Student-Perceived Multiple Classroom Goal Structure Profiles in Reading Classrooms and Their Associations with Individual Achievement Goals, Self-Efficacy, and Reading Performance

This study explored students’ perceptions of multiple combinations of mastery-oriented and performance-oriented classroom goal structure (CGS) profiles based on specific instructional dimensions (i.e., task, autonomy/time, group, and recognition/evaluation) in reading classes and examined the associations between these profiles and trichotomous achievement goals, self-efficacy, and reading performance. The participants included 843 eighth-grade students from Beijing, mainland China. Questionnaires were used to collect students’ perceptions of instructional dimensions, achievement goals, and self-efficacy, whereas reading performance was derived from standardized test scores obtained two months prior to the administration of the questionnaire. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct profiles: Profile 1, “Performance-evaluation & group-dominant CGS” (12%); Profile 2, “Balanced-moderate CGS” (34%); and Profile 3, “Mastery-dominant CGS” (54%). The results obtained via the Bolck–Croon–Hagenaars approach revealed that the students in Profile 3 obtained significantly higher values in terms of individual achievement goals, self-efficacy, and reading performance than the students in the other two profiles did. Mediation analyses further revealed that compared with the students in Profile 1, students in Profiles 2 and 3 exhibited higher self-efficacy and reading performance through the indirect associations through mastery goals. This quantitative study provides empirical support for mastery-oriented instruction and demonstrates the adaptive role of mastery goals in the East Asian reading domain.