Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation

Academic motivation is discussed in terms of self-efficacy, an individual's judgments of his or her capabilities to perform given actions. After presenting an overview of self-efficacy theory, I contrast self-efficacy with related constructs (perceived control, outcome expectations, perceived value of outcomes, attributions, and self-concept) and discuss some efficacy research relevant to academic motivation. Studies of the effects of person variables (goal setting and information processing) and situation variables (models, attributional feedback, and rewards) on self-efficacy and motivation are reviewed. In conjunction with this discussion, I mention substantive issues that need to be addressed in the self-efficacy research and summarize evidence on the utility of self-efficacy for predicting motivational outcomes. Areas for future research are suggested.     

Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Mathematical Problem-Solving of Gifted Students

Path analysis was used to test the predictive and mediational role that self-efficacy beliefs play in the mathematical problem-solving of middle school gifted students (n= 66) mainstreamed with regular education students (n= 232) in algebra classes. Self-efficacy of gifted students made an independent contribution to the prediction of problem-solving in a model that controlled for the effects of math anxiety, cognitive ability, mathematics GPA, self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, and sex. Gifted girls surpassed gifted boys in performance but did not differ in self-efficacy. Gifted students reported higher math self-efficacy and self-efficacy for self-regulated learning as well as lower math anxiety than did regular education students. Although most students were overconfident about their capabilities, gifted students had more accurate self-perceptions and gifted girls were biased toward underconfidence. Results support the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory.     

Beliefs About Academic Knowledge

Individuals' beliefs about knowledge (i.e., epistemological beliefs) have become the focus of inquiry in the educational and psychological literatures. Based on an analysis of those literatures, we first propose that epistemological beliefs are multidimensional and multilayered. That is, individuals possess general beliefs about knowledge, as well as beliefs about more specific forms of knowledge (e.g., academic knowledge). Second, we examine the relationship between epistemological beliefs and learning in order to understand why such beliefs are important to educators. Third, we question whether beliefs about academic knowledge are truly general (i.e., unwavering across academic domains) or have a character reflective of the domain to which they are associated (i.e., domain specific). Finally, we explore some of the common problems in the research and suggest topics for future study.     

Academic Self-Concept and Academic Self-Efficacy: Self-Beliefs Enable Academic Achievement of Twice-Exceptional Students

Many studies have reported that twice-exceptional (2e) students were vulnerable in psychological traits and exhibited low-academic self-concept and academic self-efficacy. Such vulnerability may cause their academic failures. This study applied interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a qualitative approach to investigate the perceptions of academic self-concept and academic self-efficacy in six 2e students from a Singapore secondary school. Results demonstrate that 2e students could possess high-academic self-concept and academic self-efficacy that empower their academic success. This study suggests strategies such as focusing on the 2e students’ strength areas and developing their interests in particular academic domains to enable their development of high-academic self-concept. We also recommend practices such as creating the experiences of success, practicing effective parental and teacher support, and providing positive peer influence to foster 2e students’ high-academic self-efficacy.     

Self-Efficacy Beliefs,Classroom Management,and the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline

In this article, we focus on connections between and among teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, classroom management practices, and the cradle to prison pipeline. Drawing from Bandura’s (1986) theorization of self-efficacy, we discuss how teachers’ beliefs shape their classroom management practices and how these beliefs and practices can be essential sites to understanding and decreasing disparate outcomes in disciplinary referral patterns among practicing teachers. We emphasize the importance of building teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and sense of efficacy to inform their classroom management practices/decisions. In particular, we focus on three sites of learning that, we argue, are essential to building teachers’ sense of efficacy in the classroom: learning about and building powerful and sustainable relationships with students; learning about and developing an understanding of outside of school contexts that students experience; and recognizing and appropriately responding to traumatic experiences of students.     

关注与促进教师的自我信念——自我效能感理论的重要启示

自我效能感在人类自我控制和调节中具有核心地位。本文在阐析自我效能感理论的涵义、影响作用、主要来源与作用机制等主要观点的基础上,着重探讨了该理论对于教师教育的有益启示,提出教师教育应关注与促进教师的自我信念。     

Writing in Early Adolescence: A Review of the Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This review examines and summarizes 16 research studies examining the writing self-efficacy beliefs of 6th- to 10th-grade students. In the majority of the studies, self-efficacy was found to play a primary role in predicting student writing performance. Students with learning disabilities were found to over-estimate their ability to complete specific writing tasks. Several studies found gender differences, with boys rating their confidence higher than girls, although actual performance did not differ. Grade-level differences in perceived efficacy for writing were found in some studies, but not in others. Most studies emphasized that those working with young adolescents need to be aware of the importance of self-efficacy and other motivational beliefs in conjunction with academic functioning. Difficulties with specificity of self-efficacy measures, and with correspondence between measure and criterial task were found in several studies. The article concludes with suggestions for future self-efficacy research.     

自我效能影响身心健康的研究回顾

Bandura提出的自我效能概念是社会认知理论中的重要部分。近年来自我效能在健康领域中的研究主要集中在三个方面：自我效能不仅可以通过生理过程影响健康状况,还能够影响情绪障碍以及健康促进行为。探讨自我效能影响健康的机制和模型,同时介绍了护理人员的自我效能作为环境因素对患者健康的影响。今后可以从心理健康、PTSD的心理干预以及痛觉研究等方面来拓展自我效能的应用领域。     

The Impact of Teaching Preparation Practices on Self-Efficacy Toward Teaching

Coursework in teaching, fieldwork, and supervised teaching experiences were examined as predictors of counselor education doctoral students’ (N = 149) self-efficacy toward teaching. Results revealed that all 3 variables related significantly to self-efficacy toward teaching. Results suggested that students’ satisfaction with supervision of teaching was particularly important in strengthening self-efficacy.     

Increasing Research Self-Efficacy Among Students in Professional Academic Programs

Gains in research self-efficacy for 60 Social Work and 75 Speech-Language Pathology students were compared. Our interest was to investigate whether students enrolled in both research and practice courses made greater gains in research self-efficacy over a semester, as compared to students enrolled in practice courses only. Findings indicated that Speech-Language Pathology students taking both research and practice courses showed the greatest gain. Examination of the Speech-Language Pathology curriculum suggested that when research courses were augmented with opportunities to apply research learning outside of class, greater gain in student confidence was achieved. We discuss implications for curricular development and interdisciplinary discourse on curriculum matters, and these implications reach beyond the two specific disciplines.     

Self-Efficacy,Stress, and Academic Success in College

This paper investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance of 107 nontraditional, largely immigrant and minority, college freshmen at a large urban commuter institution. We developed a survey instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy and perceived stress associated with 27 college-related tasks. Both scales have high reliability, and they are moderately negatively correlated. We estimated structural equation models to assess the relative importance of stress and self-efficacy in predicting three academic performance outcomes: first-year college GPA, the number of accumulated credits, and college retention after the first year. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy is a more robust and consistent predictor than stress of academic success.     

The Relationships Between Academic Self-Efficacy,Computer Self-Efficacy,Prior Experience,and Satisfaction With Online Learning

This study investigated the relationships between academic self-efficacy (ASE), computer self-efficacy (CSE), prior experience, and satisfaction with online learning and explored how ASE, CSE, and satisfaction vary with age and gender. One hundred and three graduate students enrolled in purely online courses in January 2014 at a university in the midwestern United States participated in the survey. Scales with known reliability were used to measure ASE, CSE, and satisfaction. The study showed a significant positive correlation among all the variables except CSE and satisfaction. Regression analysis showed ASE to be most predictive of satisfaction with online learning. Females had a higher mean ASE than males, and participants aged thirty-five years and above had a higher mean CSE than younger participants.     

Parents' Beliefs About Their Children's Cognitive, Social, and Motor Functioning

This study investigated the accuracy of parents' judgments about their children's cognitive, social, and motor abilities as well as the relationship between accuracy of prediction, and child performance. Subjects were preschool-age children and their mothers. Mothers were significantly less accurate in predicting their child's success or failure on the social items than on the cognitive and motor items. In all domains, overestimations of ability were more common than underestimations, with the greatest incidence of overestimations occurring for social items. The correlation between accurate predictions by the mother and correct response by the child was .79, and the correlation between overestimation and child competence was -.80. These findings support the “match” hypothesis, which posits that mothers who have more knowledge of their children are better able to create optimally challenging environments. Reasons for mothers' poorer ability to predict and greater tendency to overestimate their children's social understanding are discussed.     

Parents' Beliefs About Their Children's Cognitive,Social, and Motor Functioning

This study investigated the accuracy of parents' judgments about their children's cognitive, social, and motor abilities as well as the relationship between accuracy of prediction, and child performance. Subjects were preschool-age children and their mothers. Mothers were significantly less accurate in predicting their child's success or failure on the social items than on the cognitive and motor items. In all domains, overestimations of ability were more common than underestimations, with the greatest incidence of overestimations occurring for social items. The correlation between accurate predictions by the mother and correct response by the child was .79, and the correlation between overestimation and child competence was –.80. These findings support the "match" hypothesis, which posits that mothers who have more knowledge of their children are better able to create optimally challenging environments. Reasons for mothers' poorer ability to predict and greater tendency to overestimate their children's social understanding are discussed.     

自我效能对学生学业成就影响及应用研究

自我效能是当前动机理论研究的热点问题之一，在教育学、心理学等领域有着广泛的运用。自我效能直接影响学业成就，也可以通过其他因素间接地影响学业成就。培养职校生自我效能感的重要途径在于：引导职校生进行正确的学业目标定向；对职校生进行适当的归因训练；为职校生树立榜样以获得替代性经验；采用建构主义的教学理念。     

师幼关系对幼儿自我效能感的影响

幼儿已有的亲子依恋关系左右着师幼关系的性质,同时师幼关系又会强化或削弱幼儿在与父母的互动中已经形成的自我效能感。教师的职业自觉性和敏感性同样影响着师幼关系的走向,进而影响幼儿自我效能感的发展。有利于幼儿自我效能感发展的师幼关系具有互惠性、协助性和社会建构性的特征。教师可以通过建立安全信任的师幼关系、帮助幼儿积累成功经验、充分发挥评价的改善功能三个方面促进幼儿自我效能感的发展。     

教师的认识信念系统及其对教学的影响

教师的认识信念系统是一个涉及知识信念、认知信念、文化信念、学习信念以及对信念的自我调节等因素的复杂结构。教师认识信念的形成受到个体的学习活动经验、科学观和社会环境的影响。教师的认识信念会对自我的教学理念、教学设计、教学行为、教学组织以及教学评价产生直接影响,同时又会通过教学过程将自己的认识信念传达给学生,对学生的学习产生间接影响。     

An Examination of Change in Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Science Education Based on the Duration of Inservice Activities

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Impact of Course and Fieldwork on Multicultural Beliefs and Attitudes

This study investigated preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students when progressing through specially designed courses. Data were collected using the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey and semi-structured interviews. Analyses indicated that preservice teachers who received more multicultural preparation held more positive attitudes and based their attitudes more on academic preparation than on personal experiences. Preservice teachers who completed the multicultural course and English for speakers of other languages field placement had a more in-depth understanding of how to help culturally and linguistically diverse students.