, 1993). Vallerand et al. (1992) reported that Cronbach’s coefficient α for the subscales ranged from .83 to .86, with the exception of the identified subscale of extrinsic motivation, which had an internal consistency of .62. In ad- dition, internal consistency for the subscales ranged from .60 to .86 with another English-speaking sample (Vallerand et al., 1993).
Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted in the present study to test the fit of the seven-factor structure for the whole sample, the Indian sample, and the Indian immigrant sample. The CFA performed on the whole sample indicated that the seven-factor model did not fit the data well (χ 2 = 2918.80, df = 336, p < .001; SRMR = .17; RMSEA = .11; CFI = .86; TLI = .85). Each of these fit indices implies poor fit. Similarly, the CFAs performed on the Indian and the Indian immigrant samples also revealed that the seven-factor model did not fit the data well. Given the poor fit of the seven-factor model, CFAs were also conducted to examine the fit of a three-factor model (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation). The CFA performed on the whole sample suggested that the three-factor model fitted the data well (χ 2 = 7653.66, df = 378, p < .001; SRMR = .03; RMSEA = .04; CFI = .97; TLI = .95). The CFAs performed on the Indian and the Indian immigrant samples also revealed that the three-factor model fitted the data well. Hence, a three-factor model was used in the current study.
Results
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations (controlling for gender and age) are presented in Table 1. Prior to running the main analyses, independent sam- ples t-tests were conducted to examine whether or not the Indian adolescents in India differed statistically significantly from their counterparts in Canada with respect to mathematics achievement, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. The results of independent samples t-tests indicated that the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada had statistically significantly higher in- trinsic motivation than did their peers in India, t(716) = -3.48, p < .001, d = .25; whereas Indian adolescents in India had statistically significantly higher extrinsic
Areepattamannil 253
T A
B L
E 1.
D es
cr ip
ti ve
S ta
ti st
ic s
an d
P ar
ti al
C or
re la
ti on
s
In di
an ad
ol es
ce nt
s In
di an
im m
ig ra
nt ad
ol es
ce nt
s
1 2
3 4
1 2
3 4
1. M
at he
m at
ic s
ac hi
ev em
en t
— —
2. In
tr in
si c
m ot
iv at
io n
.1 3∗
— .4
5∗ ∗∗
— 3.
E xt
ri ns
ic m
ot iv
at io
n .1
1∗ .5
7∗ ∗∗
— −.
01 .3
4∗ ∗∗
— 4.
A m
ot iv
at io
n −.
07 −.
07 −.
08 —
−. 05
.0 1
−. 14
∗∗ —
M 3.
88 4.
68 5.
35 2.
42 4.
01 4.
97 5.
20 2.
22 S D
1. 18
.8 3
.9 1
1. 36
.7 0
1. 39
1. 09
1. 36
S ke
w ne
ss −.
95 −.
47 −.
64 −.
81 −.
02 −.
56 −.
79 1.
21 K
ur to
si s
−. 02
.0 3
.2 7
−. 01
−. 98
−. 63
.6 7
.9 2
∗ p <
.0 5.
∗∗ p
< .0
1. ∗∗
∗ p <
.0 01
.
254 The Journal of General Psychology
motivation (t(716) = 1.95, p = .05, d = .15) and amotivation (t(716) = 1.97, p = .04, d = .15) than did their counterparts in Canada. However, no statistically significant differences were found between Indian adolescents in India and Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada with respect to their mathematics achievement, t(716) = −1.78, p = .07, d = .13.
To address the purpose of the study, separate hierarchical multiple regres- sion analyses were conducted for the Indian and Indian immigrant samples (see Table 2). Mathematics achievement was the dependent variable. The con- trol variables, age and gender, were entered into the equation in step 1. The predictor variables, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation, were entered into the equation in step 2. Age and gender entered into the equation in step 1 explained a statistically significant amount of the variance in mathematics achievement, Adjusted R2 = .11, F (2, 360) = 23.62, p = .000; Adjusted R2 = .01, F (2, 352) = 3.69, p = .026, Indian and Indian immigrant adolescents respectively. After step 2, with intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation also included in the equation, Adjusted R2 = .12, Fchange (3, 357) = 2.63, p = .050; Adjusted R2 = .25, Fchange (3, 349) = 37.02, p = .000, Indian and Indian immi- grant adolescents respectively. Thus, the addition of these variables resulted in 1% (Indian adolescents) and 24% (Indian immigrant adolescents) increments in the variance accounted for.
The regression analyses, after accounting for age and gender, revealed that intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation were not statistically significant predictors of mathematics achievement for the Indian adolescents in India. Intrinsic motivation was a positive predictor of mathematics achievement for the Indian immigrant adolescents, whereas extrinsic motivation was a negative predictor of mathematics achievement for the Indian immigrant adolescents. Amo- tivation was not a statistically significant predictor of mathematics achievement for the Indian immigrant adolescents.
Discussion
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between academic motivation and mathematics achievement among Indian adolescents in India and Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. The findings of the study revealed that intrinsic motivation—an autonomous form of motivation—was re- lated positively to mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Reeve and colleagues (2007) posit that “students learn better and feel better when they pursue intrinsic rather than extrinsic goals and when their teachers facilitate learning associated with intrinsic goals” (p. 233).
The Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada emigrated from a moderately collectivist culture, India, to a highly individualist culture, Canada. Hermans and Kempen (1998) posit that travel and relocation from one culture to another culture may result in an interweaving of cultures—cultural practices of the home culture
Areepattamannil 255
T A
B L
E 2.
H ie
ra rc
h ic
al M
u lt
ip le
R eg
re ss
io n
A n
al ys
es P
re d
ic ti
n g
M at
h em
at ic
s A
ch ie
ve m
en t
In di
an ad
ol es
ce nt
s In
di an
im m
ig ra
nt ad
ol es
ce nt
s
A dj
us te
d R
2 �
R 2
B S E
B A
dj us
te d
R 2
� R
2 B
S E
B
S te
p 1
.1 1
.0 1
A ge
−. 35
∗∗ ∗
.0 5
−. 04
.0 4
G en
de r
−. 19
.1 2
−. 20
∗∗ .0
7 S te
p 2
.1 2
.0 1
.2 5
.2 4
A ge
−. 33
∗∗ ∗
.0 5
−. 03
.0 4
G en
de r
−. 25
∗ .1
2 −.
22 ∗∗
.0 7
In tr
in si
c m
ot iv
at io
n .1
3 .0
9 .2
6∗ ∗∗
.0 2
E xt
ri ns
ic m
ot iv
at io
n .0
6 .0
8 −.
13 ∗∗
∗ .0
3 A
m ot
iv at
io n
−. 05
.0 4
−. 04
.0 2
∗ p
< .0
5. ∗∗
p <
.0 1.
∗∗ ∗ p
< .0
01 .
256 The Journal of General Psychology
may blend with those of the host culture to form a “hybridized culture.” Similarly, Fuligni (1998) found among 998 first-, second-, and third-generation immigrant adolescents in the United States with Mexican, Chinese, Filipino, and European backgrounds that these adolescents’ ethnic labels, attitudes, values, behaviours, and their perceived subjective cultures varied as a function of intercultural con- tact. Furthermore, prior research demonstrates that immigrant adolescents’ native culture values may align more with host culture values with each passing gener- ation (e.g., Fuligni, Witkow, & Garcia, 2005). The Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, after spending some years in Canada, may have changed their collec- tivist values and attitudes toward school and academics. This finding is congruent with the claims of previous research conducted among Indian students in North America. For example, Savani, Markus, Naidu, Kumar, and Berlia (2010) found that
Indians who had spent more time in the United States were more likely to construe mundane actions as choices, a result suggesting that choice became an important category of action after Indian students engaged with a cultural context where the disjoint model of agency was prevalent. (p. 396)
This may partially explain why academic motivation—intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation—was predictive of mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada.
Given the numerous benefits of autonomy-supportive classroom contexts in individualist cultures (see Reeve, 2006; Reeve, Ryan, Deci, & Jang, 2007), the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada might benefit from autonomy- supportive mathematics teachers who facilitate their students’ autonomous aca- demic motivation—intrinsic motivation. However, to help mathematics teachers become more autonomy-supportive “requires that teachers work through the steps of becoming less controlling, wanting to support autonomy, and learning the practical ‘how-to’ of classroom autonomy support” (Reeve 2009, p. 172). An autonomy-supportive motivating style comprises five categories of instructional behaviour (Jang, Reeve, & Deci, 2010; Reeve, 2009, 2011; Reeve & Assor, 2011): nurturing students’ inner motivational resources; providing explanatory rationales; relying on non-controlling and informational language; displaying patience to al- low for self-paced learning and personal development to occur; and acknowledging the students’ perspectives and feelings.
Meta-analyses have demonstrated the effectiveness of autonomy-supportive training intervention programs in developing an autonomy-supportive motivating style among teachers (e.g., Su & Reeve, 2010). Hence, pre-service and in-service teacher training programs in Canada may need to design and implement ap- propriate autonomy-supportive intervention programs with a view to developing autonomy-supportive mathematics teachers, who are capable of nurturing their
Areepattamannil 257
students’ inner motivational resources such as interests, preferences, psychologi- cal needs, and intrinsic motivation.
However, teacher autonomy support may not alone foster Indian immi- grant adolescents’ intrinsic motivation. Teacher autonomy support may need to be supplemented with parental autonomy support. Unlike controlling parenting, autonomy-supportive parenting—promotion of children’s volitional functioning (Soenens et al., 2007)—is associated with more positive psychological, develop- mental, and educational outcomes in adolescents, including improved academic achievement (Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005), greater academic motivation, and higher levels of subjective well-being (Chirkov & Ryan, 2001).
The benefits of parental autonomy support underscore the need for develop- ing and promoting autonomy-supportive behaviours toward their children among the Indian immigrant parents. Autonomy-supportive parenting behaviours may include, among others, taking children’s perspectives and viewpoints, encourag- ing and supporting children’s initiatives and autonomous problem solving, and offering children choices (Grolnick, 2009). Parent training programs/parenting in- terventions based on SDT may help parents to become more autonomy-supportive (Joussemet, Landry & Koestner, 2008). As well, prior research demonstrates that parenting interventions emphasizing autonomy support have led to considerable improvements in familial climate and parenting practices (Fetsch & Gebeke, 1995). Hence, it is imperative to design such parenting interventions targeted at fostering autonomy-supportive parenting, which, in turn, may enhance students’ intrinsic motivation.
The findings of the study also indicated that extrinsic motivation was related negatively to mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. The negative association between extrinsic motivation and academic achievement is very well documented in the burgeoning literature on extrinsic motivation (e.g., Becker et al., 2010). The finding with regard to the negative association between extrinsic motivation and mathematics achievement reiterates the need for teachers and parents to support students’ autonomy. As Reeve (2009) contends,
When students learn out of curiosity and the desire for optimal challenge, they are more engaged in and satisfied with their learning. They further better understand the material they are trying to learn and are more likely to stay in school. (p. 172)
Unlike the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation were not predictive of mathematics achievement for the Indian adolescents in India. In other words, academic motivation—intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation—was not linked to mathematics achievement among Indian adolescents in India. This finding may challenge the cross-cultural/national generalizability of SDT. Although the proponents of SDT propound the universal role of motivational autonomy in human functioning and academic learning (see
258 The Journal of General Psychology
Chirkov, 2009), the critics of SDT posit that SDT constructs such as autonomy and autonomy-support are the products of individualist cultures, but are not important in collectivist cultures (see Cross & Gore, 2003). Furthermore, there is growing evidence that “choice is nonessential to agency among collectivist populations, who place a strong emphasis on role obligations to family and friends” (Miller, Das, & Chakravarthy, 2011, p. 47). As Miller (2003) further elaborates,
The tendency of members of collectivist cultures to act consciously from a sense of duty suggests that they have less fully internalized social expectations than have members of individualistic cultures. They then would be anticipated to have a less developed sense of agency and, in general, to experience less satisfaction than do members of individualistic cultures who view their actions as more freely chosen. (p. 66)
Vast bodies of research have also documented that Indians are less likely than North Americans to construe actions as choices (see Miller, 1994; Savani, Markus, & Conner, 2008; Savani et al., 2010). Thus, the types of academic motivation embraced by SDT may not be valid in collectivist cultures, such as India, where preferences and choices are not tightly linked (Savani et al., 2008, 2010).
Limitations
There are three limitations to the current study. First, the study used self- report measures to assess Indian immigrant and Indian adolescents’ mathematics achievement and academic motivation. There is no consensus among researchers as to the validity and reliability of self-report measures. Second, the study did not collect data with regard to Indian immigrant and Indian adolescents’ family income, parental education, parental occupational status, and Indian immigrant adolescents’ age on arrival in Canada. The exclusion of these confounding vari- ables may have inflated the parameter estimates. Finally, in addition to differences in student characteristics, secondary schools in India and Canada may vary widely in terms of classroom, teacher, and school characteristics. The present study, how- ever, did not take into account such variations in classroom, teacher, and school characteristics.
Despite these limitations, the conspicuous lack of knowledge on the academic trajectories of Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada and Indian adolescents in India makes it imperative to conduct studies similar to the present one. Further- more, in the era of globalization and multiculturalism, it is of utmost importance to examine the influence of psycho-educational constructs, such as academic mo- tivation, on academic achievement of children and youth across cultures. A better and deeper understanding of the academic trajectories of children and youth across cultures may enable educators to develop appropriate strategies to properly engage them in academic learning, which, in turn, may promote their academic success.
Areepattamannil 259
AUTHOR NOTE
Shaljan Areepattamannil, PhD, is an assistant professor at the National In- stitute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests primarily revolve around psychosocial correlates and antecedents of stu- dent engagement and achievement across cultures.
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Original manuscript received June 26, 2013 Final version accepted February 21, 2014
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