Understanding the achievement goals of adolescent instrumental learners

Instilling positive motivational beliefs in musical learners is vital to promoting long term engagement with music beyond the school years. This qualitative interview study explores the motivation of nine adolescent instrumental learners in an English school through the lens of achievement goal theory. Participants discussed experiences aligning with self-approach, other-approach, other-avoidance and task-approach goals. Thematic analysis identified a number of influences on achievement goals not yet fully explored in the achievement goal literature, namely family influence, peer influence, musical identity, ownership over learning and the intrinsic value of music. As well as illuminating the lived experiences of adolescent musicians, the findings of this study also provide new insights in achievement goal theory research by applying the 3 × 2 achievement goal model to adolescent instrumental learners. Implications for music educators seeking to promote longer-term musical engagement are recommended, notably in the provision of broad musical experiences to promote positive musical identities.