AN INTERVIEW STUDY OF COLLEGE FRESHMENS BELIEFS ABOUT THEIR ACADEMIC MOTIVATION

An important aspect of meracognition, one potentially affecting much o f students' academic efforts, was tapped in this study. College studen ts' beliefs about their academic motivation were elicited systematical ly using ethnographic interviewing. We reasoned that students are very conscious of their decisionmaking regarding academics, and thus, they would be able to report on many of the factors affecting their academ ic motivation. In general, the students reported that many factors aff ect their academic motivation, specifically, many more factors than ha ve been considered in previous theoretical analyses of academic motiva tion, with students perceiving that interactions between motivational factors often are critically determinative of academic efforts and ach ievement.