Do Gender and Department Make a Difference in Achievement Goal Orientations of Turkish Prospective Teachers: A Study Among Fourth-Grade University Students

Introduction

This chapter determines the profiles of fourth-grade Turkish prospective teachers’ goal orientations regarding department and gender variables. Despite several studies concentrating on the achievement goal orientations of several university-students groups in the literature (e.g., Akın & Çetin, 2007; Arslan, 2011), insufficient attention has been paid to understanding whether the achievement goal orientations of prospective teachers at university students differ according to gender and branch variables. Before elaborating on the term “achievement or goal orientation,” we want to start with defining dispositions since several definitions refer to the term disposition while clarifying the goal orientations. A disposition is defined as “a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously, and voluntarily a behavior pattern directed to a broad goal.” Dispositions are deliberately and consciously directed to specific objects and situations to achieve goals (Katz, 1993). Since goal orientation is considered a disposition that determines the probability of adopting a particular behavior (Dweck & Leggett, 1988), individuals' dispositional developments provide information about their development (Standage et al., 2003) and also includes important information about individuals' acquiring knowledge and skills (Chen & Mathieu, 2008). It is argued that the tendency of individuals to define success, which is among the essential personal factors, is related to their dispositional development (VandeWalle et al., 2019).

Achievement of goal orientation is “individual disposition towards developing or validating one's ability in achievement settings” (VandeWalle, 1997). So, students acquire knowledge using high-level cognitive skills when they have a goal orientation disposition. (Lewis, 2018). They may become more resilient to overcome difficulties when they have a goal achievement disposition (Cıvabaş, 2019; Nielsen, 2008). This orientation shows that students persistently make an effort to do their work and develop positive emotions. Considering that pre-service teachers' academic achievements in university life form the basis of their future professional success, the current research can understand what can be done to support their learning motivations. By creating student-centered learning environments, teacher candidates can be aware of their strengths, skills, attitudes, and prior knowledge. To this end, assuming that the orientations of male and female teacher candidates and those studying in different departments may be different, this research addresses the goal orientations of prospective Turkish teachers in terms of these two variables hoping to understand how to contribute to strengthening their goal orientations. Recognizing prospective teachers’ goal orientations about their gender and department may better understand their learning dispositions (Alkan, 2020; DeShon & Gillespie, 2005).