The findings of this study indicate that pupils may exhibit a high degree of motivation in one academic discipline but may have a low level of motivation in another discipline concurrently. Pupils may also show a high level of motivation with respect to one motivational factor in one discipline and a low level of motivation with respect to the same factor in another discipline. Assessments of pupil motivation made without reference to specific disciplines may be both unreliable and invalid when applied to specific disciplines. The data provided by this study demonstrate a need for more extensive research on referent differences in pupil motivation.
