Primary and secondary students’ motivation in learning English: Grade and gender differences Alexander Seeshing Yeung a,b,⇑ , Shun Lau c , Youyan Nie b a University of Western Sydney, Australia b National Institute of Education, Singapore c University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong article info Article history: Available online 11 March 2011 Keywords: Motivation Primary education Secondary education Gender abstract Student motivation may have significant influences on essential academic outcomes. However, students’ motivation may decline as they grow older. This study examined six motivation constructs (self-efficacy, interest, mastery goal orientation, engagement, avoidance coping, and effort withdrawal) of students from 78 schools in Singapore (N = 4214) in learning English. Using a large and diverse sample of primary 5 (5th grade) and secondary 3 (9th grade) students, grade and gender differences in these constructs were examined. Applying a MIMIC approach to structural equation modeling, the paths from grade and gender as well as the grade  gender interaction variable were found to be significant. That is, (a) the scores for self-efficacy, interest, mastery goal orientation, and engagement tended to be lower whereas avoidance coping and effort withdrawal tended to be higher for the secondary students, (b) boys tended to have lower scores; and (c) the gap in motivation between primary and secondary tended to be greater for girls. Since motivation may have important influences on subsequent learning outcomes, we need to seriously consider the implications of these grade- and gender-related patterns and pay attention particularly to boys in primary schools and girls in secondary schools. Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The present study examined the important issue of age and gender differences in achievement motivation. The study used a sample of 5th and 9th graders (i.e., Primary 5 and Secondary 3, respectively) in Singapore. The issue of potential grade  gender ef- fects on student motivation is particularly interesting as it has not been fully elucidated in the literature. Furthermore, the existent lit- erature on students’ development of motivation has often assumed implicitly a general pattern across curriculum domains (Green, Martin, & Marsh, 2007). Whereas a generic pattern is worth explor- ing, the pattern of student motivation within a specific curriculum domain, especially the language of instruction, would be more informative to curriculum designers and teachers. Hence in the cur- rent study, we focused on a single important curriculum domain in the school system: English, which is the language of instruction and one of the national languages of Singapore (the other being Malay). Because of the importance of English as the language of instruction, the findings will be informative for other settings where English is used as a medium of instruction. 2. Academic motivation Students’ academic behavior and achievement are often found to be closely associated with their motivation in schoolwork (e.g., McInerney & Ali, 2006; Smith, Duda, Allen, & Hall, 2002). Research studies have also demonstrated that students’ self-beliefs tend to have significant influence on essential academic outcomes (e.g., McInerney, Yeung, & McInerney, 2001; Smith et al., 2002). Unfortu- nately, research has suggested that students tend to have reduced motivation and lowered self-perceptions as they mature (e.g., Anderman, Maehr, & Midgley, 1999; Lepper, Henderlong Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005; Marsh, Craven, & Debus, 1998; Midgley & Edelin, 1998; Murphy & Alexander, 2000; Watt, 2008; Yeung & McInerney, 2005). Although some gender differences may also exist, both boys and girls seem to experience deteriorating motivation and self- perceptions of ability as they grow up (Anderman et al., 1999; Marsh et al., 1998). Although the existent literature has provided us with knowledge about this general developmental pattern, whether the pattern differs for boys and girls in specific curriculum domains has not been thoroughly explored. 3. Adaptive and maladaptive motivation Current motivational theories (e.g., self-determination theory, self-efficacy theory, achievement goal theory, task value theory) 0361-476X/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2011.03.001 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Educational Excellence & Equity (E3) Research Program, University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith NSW 2751, Australia. Fax: +61 2 9772 6432. E-mail address: a.yeung@uws.edu.au (A.S. Yeung). Contemporary Educational Psychology 36 (2011) 246–256 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Contemporary Educational Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych