Motivational Correlates for Physical Education Class Participation
of College Students
Jonar Tumali Martin
Physical Education Department, College of Education Angeles University Foundation. Mc Arthur Hi-way, Angeles City,
Philippines
Keywords: Motivation, Achievement Goal, Self-determination, Physical Education.
Abstract: The study investigated the association between goal orientation and self-determination in the physical
education class of college students from three major private universities in Angeles City, Philippines. This
cross-sectional study comprised a random sample of 114 college students, male (n=47) and female (n=67),
with a mean age of 16.89 (SD=2.01). Participants answered the Perception of Success Questionnaire
(POSQ; Roberts et al., 1998) and the Sports Motivation Scale (SMS; Pelletier et al. 1995). Descriptive and
correlation statistical analyses were conducted. Findings reveal that students’ ego orientation was found
moderate while the task orientation of the students was found to be high. The self-determination motivation
of the students was found to be moderately high, with intrinsic motivation scoring higher which indicates
more self-determined motivation. Both ego and task-orientation are associated with extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation. A stronger relationship existed between ego and extrinsic motivation while a stronger
relationship existed between task-orientation and intrinsic motivation. This study may provide baseline data
that authorities in Physical Education (PE) may use in identifying relevant curricular programs and teaching
approaches that could assist efforts in fostering motivation to participate in lifelong physical activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Research supports the many health benefits acquired
through physically active lifestyle (Warburton et al.,
2006; WHO, 2011), yet, a large percentage of the
population does not have a substantial amount of
physical activity necessary for good health (Haskell
et al., 2007). According to Weiss (2000), physical
activity habits should be started early to increase the
likelihood of maintaining an active lifestyle all
through life. One venue that is viewed to promote
early physical activity habits is school physical
education (Sallis and Mackenzie, 1991). Allied with
the promotion of a physically active lifestyle is to
motivate individuals to become, and remain,
physically active. It is important that the physical
activity environment provides a motivating and
satisfying experience so that it could result in an
increase in self-determined participation. Two of the
most prominent theories that have been applied to
physical education when it comes to motivation are
the Achievement Goal Theory (Ames, 1992;
Nicholls, 1984) and Self-Determination Theory
(Ryan and Deci, 2000).
A popular concept established by the
Achievement Goal Theory is goal orientation which
Ames (1992) and Nicholls (1984) refers to the
conception of ability adopted by an individual and
acts as goal of action. An individual who is task-
oriented is focused on developing skills and
demonstrating mastery at the task while an
individual who is ego-oriented is more focused on
demonstrating ability by being successful by
outperforming others (Nicholls, 1984; Treasure and
Roberts, 2002). While Self Determination Theory, as
explained by Ryan and Deci (2000) is the existence
of different levels of motivation ranging from the
most self-determined level of motivation which
refers to intrinsic motivation to the less self-
determined level of motivation which is amotivation.
According to Vallerand (2001), intrinsic motivation
is considered the highest form of motivation, which
reflects situations, in which individuals do an
activity to have fun, learn new things or develop
their skills.
Studies on goal orientation report that students
have higher task orientation than ego-orientation
(Martin et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2002). According
380
Martin, J.
Motivational Correlates for Physical Education Class Participation of College Students.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 380-384
ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

to Nicholls (1989), students that are task-oriented
enjoy more in the practice of the activity compared
to those that are ego-oriented. In terms of the link
between goal orientation self-determination, studies
have found that task-oriented students are more self-
determined with high intrinsic motivation (Granero-
Gallegos et al., 2012; Moreno et al., 2008; Wang et
al., 2002).
In a study by Grasten et al. (2012) with
adolescents, it was found out that those that were in
a task-oriented climate had higher intrinsic
motivation, whilst those that belong in an ego-
oriented climate had higher extrinsic motivation.
Ntounamis (2005) pointed out that students
participate more actively in PE classes and in their
leisure time when they are enjoying the activity.
Moreover, Standage and Treasure (2002) concurred
that those who have self-determined motivation have
high intention to do physical activity.
Teachers would benefit greatly if they have a
better understanding when it comes to the
relationship of the students’ goal orientation and
self-determined motivation. It could help identify
effective strategies that can be incorporated into the
PE class to increase the likelihood of students to be
engaged in lifelong physical activity. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to investigate the
relationship of goal orientations to the intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation of college students in the
physical education class.
2 METHODS
2.1 Study Design and Participants
This cross-sectional study was designed to
investigate the relationship between the goal
orientation and self-determined motivation in the
physical education class of the college students in a
private university. This study adopted previously
validated questionnaires including Perception of
Success Questionnaire (POSQ; Roberts et al., 1998)
and the Sports Motivation Scale (SMS; Pelletier et
al. 1995) adapted to PE. The participants of the
study were 114 students taking up PE class, male
(n=47) and female (n=67), with a mean age of 16.89
(SD=2.01) from three major private universities in
Angeles City, Philippines.
Permission to conduct the study was sought from
school authorities Authority. Students were asked to
sign a written consent to participate. Before the
signing of the consent, students were informed about
the purpose of the study and their rights as
participants. The questionnaire was answered in
their PE class under the supervision of the students’
PE teacher on an agreed date and time. There was no
time limit for the completion of the questionnaire.
Participants were assured anonymity on their
responses to the instruments.
The researcher floated the questionnaire in their
respective PE classes on an agreed date and time
under the supervision of the PE teacher. The
participants were told to ask for help if confused
concerning either the instructions or the clarity of a
particular item. To minimize students’ tendency to
give socially desirable responses, students were
encouraged to answer honestly and were assured that
their responses were confidential. Each participant
took 20-30 minutes to complete the questionnaires.
Prior to the onset of the study and its data collection,
approval was sought from Angeles University
Foundation-.Angeles University Foundation Medical
Center Institutional Ethics Review Committee
(AUF-AUFMC IERC).
2.2 Instruments Used
2.2.1 Perception of Success Questionnaire
The Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ;
Roberts et al., 1998) was utilized to measure how
participants perceive their success in the PE class. It
is consisted of 12 items measuring students’
achievement goal in PE classes in terms of task-
orientation (e.g. “I reach personal goal”) and ego-
orientation (e.g. “I outperform my opponents”). The
instrument is a Likert-type scale indicating the
degree of agreement or disagreement ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Previous
studies showed the reliability of the instruments in
the field of PE (Granero-Gallegos et al., 2012;
Martin, et al., 2016). For the current study, the
internal consistency of the subscales was satisfactory
for both ego- (0.87) and task-(0.93) orientation.
2.2.2 Sport Motivation Scale (SMS)
The Sport Motivation Scale by Pelletier et al. (1995)
adapted to PE was utilized to measure motivation.
The scale consists of 28 items measuring the
different levels of motivation established by the
Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985):
twelve (12) items for extrinsic motivation (EM) (e.g.
“Because it allows me to be well regarded by people
I know”), and twelve items (12) for intrinsic
motivation (IM) (e.g. “For the pleasure it gives me
to know more about the sport skills that I practice”).
Motivational Correlates for Physical Education Class Participation of College Students
381

Only dimensions of intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation were used in the study. Answers
were collected on a Likert scale ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The
internal consistency of the instrument in the field of
PE was demonstrated in a recent study on Filipino
college students (Martin, 2015). Likewise, for the
current study, the internal reliability coefficients for
both intrinsic (0.91) and extrinsic (0.88) motivation
were satisfactory.
2.3 Data Analysis
Descriptive and correlation analyses were conducted
in examining the data. For the descriptive statistics,
mean and standard deviation were computed.
Pearson correlation was done to examine
relationship between variables. SPSS version 17.0
was used to complete the analyses.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Descriptive Values of the Study
Variables
Table 1 shows the descriptive values of each of the
research variables. Generally, the ego-orientation of
the participants was found to be moderate (M=2.86,
SD=0.93) while the task-orientation of the students
was found to be high (M=4.05, SD=0.81). For self-
determination, both intrinsic (M=3.53, SD=0.70)
and extrinsic (M=3.42, SD=0.69) motivation of the
students was found to be moderately high.
Table 1: Descriptive statistics.
The scales used in the study underwent
reliability of measures, particularly Cronbach’s
alpha. As reported in Table 1, the results show that
the scales possess adequate reliability, as the values
of Cronbach’s alpha were all over 0.70, which
exceeded the recommended level proposed by
Nunnally (1978).
3.2 Correlation between Achievement
Goal and Self-determination in the
Physical Education
Table 2 shows the intercorrelations among all
variables. As shown in the table, there is no
association between ego and task orientation
(r=0.15, p < 0.05). Ego-orientation was positively
associated with extrinsic (r=0.44, p > 0.01) and
intrinsic motivation (r=0.33, p > 0.01). Also, task
orientation was positively correlated with extrinsic
(r=0.29, p > 0.01) and intrinsic motivation (r=0.42, p
> 0.01). Moreover, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
were positively correlated (r=0.79, p > 0.01).
Table 2: Intercorrelation of the variables.
1
2
3
4
Ego
orientation
_
Task
orientation
0.15
_
Intrinsic
motivation
0.33
*
0.42
*
_
Extrinsic
motivation
0.44
*
0.29
*
0.79
*
__
*p>.01
3.3 Discussion
In any educational endeavor, motivation is an
essential ingredient in imparting knowledge and
skills to students moreover retention of learning and
formation of lifelong positive habits. By being
abreast with the motivational orientation and levels
of the students, teachers could shape up the learning
environment to assist in efforts in fostering positive
habits leading to lifelong adherence to physical
activity.
This study described the goal orientation and
self-determined motivation profiles of the Filipino
college students in their PE class and the
correlations between variables were examined. The
findings revealed that the students have moderately
high levels of ego-orientation, extrinsic motivation,
and intrinsic motivation while they have high levels
of task orientation.
Results of this current study concur with the
findings of earlier studies that students have
moderate levels of ego-orientation while having high
levels of task orientation. Similarly, it was found out
that students have higher level of task orientation
score than ego-orientation (Grannero-Gallegos et al.,
M
SD
α
Ego orientation
2.86
0.93
0.87
Task orientation
4.05
0.81
0.93
Intrinsic motivation
3.53
0.70
0.91
Extrinsic
motivation
3.42
0.69
0.88
ICSSHPE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education
382

2012, Wang et al., 2002). In a study by Grannero-
Gallegos et al. (2012), students who are task
oriented are more self-determined and practice
physical activity more outside of school PE while
those who are ego-oriented exhibit otherwise. This
habit may be attributed to the teaching practices in
the Philippines. Similarly, in other countries, the
mastery of a task is given emphasis rather than
comparing performance with others. More so, most
of the time, students are graded individually based
on competency rather than the manner of competing
with others.
Congruent to other studies, students have high
levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation with the
earlier scoring higher than the later (Grannero-
Gallegos et al., 2012, Grasten et al., 2012). This
result indicates that Filipino students prefer to enjoy
and have fun in their PE class more than to reap the
rewards from the activity. This finding suggests that
teachers should structure the PE class in such a way
that enjoyment is an integral component while
targeting necessary competency.
In the correlation analyses of variables, it was
revealed that both ego and task orientation were
associated with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Similarly, in the study of Granerro-Gallegos et al.
(2012), a stronger link existed between ego and
extrinsic motivation while a stronger positive
relationship existed between task orientation and
intrinsic motivation. According to Vallerand (2001),
those who have high scores in intrinsic motivation
associated positively with a number of desirable
psychological consequences which include
enjoyment, satisfaction, interest, effort, and
adherence to exercise, and negatively with anxiety
and boredom. However, according to Wang et al.
(2002) those who have high levels of extrinsic
motivation are partly motivated by avoidance of
guilt or might be feeling pressured to be
participating in school PE and leisure activities.
In the studies of Granerro-Gallegos et al. (2012)
and Wang et al. (2002), they found out that students
who have high task-orientation and intrinsic
motivation participate more in physical activity
outside of the PE class. This result suggests that PE
teachers should modify the lessons so that that the
climate is more on the achievement of the task rather
than performing in comparison with others to
develop and maintain more self-determined students
in the PE class and leisure activities.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The Filipino college students scored higher in task-
orientation than ego-orientation. The ego-orientation
of the students was found to be moderate while their
task-orientation was found to be high. In terms of
self-determination, the intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation of the students were found to be
moderately high, with intrinsic motivation scoring
higher, indicating more self-determined motivation.
Both ego-orientation and task-orientation are
associated with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation,
but a stronger relationship existed between ego-
orientation and extrinsic motivation while a stronger
relationship existed between task-orientation and
intrinsic motivation. This study may provide
baseline data that authorities in PE may use in
identifying relevant curricular programs and
teaching approaches to assist efforts in fostering
motivation to participate in lifelong physical
activity.
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