ISSN : 1229-0718
The present study is designed to investigate Korean children's goal orientation (performance vs. learning) and its effect on their reaction to failure and to examine whether externally manipulated goal has any effect on children's goal orientation. For these ends, two studies were designed. Study1 investigated thirty six 5th graders' goal orientation and its effect on their attribution, task enjoyment, and task persistence after facing failure. Study2 experimentally manipulated different goals and examined children's responses to failure depending on goal situation. The results of this study revealed that Korean 5th graders are more oriented to performance goal than to learning goal and that children's attribution, task enjoyment and task persistence after facing failure differed depending on their goal orientation. Most importantly, experimentally manipulated goal has a significant effect on their goal orientation and their response to failure, suggesting a possibility for training children's achievement motivation through intervening their goal orientation.