Dr. Maymonah Al-Zedjali of the College of Education has conducted a study on achievement goal orientations and learning strategies and their relationship with the academic performance of students enrolled in teacher preparation programs in the Sultanate of Oman. The study aimed to improve teaching and learning through the development of educational programs that suit the orientations of students as well as by addressing several issues in university education.

The research findings conclude that the level of learning strategies was generally high in memorization, organization, clarification, critical thinking, seeking help and cognitive self-regulation and medium in peer learning strategy. There was also a positive correlation between the mastery/willingness trend and academic performance, and a negative correlation between the trend of mastery/reluctance and performance/reluctance with the GPA of the students.

The study recommends that attention be paid to enhancing competitiveness among students and improving their desire to learn in order to raise their GPA. Further research will have to identify the relationship between assessment practices and achievement goal orientations of postgraduate students.

Two tools were used in the study. The first is the achievement goal orientation scale, which explains the reasons behind an individual’s achievement of a task. It is used in academic learning settings to measure mastery goals (willingness/reluctance and performance goals). The other tool used is the learning strategies scale, which measures motivation orientations the students use in learning, including repetition, clarification, organization and critical thinking.