Motivation to learn drives students’ engagement in academic activities. The sources to which students attribute their success and failures and the motivational goals they pursue (i.e. task mastery, performance-oriented or performance-avoidance approach, Barron & Harackiewicz, 2001; Church, Elliot & Gable, 2001) have important implications for how they approach and cope with learning situations (Midgley, Kaplan & Middleton 2001; Pintrich 1989; 2000). Research has also shown that quality of the learning experience and performance is very different according to type of motivation and contextual factors (e.g. Ames, 1992; Church, Elliot & Gable, 1999; Wentzel, 1994). In this framework, the proposed study aims to explore the effects of type of motivation on students’ learning profiles assessed by the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI). Moreover, contextual variables such as level of perceived social support will also be taken into account. Findings will be discussed in the context of goal orientation theory and learning relationships, and implications for teaching and learning will be explored.

References
Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms, goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 261-271.
Barron, K. E., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2001). Achievement goals and optimal motivation: Testing multiple goal models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 706-722.
Church, M. A., Elliot, A. J., & Gable, S. (1999). Perceptions of classroom environment, achievement goals and achievement outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 43-54.
Midgley, C., Kaplan, A., & Middleton, M. (2001). Performance-approach goals: Good for what, for whom, under what circumstances, and at what cost? Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 77-86.
Pintrich, P. (1989). The dynamic interplay of student motivation and cognition in the college classroom. In M. L. Maehr & C. Ames (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement: Motivation enhancing environments. (Vol. 6, pp. 117-160). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Pintrich, P. R. (2000). Multiple goals, multiple pathways: The role of goal orientation in learning and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 544-555.
Wentzel, K.R. (1994). Relations of social goal pursuit to social acceptance, classroom behaviour, and perceived social support. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 173-182.
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