The purpose of this study was to examine how the salience of mastery and performance goals in actual classroom settings influence specific motivational processes and grading. One hundred fifty-one students were given questionnaires on their perceptions of the classroom goal orientation, concerning the use of effective learning strategies, the attitudes for a task, the causal attributions and opinions on grading. Students who perceived an emphasis on mastery goals in the classroom used more effective strategies, preferred challenging tasks, had more positive attitudes toward the class, and thought their grade useful for them. On the contrary, students who perceived performance goals as salient had more negative attitudes toward the class and grade. The two kinds of orientations also differed in causal attributions.