Introduction: The present work is based on the theoretical model "Expectancy Value" of achievement motivation, and from a socio-cognitive perspective. Its objective is to describe achievement behavior in the classroom context of students from different cultural backgrounds. Method: A post-hoc study was carried out with 310 participants from Chilean and Spanish cultural contexts. The Inventory of Motivation for Academic Achievement (IMLA), an instrument that assesses academic achievement motivation with eight factors, was completed. Results: The results show significant differences in the Chilean and Spanish cultural contexts, with a high power of the effect in the valuation of academic tasks and in the valuation of the social learning environment. In the gender variable, women show higher valuations with respect to men in the effort to achieve proposed goals. The students of the Health Sciences careers obtain significances with mean powers of the effect, in the value of the learning task and in the valuation of the social environment of such learning; also in the expectations and efficacy, with respect to the students of Physical and Natural Sciences. Discussion and conclusions: From these results, relevant information has been obtained for the study of the personal and sociocultural variables of motivation in university students from different cultural contexts. It is concluded that the cultural context and the field of knowledge have an effect on motivation.