Revision of achievement goal theory: Necessary and illuminating.

C. Midgley et al. (2001) raised important questions about the effects of performance-approach goals. The present authors disagree with their characterization of the research findings and implications for theory. They discuss 3 reasons to revise goal theory: (a) the importance of separating approach from avoidance strivings, (b) the positive potential of performance-approach goals, and (c) identification of the ways performance-approach goals can combine with mastery goals to promote optimal motivation. The authors review theory and research to substantiate their claim that goal theory is in need of revision, and they endorse a multiple goal perspective. The revision of goal theory is underway and offers a more complex, but necessary, perspective on important issues of motivation, learning, and achievement. In a recent article in Journal of Educational Psychology, Midgley, Kaplan, and Middleton (2001) focused on the question of whether performance-approach goals are adaptive and if so, whether they are uniformly adaptive or adaptive only under certain conditions. Midgley et al. (2001) made a number of cogent and important points about the nature of goal theory and research on performance-approach goals, and we compliment them for highlighting