Performance Avoid

What is it?

Similar to performance approach, students with this goal orientation percieve their definition of success relative to their peers. In avoiding performance, a student is motivated to not be percieved as the worst in the class relative to their peers (Pintrich 99). Pintrich goes on to explain that students do not want to appear to be 'stupid' or 'dumb' by their peers.

This act of trying to not be percieved as incompetent or unintelligent can turn into self-handicapping. In order to lessen the judgement from both the teacher and peers when failure is probable, students will create an excuse (that can be true or false) that aims at maintaining that image and to detract from failure (Covington 85). Some of these strategies include procrastination, setting unattainable goals, underachieving, and the 'academic wooden leg' (Covington 85-88).

Influences

Although students like to be appraised for their good work, their anxiety with appraisal may cause students to avoid wanting to be appraised. Similar to Performance-Approach, Avoidance can be influenced by the fear of failure. Task difficulty and structure may indirectly cause students' perception of doing their tasks successfully. Students may not answer questions as they do not want to look "stupid" in front of their peers, or the opposite, students may not answer questions to look "smarter" than their peers. (anxiety). Students may go for easier tasks to avoid taking harder tasks that they know they can do to avoid looking to good, and some students may go for harder tasks to look better but avoiding to be looked as "dumb." Performance-Avoidance has two sides those who do not want to look good and those who do not want to look dumb. Tasks influences students to take tasks that will make them look like what they want instead of what they do not want. Similar to influences of Performance-approach, -avoidance is influenced by peers, family, and teachers. Parents who neglect a child, the student may try to look smart in order to not look dumb, and if students are in AP classes may take on harder classes to be with their friends who take those classes, and teachers who may praise students for doing a good job, so students avoid from gaining that attention.

Causes

In performance avoid, students want to avoid looking less smart than their peers with the fear of embarrassment. Students will avoid completing tasks or participating because the are afraid they will fail so they don't see a point in even trying.

Teaching Method

Supporting students with a performance avoid mindset, is similar to supporting those with a performance approach mind set. Teachers should be giving students feedback. By giving students feedback, they might look at their grades in a different light. This will help them not feel like a failure if they do receive a lower grade. This will help students focus on themselves and not how they are doing in comparison to their peers. (Linnenbrink 2012).

For performance avoid students, teachers should not publicly praise these students. This will help make sure students are not feeling overwhelmed. The students will still know they are doing a good job (Linnenbrink 2012). Along these lines, teachers should be making sure they aren't encouraging their students to self sabotage themselves. An example of this is a student exclaiming “The teacher is why I didn’t do good”. Teachers should also provide lots of encouragement to students in order to make sure they are trying. Teachers want to make sure they are still learning the material. One other important thing to do is make sure students are setting attainable goals for themselves (Covington 2000).

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