On the Level of Academic Achievement of the Vocational School Students: the Effect of Motivation

Abstract

Motivation, a positive effect that directs behavior toward a goal could be perceived as one of the most important psychological concepts in all area of the life especially in education. In this study, it was investigated the relationship between academic achievement and motivation of vocational school students according to gender and class parameters. 192 vocational school students from 4 different programs (accounting, business, chemistry, and construction) attended the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) which was prepared by Vallerend (1992). The AMS consisted of 28 Likert-type scale questions related to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation. Findings of the study indicated that there was only one significant relationship that was between academic achievement and two intrinsic motivation subscales. Females had higher scores in all motivation types. Also, there was only significant differences between males and females for intrinsic motivation. And, according to departments, there was significant difference in motivation by department in extrinsic motivation. © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.