The Relation of Students’ Conceptions of Feedback to Motivational Beliefs and Achievement Goals: Comparing Chinese International Students to New Zealand Domestic Students in Higher Education

Extant research on students’ feedback conceptions has reported effects on performance, but the relationship of feedback conceptions to important motivational factors is not empirically evidenced. This study fills this gap by providing empirical data about students’ conceptions of feedback in relation to their motivational beliefs and achievement goals. Measurement and structural modelling analyses were based on undergraduate student data from New Zealand domestic (n = 832) and Chinese (People’s Republic of China, PRC) international students (n = 504) in New Zealand universities. Based on cross-ethnic invariant measurement models of conceptions of feedback, motivational beliefs, and achievement goals, a structural equation model uncovered links between feedback conceptions, motivational beliefs, and achievement goals. Specifically, feedback conceptions believing in actively using feedback and the value of teacher comments significantly promoted self-efficacy and task value beliefs, as well as mastery and performance-approach goals. In contrast, maladaptive feedback perceptions (i.e., feedback is ignored or used for judging performance against external standards or relative to others) had a minimal-to-negative impact on motivational beliefs and triggered stronger performance-avoidance goals. This study empirically demonstrates that conceptions of feedback support motivational beliefs and goal approaches consistent with previous claims concerning their self-regulatory role.