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.     

Internal and External Frames of Reference for Academic Self-Concept

Frames of reference play an important role in the development of academic self-concept because students' judgments of their own achievements have to be made against some frame of reference. Students use multiple frames of reference in making self-judgments. In this article we first distinguish internal and external frames of reference. We then identify four possible frames of reference related to external comparisons: (a) school-average ability, (b) class average ability, (c) selected students in class, and (d) selected students outside of class. We also propose four types of internal comparisons related to schoolwork: (a) comparison of achievements in different school subjects at a given time, (b) comparison of achievements in the same subject across time, (c) comparison of achievements with goals and aspirations, and (d) comparison of achievements in different school subjects with applied effort in those subjects. By analyzing the eight frames of reference in relation to five sources of information, we illustrate the complexity of internal and external comparisons students make and suggest directions for future research.     

Academic Self-Concept and Self-Efficacy: How Different Are They Really?

Academic motivation researchers sometimes struggle to decipher the distinctive characteristics of what appear to be highly analogous constructs. In this article, we discuss important similarities between self-concept and self-efficacy as well as some notable differences. Both constructs share many similarities such as centrality of perceived competence in construct definition; use of mastery experience, social comparison, and reflected appraisals as major information sources; and a domain-specific and multidimensional nature. Both predict motivation, emotion, and performance to varying degrees. However, there are also important differences. These differences include integration vs. separation of cognition and affect, heavily normative vs. goal-referenced evaluation of competence, aggregated vs. context-specific judgment, hierarchical vs. loosely hierarchical structure, past vs. future orientation, and relative temporal stability vs. malleability. We argue that self-efficacy acts as an active precursor of self-concept development and suggest that self-concept research separate out its multiple components and subprocesses and invest more effort toward making students less preoccupied with normative ability comparisons in school.     

A Meta-analysis of the Longitudinal Relationship Between Academic Self-Concept and Academic Achievement

Educational Psychology Review - The reciprocal relationship between academic self-concept (ASC) and academic achievement has been documented in multiple studies. However, this relationship has not...     

Measuring academic Self-Concept in children: A comparison of two scales

While numerous studies attest to a relationship between academic self-concept and achievement, a variety of measures of self-concept have been used, and the equivalence of these instruments has received limited attention. In this investigation, the Self-Concept of Ability Scale (SCAS) and the newer and less examined Self-Perception of Attainment Scale (SPAS) were compared for their ability to predict achievement in reading as measured by the California Achievement Test (CAT). We predicted that: (a) both scales would be significant predictors of reading achievement, (b) when used as single predictors, the SCAS would have significantly greater weight than the SPAS, and (c) a linear combination of these scales would have greater weight than either scale alone. Using 187 eighth-grade students, we confirmed that both scales were significant predictors of achievement in reading and that a linear combination of the two accounted for more variance than either scale alone. We did not find, however, that the SCAS was a significantly better predictor than the SPAS.     

学业自我概念和学业成绩的纵向关系:流动与城市儿童的比较分析

为了探讨学业自我概念和学业成绩的纵向关系,以及该纵向关系在城市与流动儿童之间的差异,本研究使用问卷调查法对653名城市儿童和686名流动儿童进行连续五次追踪。交叉滞后结构方程模型分析发现:(1)虽然总体上学业自我概念和学业成绩的纵向关系支持了交互影响模型,但儿童类型具有显著调节作用,城市儿童支持了发展观,而流动儿童则支持了交互影响模型;(2)在七年级上学期到八年级下学期期间,流动儿童先前的学业成绩对后来的学业自我概念的影响显著大于城市儿童。未来教育实践中要注重群体差异,因材施教,努力培养流动儿童的积极学业心理品质。     

Introduction: Commercialization of Academic Science and a New Agenda for Science Education

Certain segments of science are becoming increasingly commercialized. This article discusses the commercialization of academic science and its impact on various aspects of science. It also aims to provide an introduction to the articles in this special issue. I briefly describe the major factors that led to this phenomenon, situate it in the context of the changing social regime of science and give a thumbnail sketch of its costs and benefits. I close with a general discussion of how the topic of commercialization of academic science is relevant to science education.     

A Model of Academic Self-Concept for High School Hispanic Students in New York

This study examined how Hispanic students’ academic self-concept influences the independent variables of family academic expectations, peer relationships, schoolwork, and student–teacher relationships. A survey was administered to 222 ninth-grade students in Long Island, New York, 99 of whom self-identified as Hispanic. A structural equation model analyzed the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable, academic self-concept. A multiple regression analysis indicated that peer relationships, family academic expectations, and schoolwork were significant predictors of students’ academic self-concept. Peer relationships was a modifying variable on students’ academic self-concept.     

Elementary School Students' Learner Self-Concept,Academic Self-Concepts and Approaches to Learning

The present study investigated the relationships between academic selfconcepts, learner self-concept, and approaches to learning in elementary school students. A sample of 580 Australian Grade 6 and 7 school students with a mean age of 10.7 years participated in the study. Weak negative correlations between learner self-concepts and surface approaches to learning were identified. In contrast, deep approaches for both boys and girls showed the highest positive correlations with school self-concept and learning self-concept. Only slight variations in these figures were found between boys and girls.     

Implications of Overlapping Difficulties in Mathematics and Reading on Self-Concept and Academic Achievement

In this study, the relationship between adolescents’ difficulty in mathematics and reading and the influence on academic self-concept and school grades was examined. The participants (N = 585; 299 girls, 286 boys) were one age group of ninth-graders whose mathematics and reading skills were assessed at the end of comprehensive school at age 16 years. Five student profile groups were found using cluster analysis: best achievers, normal achievers (NA), the reading difficulty (RD) group, the mathematical difficulty (MD) group, and the learning difficulty (LD) group. Post-hoc tests revealed that the RD group and the LD group had a higher academic self-concept than the MD group. In school grades history, surprisingly, the NA group and the RD group performed equally well across all school grades. Students in the MD group performed as poorly as the LD group. The results emphasise the prolonged and generalised effects of especially MD on students’ academic careers.     

Assessment for Effective Intervention: Enrichment Science Academic Program

Israel suffers from a growing problem of socio-economic gaps between those who live in the center of the country and residents of outlying areas. As a result, there is a low level of accessibility to higher education among the peripheral population. The goal of the Sidney Warren Science Education Center for Youth at Tel-Hai College is to strengthen the potential of middle and high school students and encourage them to pursue higher education, with an emphasis on majoring in science and technology. This study investigated the implementation and evaluation of the enrichment science academic program, as an example of informal learning environment, with an emphasis on physics studies. About 500 students conducted feedback survey after participating in science activities in four domains: biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science. Results indicated high level of satisfaction among the students. No differences were found with respect to gender excluding in physics with a positive attitudes advantage among boys. In order to get a deeper understanding of this finding, about 70 additional students conducted special questionnaires, both 1 week before the physics enrichment day and at the end of that day. Questionnaires were intended to assess both their attitudes toward physics and their knowledge and conceptions of the physical concept “pressure.” We found that the activity moderately improved boys’ attitudes toward physics, but that girls displayed decreased interest in and lower self-efficacy toward physics. Research results were used to the improvement of the instructional design of the physics activity demonstrating internal evaluation process for effective intervention.     

Measuring Change in Students' Attitudes Toward Science Over Time: An Application of Latent Variable Growth Modeling

The purpose of this paper is to show how latent variable growth modeling can be utilized to examine change in students' attitudes toward science over the middle and high school years using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (Miller, Hoffer, Suchner, Brown, & Nelson, 1992).The results of the present study show that students' attitudes toward science generally decline over the middle and high school years. Science self-concept was found to be the strongest predictor of attitudes toward science. Teacher encouragement of science and peer attitudes are also significant predictors of students' attitudes. The effect of the parent variable was found to be quite small and statistically nonsignificant, with the exception of the seventh grade. Boys were found to have higher initial status on attitudes toward science and their attitudes dropped faster than girls. Also it was found that students in metropolitan and rural schools have less positive attitudes toward science in the seventh grade compared to students in suburban schools. Latent variable growth modeling allows one to examine change in attitudes and also examine the effects of time-varying and time-invariant predictors. Substantive and methodological implications of this technique are also discussed.     

Exploring Factors That Promote Online Learning Experiences and Academic Self-Concept of Minority High School Students

The rapid growth of online education at the K-12 level in recent years presents the need to explore issues that influence the academic experiences of students choosing this method of learning. In this study, we examined factors that promote/hinder the learning experiences and academic self-concept of minority students attending an online high school. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four African American, and sixteen Hispanic high school students. The results showed that collaborative learning activities, access to resources, time convenience, student-teacher interactions, student-student interactions, improved academic behavior, and parental support helped to enhance online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the minority students. On the contrary, the lack of social presence, and the lack of cultural inclusion in course content constrain online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the students. The findings revealed some similarities between factors that influence minority students learning experiences online, and in face-to-face setting. The study also highlighted the need for teachers of online courses to understand the cultural backgrounds of minority students, and to use their knowledge to improve the learning experiences and academic self-concept of these students. Implications for teaching minority high school students in an online environment, as well as suggestions for future research are provided. (Keywords: minority students, K-12 online school, factors, online learning, self-concept)     

社科类学术期刊的学术语言

社科类学术期刊的学术语言对学术思想的准确表述至关重要。目前,在学术语言的使用方面,存在诸多问题,如模糊界定和混乱使用、不分语境地随意使用、语言晦涩和不规范等,给读者的阅读和理解造成了很大麻烦。如何准确地使用学术语言是每个学术研究者必须思考的问题。随着全民受教育程度的不断提高,人们对学术研究的关注程度也将不断提高,学术语言将呈现一种新的发展趋势。     

规范化:教育科学研究的学术观

目前 ,对教育学的学科地位问题仍然有不小的怀疑和争论 ,原因固然是多方面的 ,但很大程度上是与教育学的学术声誉不好、专业化程度不高密切相关的。即长久以来教育学没有形成自己健全的学术规范 ,研究的规范化程度与社会科学中其它学科相比有较大距离 ,如何构建教育学的学术规范 ,本文进行了有益的探讨。     

The Big-Fish–Little-Pond Effect for Academic Self-Concept, Test Anxiety, and School Grades in Gifted Children

This study reports data extending work by Marsh and colleagues on the “big-fish-little-pond effect” (BFLPE). The BFLPE hypothesizes that it is better for academic self-concept to be a big fish in a little pond (gifted student in regular reference group) than to be a small fish in a big pond (gifted student in gifted reference group). The BFLPE effect was examined with respect to academic self-concept, test anxiety, and school grades in a sample of 1020 gifted Israeli children participating in two different educational programs: (a) special homogeneous classes for the gifted and (b) regular mixed-ability classes. The central hypothesis, deduced from social comparison and reference group theory, was that academically talented students enrolled in special gifted classes will perceive their academic ability and chances for academic success less favorably compared to students in regular mixed-ability classes. These negative self-perceptions, in turn, will serve to deflate students' academic self-concept, elevate their levels of evaluative anxiety, and result in depressed school grades. A path-analytic model linking reference group, academic self-concept, evaluative anxiety, and school performance, was employed to test this conceptualization. Overall, the data lend additional support to reference group theory, with the big-fish-little-pond effect supported for all three variables tested. In addition, academic self-concept and test anxiety were observed to mediate the effects of reference group on school grades.     

西北初中生自我概念与学业求助关系的测量研究

这项研究选取陕西省、甘肃省、宁夏回族自治区、新疆维吾尔自治区4地中的774名初中生进行了测量．以西北初中生自我概念、西北初中生学业求助态度、西北初中生学业求助行为的各个子维度为因变量。进行4（地区）×3（年级）×2（性别）的方差分析，并且做了西北初中生自我概念对学业求助的路径分析．结果显示。自我概念通过学业求助态度影响学业求助行为。