Achievement goals, academic engagement and performance: The mediating role of self-regulated learning strategies

The aim of the present study was to analyse how university students' achievement goals are associated with two distinct academic outcomes: academic performance and academic engagement (i.e., cognitive, affective and behavioural). Also, it investigated the potential mediating role of cognitive and metacognitive self-regulation learning strategies in these relationships. Participants in the study were 316 Romanian university students (70.3% female). Results showed that only mastery-approach goals had an indirect association with academic performance through the use of self-regulated learning cognitive strategies. Further, mastery-approach goals were positively related, whereas performance-avoidance goals were negatively associated with all three dimensions of academic engagement. Performance-approach goals were positively associated only with behavioural engagement. Moreover, students' use of self-regulated learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies significantly mediated only the relationships between mastery-approach goals and the dimensions of academic engagement. Findings are discussed in terms of educational implications, emphasising the contribution of self-regulated learning strategies and achievement goals in improving students' academic performance and engagement.