Abstract:
The study investigated the mediational effect of student teachers’ motivational orientations on the relationship
between prior performance and academic achievement. This cross-sectional correlation study employed a survey approach in
the collection of quantitative data. Stratified and Systematic sampling approaches were used in selecting 500 student teachers
for the study. The results indicated that students ranked extrinsic motivation, value for task or course materials, and selfefficacy
for learning as high motivators for learning. The independent samples t-tests for differences in means of first- and
second-year students’ reported motivational orientations showed a statistically significant difference in their use of extrinsic
motivation, control of learning beliefs, and task value as learning strategies. First-year students’ reported means were higher
than that of the second-year students. The results from the study, taken as a set, indicated that student teachers’ motivational
orientations significantly mediated the relationship between prior performance (entry aggregates) and academic achievement
(GPA). Approximately 16.7% of the change in the effect of prior performance on academic achievement was due to the
presence of the motivation variables. Overall, prior performance plus student teachers motivational orientations explained
about 42% of the variations in their academic achievement.
