Physical education, positivism, and optimistic claims from achievement goal theorists: A response to Pringle (2000)

In a recent issue of Quest, Pringle (2000) asserts a number of criticisms of the achievement goal approach to motivation and claims that conclusions drawn by researchers in this field are "overly optimistic." In this response, we suggest that Pringle's paper is marked by a limited review of the literature and many erroneous conclusions. Several issues of contention are discussed, and it is proposed that claims of achievement goal theorists are rightly optimistic. In particular, the assertions that the achievement goal area of inquiry is decontextualized and reductionistic are challenged. It is also argued that the championing of the interpretivist perspective for the study of motivational processes reflected in the Pringle article is inherently biased. In contrast, we suggest that there is not one correct methodology or theoretical perspective for understanding and fostering motivation of young people in physical education and that the achievement goal framework has much to offer with respect to this question.