Effects of learning goals on vocabulary acquisition in elementary school children

The objective of the present study is to compare the impact of a mastery goal and of a performance goal on lexical learning in elementary-school children. The 57 pupils were divided into three groups: two groups trained by means of two learning goals and the third group went without training. The participants were involved in two writing tasks to compare their performances before and after training or without training. Results show that a mastery goal is more effective than a performance goal for elementary-school children.