Allan Wigfield
Biographic Data
| ID | 164869 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Allan Wigfield |
| GIVEN NAMES | Allan |
| FAMILY NAME | Wigfield |
| SIGNATURE | WIGFIELD A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Maryland, College Park |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5195-7900 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 804 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Case for Multifaceted, Integrative Motivation Interventions Embedded in Classrooms
Motivation scholars have grown increasingly interested in the application of motivation theory to educational practice. We provide an overview of various approaches to supporting students’ motivation and then focus specifically on the potential benefits of multifaceted interventions that integrate across theoretical perspectives and are embedded in classrooms to support students’ motivation. We also discuss how multifaceted interventions can be g…
Investigating the remembered success effect with elementary and middle school students
Networks and directed acyclic graphs: Initial steps to efficiently examine causal relations between expectancies, values, and prior achievement
Examining the Conscientiousness × Interest Compensation (Conic) model with similar constructs in high school and college students
The Conscientiousness × Interest Compensation (CONIC) model (Authors, 2019) assumes that the two constructs conscientiousness and interest can (partly) compensate for each other in predicting academic effort and achievement. We extend previous work by testing the CONIC model in two independent U.S. samples from different age groups (high school sample: N = 1,246, Mage = 14.86 years; college sample: N = 581, Mage = 19.83 years). We also assessed w…
Expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: Reflections on the legacy of 40+ years of working together.
Beyond utility value interventions: The why, when, and how for next steps in expectancy-value intervention research
Motivational interventions grounded in Eccles and colleagues’ situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT) can promote students’ motivational beliefs and academic performance. However, most prior work has focused on one construct, perceived utility value. SEVT includes multiple constructs found to influence students’ academic motivation, performance, and choices. We therefore believe it is time to move beyond a sole focus on utility value by exploring…
Which student and instructional variables are most strongly related to academic motivation in K-12 education? A systematic review of meta-analyses
Grit: The long and short of it
Grit is defined as passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals and consists of two proposed subcomponents: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. It has become a much-discussed construct even though research on its underlying factor structure has produced inconclusive results. Furthermore, grit as measured by its most frequently used measure, the Grit-S, does not clearly define “long term” or include the word passion. In …
From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive, and sociocultural perspective on motivation
More useful or not so bad? Examining the effects of utility value and cost reduction interventions in college physics
This study compared two expectancy-value-theory-based interventions designed to promote college students’ motivation and performance in introductory college physics. The utility value intervention was adapted from prior research and focused on helping students relate course material to their lives in order to perceive the material as more useful. The cost reduction intervention was novel and aimed to help students perceive the challenges of their…
Social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons by students and parents: An investigation of the 2I/E model at the transition from elementary to junior high school
Wolff F, Wigfield A, Möller J, Dicke A-L, Eccles JS. Social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons by students and parents: An investigation of the 2I/E model at the transition from elementary to junior high school. Journal of Educational Psychology . 2020;112(8):1644-1660
Cross-Domain Trajectories of Students’ Ability Self-Concepts and Intrinsic Values in Math and Language Arts
Different cross-domain trajectories in the development of students’ ability self-concepts (ASCs) and their intrinsic valuing of math and language arts were examined in a cross-sequential study spanning Grades 1 through 12 (n = 1,069). Growth mixture modeling analyses identified a Moderate Math Decline/Stable High Language Arts class and a Moderate Math Decline/Strong Language Arts Decline class for students’ ASC trajectories. Students’ intrinsic …
Grit and conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy
Motivation in Education
This chapter begins with a discussion of the nature of children’s achievement motivation and how it develops over the school years, with a focus on the competence-related belief, value, goal, interest, and intrinsic motivation aspects of motivation that have been emphasized in much recent research on motivation. Following is a discussion of how different aspects of classroom and school practices influence motivation and how teacher–student relati…
I can do this! The development and calibration of children’s expectations for success and competence beliefs
How true is grit? Assessing its relations to high school and college students’ personality characteristics, self-regulation, engagement, and achievement.
Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) defined grit as one’s passion and perseverance toward long-term goals. They proposed that it consists of 2 components: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. In a high school and college student sample, we used a multidimensional item response theory approach to examine (a) the factor structure of grit, and (b) grit’s relations to and overlap with conceptually and operationally similar…
Students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom goal structures: Implications for perceived task values and study behavior
Beyond Cognition: Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension
In this article, we review research on children's motivation to read and its relation to their reading comprehension. We begin by discussing work on the development of school motivation in general and reading motivation in particular, reviewing studies showing that many children's motivation to read declines over the school years. Motivation to read tends to differ by gender—with girls motivated more positively to read than boys. It also differs …
Academic Achievement Motivation, Development of
Development of Achievement Motivation and Engagement
In this chapter we review the research on the development of children's motivation and engagement. We organize our review into four major sections: the development of children's achievement motivation; gender, cultural, and ethnic differences in children's motivation; socialization of motivation in the family; and socialization of motivation in school. We take a social‐cognitive expectancy‐value theoretical perspective to organize our discussion …
Instructional Contexts for Engagement and Achievement in Reading
Students’ achievement values, goal orientations, and interest: Definitions, development, and relations to achievement outcomes
Incoming Editors’ Statement and Description of Our Inaugural Issue
Increasing Reading Comprehension and Engagement Through Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction.
Based on an engagement perspective of reading development, we investigated the extent to which an instructional framework of combining motivation support and strategy instruction (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction—CORI) influenced reading outcomes for third-grade children. In CORI, five motivational practices were integrated with six cognitive strategies for reading comprehension. In the first study, we compared this framework to an instructio…
Changes in Children’s Self-Competence and Values: Gender and Domain Differences across Grades One through Twelve
This study extended previous research on changes in children’s self-beliefs by documenting domain-specific growth trajectories for 761 children across grades 1 through 12 in a longitudinal study of perceptions of self-competence and task values. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to (1) describe changes in beliefs across childhood and adolescence within the domains of mathematics, language arts, and sports; (2) examine the impact of changes in…
Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families
Transitions during early adolescence: Changes in children's domain-specific self-perceptions and general self-esteem across the transition to junior high school
Young adolescents' (N=1,850) achievement self-perceptions in 4 activity domains (math, English, social acitivities, and sports) and self-esteem were examined across the transition from elementary to junior high school
Children's Competence Beliefs, Achievement Values, and General Self-Esteem: Change Across Elementary and Middle School
Two studies of how elementary school and middle school-aged children's general self-esteem, competence beliefs, and subjective taskvaluesfordifferent activities change overtime are presented. In Study 1, elementaryschool children completed questionnaires once a year for 3 years. Study 2 assessed how the transition to junior high school influenced children's self-beliefs. Children completed questionnaires in the fall and spring of their sixth-grad…
Dimensions of Children's Motivation for Reading and Their Relations to Reading Activity and Reading Achievement
S Dimensions of children's motivation for reading and their relations to reading activity and reading achievement This study was designed to assess dimensions of reading motivation and examine how these dimensions related to students' reading activity and achievement. A heterogeneous urban sample of fifth‐ and sixth‐grade children completed the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ; Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997), a questionnaire designed to asses…
Growth of Literacy Engagement: Changes in Motivations and Strategies During Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction
S This study describes changes in literacy engagement during 1 year of Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI), a new approach to teaching reading, writing, and science. Literacy engagement was defined as the integration of intrinsic motivations, cognitive strategies, and conceptual learning from text. To promote literacy engagement in classrooms, our team designed and implemented CORI in two third‐ and two fifth‐grade classrooms in two schoo…
Grit and conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy
Group Differences in African American Adolescents' Achievement-Related Beliefs About Math and Science: An Initial Study
This study examined group differences in the academic achievement beliefs of African American adolescents. The participants (N = 102) were involved in an academic enrichment program. Analyses of variance assessed gender and achievement level differences in the early adolescents' achievement beliefs regarding math and science. Results showed that boys had more positive beliefs about their abilities and expectancies for success in math and science …
Self-Perceptions of Friendship-Making Ability and Perceptions of Friends’ Deviant Behavior: Childhood to Adolescence
Stability and change from middle childhood to middle adolescence in participants’perceptions of their friendship-making ability and their friends’ deviant behavior were examined. Third-grade, fourth-grade, and sixth-grade children completed questionnaires that assessed those constructs and did so again 5 years later. Participants perceived their friendship-making ability as greater during childhood than during adolescence. Adolescents perceived t…
Students’ perceptions of mathematics classroom goal structures: Implications for perceived task values and study behavior
Preparing for Change: Results from a Therapeutic Intervention with Foster Children in the Midst of Permanency Planning
Little is known about how pre- and peri-adoption therapy affects the adoptive placements of children who have been in foster care. This pilot study was designed to begin to provide information about such effects. The participants in this study included 13 children who, prior to the intervention, were at various stages in the process of implementing their permanency plans. Additionally, these youngsters were identified by their social workers as “…
Middle Grades Schooling and Early Adolescent Development: An Introduction
Peer Reviewed
Math anxiety in elementary and secondary school students.
Self‐Concepts, Domain Values, and Self‐Esteem: Relations and Changes at Early Adolescence
We assessed how children's self‐concepts of ability for mathematics, English, social, and physical skills activities, ratings of the importance of these activities, and general self‐esteem change across the transition to junior high school Three types of change were assessed change in mean levels, change in stability, and change in relationships Twice each year during the sixth and seventh grades, 1,450 children completed questionnaires Mean leve…
Predictors of math anxiety and its influence on young adolescents' course enrollment intentions and performance in mathematics.
We used structural modeling procedures to assess the influence of past math grades, math ability perceptions, performance expectancies, and value perceptions on the level of math anxiety reported in a sample of 7th- through 9th-grade students (N = 250). A second set of analyses examined the relative influence of these performance, self-perception, and affect variables on students ' subsequent grades and course enrollment intentions in mathematics…
Transitions during early adolescence: Changes in children's domain-specific self-perceptions and general self-esteem across the transition to junior high school
Young adolescents' (N=1,850) achievement self-perceptions in 4 activity domains (math, English, social acitivities, and sports) and self-esteem were examined across the transition from elementary to junior high school
The development of achievement task values: A theoretical analysis
Negative Effects of Traditional Middle Schools on Students' Motivation
We discuss the decline in early adolescents' academic motivation after the transition to middle grade schools and review work on how school and classroom environments in traditional middle grade schools could be responsible for these declines. We suggest that there is often a mismatch between characteristics of the classroom environment in traditional middle grade schools and early adolescents' developmental level. We present results of a compreh…
Age and Gender Differences in Children's Self- and Task Perceptions during Elementary School
Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families
Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation: A developmental perspective
Children's Competence Beliefs, Achievement Values, and General Self-Esteem: Change Across Elementary and Middle School
Two studies of how elementary school and middle school-aged children's general self-esteem, competence beliefs, and subjective taskvaluesfordifferent activities change overtime are presented. In Study 1, elementaryschool children completed questionnaires once a year for 3 years. Study 2 assessed how the transition to junior high school influenced children's self-beliefs. Children completed questionnaires in the fall and spring of their sixth-grad…
Middle Grades Schooling and Early Adolescent Development: An Introduction
Peer Reviewed
In the Mind of the Actor: The Structure of Adolescents' Achievement Task Values and Expectancy-Related Beliefs
The authors assessed the dimensionality of and relations between adolescents' achievement-related beliefs and self perceptions, focusing on subjective valuing of achievement. Beliefs derived from expectancy-value theory (adolescents' valuing of achievement activities, expectancies for success and ability perceptions, and perceptions of task difficulty) were assessed. Adolescents completed questionnaires once a year for 2 years. Confirmatory facto…
Growth of Literacy Engagement: Changes in Motivations and Strategies During Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction
S This study describes changes in literacy engagement during 1 year of Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI), a new approach to teaching reading, writing, and science. Literacy engagement was defined as the integration of intrinsic motivations, cognitive strategies, and conceptual learning from text. To promote literacy engagement in classrooms, our team designed and implemented CORI in two third‐ and two fifth‐grade classrooms in two schoo…
Relations of children's motivation for reading to the amount and breadth or their reading.
The authors explored different aspects of children's reading motivation and how children's motivation related to the amount and breadth of their reading. The reading motives assessed included self-efficacy, intrinsic-extrinsic motivation and goals, and social aspects. Fourth- and 5th-grade children (N = 105) completed a new reading motivation questionnaire twice during a school year. Children's reading amount and breadth were measured using diari…
Change in children's competence beliefs and subjective task values across the elementary school years: A 3-year study.
The authors assessed change over 3 years in elementary school children's competence beliefs and subjective task value in the domains of math, reading, instrumental music, and sports. The longitudinal sample consisted of approximately 615 mostly White, lower middle to middle-class children. Stability correlations indicated moderate to strong stability in children's beliefs, especially older children's competence beliefs. The relation of children's…
Group Differences in African American Adolescents' Achievement-Related Beliefs About Math and Science: An Initial Study
This study examined group differences in the academic achievement beliefs of African American adolescents. The participants (N = 102) were involved in an academic enrichment program. Analyses of variance assessed gender and achievement level differences in the early adolescents' achievement beliefs regarding math and science. Results showed that boys had more positive beliefs about their abilities and expectancies for success in math and science …
Motivational and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension and Reading Amount
Motivational variables contribute to reading achievement and text comprehension through several paths. We report the results of 2 studies further examining these relations. Study 1 included 3rd and 5th graders. We measured their motivation and reading amount with questionnaires and their text comprehension with 2 performance tests. Results revealed that reading amount significantly predicted text comprehension on 2 different indicators, even when…
Dimensions of Children's Motivation for Reading and Their Relations to Reading Activity and Reading Achievement
S Dimensions of children's motivation for reading and their relations to reading activity and reading achievement This study was designed to assess dimensions of reading motivation and examine how these dimensions related to students' reading activity and achievement. A heterogeneous urban sample of fifth‐ and sixth‐grade children completed the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ; Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997), a questionnaire designed to asses…
Expectancy–Value Theory of Achievement Motivation
Changes in Children’s Self-Competence and Values: Gender and Domain Differences across Grades One through Twelve
This study extended previous research on changes in children’s self-beliefs by documenting domain-specific growth trajectories for 761 children across grades 1 through 12 in a longitudinal study of perceptions of self-competence and task values. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to (1) describe changes in beliefs across childhood and adolescence within the domains of mathematics, language arts, and sports; (2) examine the impact of changes in…
The Development of Competence Beliefs, Expectancies for Success, and Achievement Values from Childhood through Adolescence
Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals
This chapter reviews the recent research on motivation, beliefs, values, and goals, focusing on developmental and educational psychology. The authors divide the chapter into four major sections: theories focused on expectancies for success (self-efficacy theory and control theory), theories focused on task value (theories focused on intrinsic motivation, self-determination, flow, interest, and goals), theories that integrate expectancies and valu…
Preparing for Change: Results from a Therapeutic Intervention with Foster Children in the Midst of Permanency Planning
Little is known about how pre- and peri-adoption therapy affects the adoptive placements of children who have been in foster care. This pilot study was designed to begin to provide information about such effects. The participants in this study included 13 children who, prior to the intervention, were at various stages in the process of implementing their permanency plans. Additionally, these youngsters were identified by their social workers as “…
Self-Perceptions of Friendship-Making Ability and Perceptions of Friends’ Deviant Behavior: Childhood to Adolescence
Stability and change from middle childhood to middle adolescence in participants’perceptions of their friendship-making ability and their friends’ deviant behavior were examined. Third-grade, fourth-grade, and sixth-grade children completed questionnaires that assessed those constructs and did so again 5 years later. Participants perceived their friendship-making ability as greater during childhood than during adolescence. Adolescents perceived t…
Increasing Reading Comprehension and Engagement Through Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction.
Based on an engagement perspective of reading development, we investigated the extent to which an instructional framework of combining motivation support and strategy instruction (Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction—CORI) influenced reading outcomes for third-grade children. In CORI, five motivational practices were integrated with six cognitive strategies for reading comprehension. In the first study, we compared this framework to an instructio…
Psychology (45 works) · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness (31 works) · Developmental psychology (29 works) · Social Psychology (27 works) · Mathematics education (23 works) · Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports (18 works) · Expectancy theory (12 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (11 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Value (mathematics) (9 works)