Examining the self-congruent engagement hypothesis: the link between academic self-schemas,motivational goals,learning approaches and achievement within an academic year

Academic self-schemas are important cognitive frames capable of guiding students’ learning engagement. Using a cohort of Year 10 Australian students, this longitudinal study examined the self-congruence engagement hypothesis which maintains that there is a close relationship among academic self-schemas, achievement goals, learning approaches, learning attitudes and achievement levels in learning mathematics. Students completed a survey and attempted an achievement test at the beginning and close to the end of the academic year. Two hypotheses in relation to the notion of self-engagement congruence were examined. The first hypothesis assumes that students holding a specific academic self-schema will maintain a pattern of engagement and achievement congruent with their specific self-conception over time. The second hypothesis postulates that a change in academic self-schemas will be associated with a corresponding shift in students’ engagement and achievement patterns. Cluster analyses provided clear evidence supporting these two hypotheses.     

Risk Taking: Theoretical,Empirical, and Educational Considerations

Selected findings on risk taking derived from theories of economics and psychology and thought to be relevant to education are presented. The theoretical benefits associated with moderate (.50 probability of success) levels of risk taking, as well as the potential problems associated with the use of risk-taking activities as means of enhancing student learning and motivation, are discussed. A program of research designed to identify the determinants and effects of academic risk taking (i.e., selection of school-relevant tasks varying in difficulty) among children and adults is reviewed. Although students admitted having low tolerance for error making and failure, initial results indicate that (a) they could be encouraged to take moderate academic risks, (b) they were interested in academic risk-taking tasks, and (c) risk-taking tasks facilitated learning and appeared to elicit increased effort expenditure. Suggestions for further theory- and field-based research in academic risk: taking are offered, including the study of relations between academic risk-taking variables and motivation, information-processing, cognitive development, measurement, and curriculum development variables.     

An assessment of a social–cognitive model of academic performance in mathematics in Argentinean middle school students

This study tested a set of hypotheses derived from the model of academic achievement in mathematics of the Social Cognitive Career Theory in a sample of Argentinean middle school students. To this aim, 277 students (male and female; age: 13–15 years) were assessed using the following instruments: logical–mathematical self-efficacy scale, mathematics outcome expectations, mathematics performance goals, and mathematics ability test. All of these instruments had been adapted for use in Argentinean students. Academic achievement in mathematics (i.e., grades obtained on regular school exams) was the variable to be modeled through the path analysis technique. The analysis allowed identification of interrelations among the variables and identification of direct and indirect effects. Academic achievement in mathematics was partially explained by the model. Overall, the results support the theoretical postulates of Social Cognitive Career Theory.     

Dynamic reciprocal relations of achievement goals with daily experiences of academic success and failure: An ambulatory assessment study

Achievement goals have been linked to achievement in various educational settings. The present work explored day-to-day variations in achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) and their associations with daily experiences of academic success and failure. Ambulatory assessment data from 108 students in Grade 5 were collected, with daily assessments of achievement goals in the morning and end-of-day reports of academic success and failure. Dynamic structural equation models revealed reciprocal within-person effects between mastery goals and academic success. Academic success was further associated with higher mastery and performance-approach goals in the next morning. Academic failure was linked to both performance goals, though this association was not robust in all sensitivity analyses. Higher average daily academic success and lower average academic failure were linked to better academic achievement one year later. Findings suggest meaningful within-person dynamics among goals and daily academic success and failure.     

学术规范与美国经验

学术规范是学术界的"宪章",起源于科学是共享知识。学术规范是开展学术活动、提高学术水平的前提和基础;美国完善的学术规范与健全的制度保障为我们提供了有益的借鉴。     

Does enjoying friendship help or impede academic achievement? Academic and social intrinsic value profiles predict academic achievement

We examine the intrinsic value students placed on schoolwork (i.e. academic intrinsic value) and social relationships (i.e. social intrinsic value). We then look at how these values predict middle and high school achievement. To do this, we came up with four profiles based on cluster analyses of 6,562 South Korean middle school students. The four are made up of students who are (1) high in both academic and social intrinsic values (Both-High), (2) high in academic and low in social intrinsic value (Academic), (3) low in academic and high in social intrinsic value (Social) and (4) low in both academic and social intrinsic values (Both-Low). For middle schoolers, the highest academic achievement scores belong to students fitting the Academic profile. For high schoolers, however, such scores belong to two profile groups – the Academic and Both-High profiles. The findings suggest that one component fundamentally important to academic achievement is academic intrinsic value.     

Psychological Maladjustment and Academic Achievement: A Cross-Cultural Study of Japanese, Chinese, and American High School Students

American, 1,633 Chinese, and 1,247 Japanese eleventh-grade students, 5 indices of maladjustment included measures of stress, depressed mood, academic anxiety, aggression, and somatic complaints. Asian students reported higher levels of parental expectation and lower levels of parental satisfaction concerning academic achievement than their American peers. Nevertheless, Japanese students reported less stress, depressed mood, aggression, academic anxiety, and fewer somatic complaints than did American students. Chinese students reported less stress, academic anxiety, and aggressive feelings than their American counterparts, but did report higher frequencies of depressed mood and somatic complaints. High academic achievement as assessed by a test of mathematics was generally not associated with psychological maladjustment. The only exception was in the United States, where high achievers indicated more frequent feelings of stress than did low achievers.     

美国学业指导制度变迁研究及对我国的启示

根据学业指导的发展程度,美国高等教育经历了前学业指导、初级学业指导和现代学业指导3个阶段,其操作模式又可分为诊疗型模式和发展型模式.美国学业指导体系根据形式发展,逐渐给予了有特殊需求的学生足够的关注与尊重,其中对国际学生、有转专业意向学生、首代大学生以及女性的学业指导对我国高等教育有一定的启发意义,中国的学业指导制度虽出现了各种萌芽并有了一定的初期发展,但总体状况并不尽如人意.中美学业指导差距的根本原因在于美国文化崇尚个性,尊重个体,而中国高等教育中学生的主体地位并不突出.通过比较发现美国学业指导变迁对我国具有一定启示:转变教育观念,树立学生的主体地位;探索适合中国国情的学业指导模式;挑选部分学业指导工作已有一定基础的高校,加强投入,展开试点工作;做好学业指导与就业指导的统筹规划.     

Achievement goals,academic self-concept,and school grades in mathematics: Longitudinal reciprocal relations in above average ability secondary school students

This study examined the longitudinal reciprocal relations between academic self-concept, achievement goals (i.e., performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery), and achievement (i.e., self-reported grades) in mathematics. The research aim was twofold. First, we examined the confound hypothesis, which states that performance-approach goals do not feature any incremental validity in predicting achievement over and above students' competence perceptions (i.e., academic self-concept). In addition, we expanded research on the confound hypothesis by also investigating performance-avoidance and mastery goals. Second, we investigated the predictive validity of all three achievement goals for changes in academic self-concept. Seven hundred sixty-nine students (50.78% female) attending the highest track of the German three-tier secondary school system participated in three waves of measurement in Grades 5, 6, and 8. Our findings confirmed the confound hypothesis: Performance-approach goals did not explain achievement over and above academic self-concept. The same findings applied to performance-avoidance and mastery goals. Furthermore, performance-approach goals were positively related to academic self-concept changes, whereas performance-avoidance goals showed a negative relation to academic self-concept changes over time. Mastery goals were not associated to changes in academic self-concept. Academic self-concept and achievement showed positive reciprocal relations. To conclude, our results point to complex relations between achievement goals, academic self-concept, and academic achievement over time.     

Do Cultural Attitudes Matter? The Role of Cultural Orientation on Academic Self‐Concept Among Black/African College Students

The authors explored the relationship between academic self‐concept and noncognitive variables (i.e., Africentric cultural orientation, academic class level, gender, and involvement in culturally relevant school and community activities) among Black/African college students. Results indicated that Africentric cultural orientation and academic class level were significantly related to academic self‐concept. Female students had higher scores on the Academic Self‐Concept Scale ( Reynolds, Ramirez, Magrina, & Allen, 1980 ) compared with their male peers. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.     

Linking Academic Entitlement and Student Incivility Using Latent Means Modeling

Academic entitlement has been theoretically linked with uncivil student behavior; however, this relationship has not been tested. To address this gap in the literature, the authors used latent means modeling to estimate the relationship between the Academic Entitlement Questionnaire and uncivil student behavior. The authors gathered scores on the questionnaire from 2 samples of students: civil/compliant and uncivil/noncompliant. Measurement invariance was established for the Academic Entitlement Questionnaire, providing additional validity evidence for the scale and allowing for the estimation of the latent mean difference in academic entitlement. As predicted, noncompliant students were significantly higher in academic entitlement than were compliant students. These results empirically link academic entitlement and student incivility, further supporting that academic entitlement is an important construct in academia and should receive increased attention from educators.     

The effects of self-efficacy,hope, and engagement on the academic achievement of secondary education in the Dominican Republic

Achievement in the academic settings has long lasting positive outcomes. In this study, hope, self-efficacy, and engagement are linked to academic success. The aims of this study were to test a model which predicts academic success in the Dominican Republic while testing for the mediator role of engagement. The sample was composed of 614 middle-school students. Scales of Dispositional Hope, Academic Self-Efficacy, Academic Self-concept, and Engagement were used. Academic performance was measured with students' grades in Spanish and Mathematics. Three structural equation models were tested. The retained model stated hope and self-efficacy as antecedents, engagement dimensions as mediators and grades and academic self-concept as final outcomes. There were significant effects of hope and self-efficacy on engagement, and behavioral engagement was the best predictor of academic success. These results point out that interventions should target variables, such as hope or engagement to increase academic success.     

Problem-Based Learning is Compatible with Human Cognitive Architecture: Commentary on Kirschner,Sweller, and Clark (2006)

Academic emotions have largely been neglected by educational psychology, with the exception of test anxiety. In 5 qualitative studies, it was found that students experience a rich diversity of emotions in academic settings. Anxiety was reported most often, but overall, positive emotions were described no less frequently than negative emotions. Based on the studies in this article, taxonomies of different academic emotions and a self-report instrument measuring students' enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom (Academic Emotions Questionnaire [AEQ]) were developed. Using the AEQ, assumptions of a cognitive-motivational model of the achievement effects of emotions, and of a control/value theory of their antecedents (Pekrun, 1992b, 2000), were tested in 7 cross-sectional, 3 longitudinal, and 1 diary study using samples of university and school students. Results showed that academic emotions are significantly related to students' motivation, learning strategies, cognitive resources, self-regulation, and academic achievement, as well as to personality and classroom antecedents. The findings indicate that affective research in educational psychology should acknowledge emotional diversity in academic settings by addressing the full range of emotions experienced by students at school and university.     

Relationships among cooperation-competition and locus of control in social and academic situations among children in traditional and open classrooms

The relationships among cooperation-competition, perceptions of locus of control in social situations, and perceptions of locus of control in intellectual-academic situations was compared among 89 fourth- and fifth-grade students in traditional and open classrooms. Children from the open education setting displayed substantially more cooperative behavior on Madsen's marble-pull game than children from the traditional school. They also made significant gains in cooperative behavior from the first to the second trial, while the difference between trials was not significant for the traditional students. Traditional students displayed significantly higher internality for locus of control in academic settings, while perceptions of locus of control in social settings did not differ for the two groups. Academic and social locus of control judgments were significantly correlated for the open education students, but not for the students from traditional classrooms.     

Perceptions of the prevalence and seriousness of academic dishonesty in Australian universities

Academic dishonesty is a fundamental issue for the academic integrity of higher education institutions, and one that has lately been gaining increasing media attention. This study reports on a survey of 1206 students and 190 academic staff across four major Queensland universities in relation to student academic misconduct. The aim of the survey was to determine the prevalence of academic misconduct, and to investigate the extent to which perceptions of dishonesty are shared between students and staff, as preliminary steps toward developing effective strategies to deal with the academic dishonesty/misconduct problem. Results indicate a higher tolerance for academic misconduct by students in comparison to staff, particularly with respect to falsification of research results and plagiarism, as well as considerable underestimation by staff of the prevalence of virtually all forms of student academic misconduct. Overall, the study’s findings confirm the significance of the issue of academic dishonesty within the Australian tertiary sector, indicating considerable divergence between students and staff in terms of perceptions of the seriousness and prevalence of student academic misconduct. We suggest that university administrators need to examine this issue closely in order to develop mechanisms for managing and curtailing the level of academic misconduct, since a failure to do so may lead to a further undermining of the academic integrity of the Australian tertiary sector.     

The Relationship Between IQ,Homework, Aspirations and Academic Achievement for Chinese,Vietnamese and Anglo-Celtic Australian School Children

Flynn (1991) proposed that students from Asian cultural backgrounds typically achieve at higher levels than non-Asian students with the same IQs. This study investigated relationships between IQ, study time, educational and occupational aspirations, and academic achievement among Australian school children ( n = 160) from Chinese, Vietnamese and Anglo-Celtic backgrounds. Mathematics grades for Chinese and Vietnamese Australian children were higher. They spent more time studying and were more likely to desire an occupation requiring tertiary qualifications than Anglo-Celtic Australian peers. Consistent with Flynn's hypothesis, students from Asian backgrounds obtained higher mathematics grades than their Anglo-Celtic Australian peers with the same IQ. However, study and occupational aspirations formed only part of a more complex socio-cultural package that contributed to group achievement differences. Parents' support for studying and aspirations may interact with these factors to produce high achievement.     

Challenging the Assumption of a Western Phenomenon: Academic Entitlement in Saudi Arabia

Academic entitlement (AE) is increasingly associated with problematic behaviors and attitudes, including student incivility and endorsement of cheating. As research on this context-specific form of entitlement increases, no one has yet explored the rates of occurrence outside of North America. To investigate whether students at North American universities are alone in their endorsement of academically entitled beliefs and behaviors, we administered a bidimensional (entitled expectations and externalized responsibility) AE measure to university students in Saudi Arabia and the United States. Contrary to expectations, the Saudi Arabian students, particularly the women, reported on this measure higher levels of AE than the American students. However, in the Saudi sample, academic entitlement was associated with self-esteem and not with narcissism or independent self-construal. While these results challenge the assumptions that AE is an exclusive Western educational phenomenon, they also raise questions about the potentially different meaning of AE in non-Western cultures and the validity and reliability of AE measurement.     

英语学术阅读中的问题、原因及其对策——关于中国非英语专业研究生学术阅读的调查

阅读英语学术著作是研究生获得自己所学专业的学术研究动态,进行学术交流的重要途径。但对于中国的非英语专业研究生来讲,由于母语的负迁移以及一些其他因素的影响,他们在进行学术阅读,获取信息的过程中会遭遇很多困难。通过对西南大学部分非英语专业研究生的调查,了解他们在英语学术阅读中遇到哪些困难,从二语习得机制上分析造成这些困难的原因,并从教学角度提出解决办法,以期能够帮助中国非英语专业研究生提高学术阅读的水平和效率。     

Effective Counseling for Racial/Ethnic Minority Clients: Examining Changes Using a Practice Research Network

Studies have shown that counseling decreases students' academic distress. These findings, however, are based primarily on European American students. This study explored the impact of counseling on academic distress for treatment‐seeking racial/ethnic minority college students using the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms–34 ( Locke et al., 2012 ) Academic Distress subscale. Results indicated that there are significant differences in academic distress at intake based on race/ethnicity. Furthermore, findings revealed that change in academic distress over the course of treatment varies by race/ethnicity.