Achievement goals, anxiety, hope, and performance in the Spanish language classroom in secondary education: A structural model

Achievement goals and emotions are considered to be conditioning factors for academic performance. A structural equations model was used to assess the relationship between mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals, hope, anxiety, and achievement in Spanish language in a sample of 642 Spanish secondary education students aged 12 to 18 years. The results revealed that hope was positively explained by mastery and performance-approach goals, and negatively by performance-avoidance goal; whereas anxiety was positively predicted by performance-avoidance goals and negatively by the other two goals. On the whole, goals, anxiety and hope explained 57% of the variance of academic achievement; the indirect nexus between goals and achievement, partially mediated by hope and anxiety, were significant. The results are discussed in terms of enhancing academic performance in school contexts.