A comparison of multiple facets of self-concept in gifted vs. non-identified Israeli students

This study compares facets of self-concept in gifted and non-identified Israeli adolescent students. The self-concept mean score profile of gifted vs. non-selected Israeli students was significantly different, with gifted students reporting higher mean levels of academic self-concept, but lower mean levels of social, personal, and physical self-concepts when compared with their non-identified counterparts. Overall, gifted students showed different patterns of self-concept than their peers. The data are discussed in view of theory and past research in the gifted literature.     

Relations of Student Perceptions of Teacher Oral Feedback With Teacher Expectancies and Student Self-Concept

In this article, the authors investigated the relations of students’ perceptions of teachers’ oral feedback with teacher expectancies and student self-concept. A sample of 1,598 Taiwanese children in Grades 3 to 6 completed measures of student perceptions of teacher oral feedback and school self-concept. Homeroom teachers identified students for whom they had high or low expectancies. Discriminant analysis indicated student perceptions of positive and negative academic oral feedback were more important than nonacademic feedback in predicting teacher expectancies. A 2-way multivariate analysis of variance showed that boys perceived more negative oral feedback than did girls, and fifth-grade students perceived more negative oral feedback on academic and nonacademic domains than did the third- and fourth-grade students. Furthermore, structural equation modeling results indicated a particularly strong relation between positive academic oral feedback and academic self-concept.     

The impact of vision impairment on students’ self-concept

This study investigated the self-concept of students with vision impairment who were placed in specialist and mainstream educational settings in South Australia. Self-Concept was explored across six dimensions, namely Physical, Moral, Personal, Family, Social and Academic Self-Concepts and the Total Self-Concept. The ‘Tennessee Self-Concept Scale: Second Edition’ was administered to 25 students with vision impairment (13 females and 12 males). Participating students’ age ranged between 15 and 25 years and they were included from all levels of vision impairment. The visual acuity of the participants ranged from 6/18 or less (low vision) to 3/60 and less (blindness). Although the majority of the students with vision impairment obtained low scores on all dimensions of self-concept, namely physical, moral, personal, family, social and academic, some students obtained normal scores in relation to family and academic self-concepts. There were no significant differences between female and male students with vision impairment across the six dimensions of self-concept and thus total self-concept. These findings have implications for teachers, special educators, policy-makers and a range of professionals in the education and special education sector in enabling greater understanding of the self-concept accomplishment of the students with vision impairment. However, this study has limited scope for generalisation of the study's conclusions due to the study's small population sample size.     

Reading,writing, and math self-concept in elementary school children: influence of dimensional comparison processes

The internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model (Marsh, Am Educ Res J 23:129–149, 1986) conceptualizes students' self-concepts as being formed by dimensional as well as social comparison processes. In the present study, the I/E model was tested and extended in a sample of elementary school children. Core academic skills of reading, writing, and math were related to corresponding and non-corresponding self-concept facets to determine the onset of dimensional contrast effects. School achievement and domain-specific academic self-concepts of 1,114 students from grades 1 to 3 were assessed. Negative paths were found for math achievement on reading self-concept and for reading achievement on math self-concept in the third grade. Math achievement was not associated negatively with writing self-concept. Positive influences were found within the verbal domain for writing achievement on reading self-concept from grade 1 onward. The results suggest a broad interpretation of the I/E model in which contrast as well as assimilation effects are possible. Factors influencing the dimensional comparison processes are discussed.     

Educational characteristics of students with high or low self-concept

In response to methodological concerns associated with previous research into the educational characteristics of students with high or low self-concept, the topic was re-examined using a significantly more representative sample and a contemporary self-concept measure. From an initial screening of 515 preadolescent, coeducational students in 18 schools, students significantly high or low in self-concept were compared using standardized tests in reading, spelling, and mathematics, and teacher interviews to determine students' academic and nonacademic characteristics. The teachers were not informed of the self-concept status of the students. Compared to students with low self-concept, students with high self-concept were rated by teachers as being more popular, cooperative, and persistent in class, showed greater leadership, were lower in anxiety, had more supportive families, and had higher teacher expectations for their future success. Teachers observed that students with low self-concept were quiet and withdrawn, while peers with high self-concept were talkative and more dominating with peers. Students with lower self-concepts were also lower than their peers in reading, spelling, and mathematical abilities. The findings support the notion that there is an interactive relationship between self-concept and achievement. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Academic self-concepts in adolescence: Relations with achievement and ability grouping in schools

The effects of ability grouping in schools on students' self-concept were examined in a sample of 23 secondary schools with a range of structured ability groupings. Measures of general self-concept, academic self-concept, and achievement were collected from over 1600 students aged 14–15 years and again two years later. Students' academic self-concept, but not their general self-concept, was related to the extent of ability grouping in the school attended. Subject-specific facets of academic self-concept were not related to the number of years of ability grouping students had experienced in English, mathematics and science; however, they were related to students' position in the grouping hierarchy, with students in high-ability groups having significantly higher self-concepts in all three subjects than students in low-ability groups. Students' intentions to learn in future were more strongly affected by self-concept than by achievement.     

Influences on the career accomplishments of Ph.D.'s

Six samples of Ph.D. recipients 3, 5, and 13 years after receiving the doctorate are examined for academic and personal characteristics associated with the career accomplishments of professional productivity and income. Both academic and nonacademic careers are included; the samples are professionals in chemistry, history, psychology, and the physical, biological, and social sciences. In general, the results suggest that academic ability and quality of the Ph.D. program influence job settings and responsibilities, which in turn directly influence both productivity and income. Number of years since the degree also is consistently related to both outcome measures.     

中学生自我概念的调查与分析

本研究采用陈国鹏等人修订的Marsh等人编制的“自我描述文卷（SOQ-Ⅱ）”,对西安市航天中学的156名学生进行了问卷调查,重点考察了自我概念的年级、性别的特点,以及在不同学业成绩上的差异。结果发现：（1）在自我概念的总量表和分量表上存在显著的年级差异,而未发现性别差异,无年级和性别的交互作用。（2）在自我概念的子量表上,性别差异显著。（3）在言语自我、数学自我、一般学校自我、体能自我等子量表,以及学业自我,非学业自我和总量表上,不同学业水平的学生有显著差异。表明学业成绩与中学生的自我概念有着密切的联系。     

Affect and motivation within and between school subjects: Development and validation of an integrative structural model of academic self-concept,interest, and anxiety

A comprehensive model of affect and motivation is necessary for disentangling the variance of subject-specific measures into components that are (a) construct-specific and generalize across different subjects, (b) subject-specific and common to different constructs, and (c) specific to a particular construct in a particular subject. In the present study, we developed and investigated an integrative model that yields new insights concerning the generality and school-subject-specificity of affective-motivational constructs. To this end, we first examined structural models that could account for the hierarchical and subject-specific nature of academic self-concept, anxiety, and interest, respectively. In a second step, we combined these construct-specific models to investigate an integrative model that was able to simultaneously address between- and within-subject relations. We used data from four large-scale samples of ninth-graders (N = 866–6146) on academic self-concept, interest, and anxiety in three subjects (mathematics, French, and German). Our results underscored the importance of the components at the more global level: The major part of reliable individual differences in subject-specific measures of affective-motivational constructs and their relations to achievement indicators (grades and standardized test scores) was explained by the general components of the affective-motivational constructs and the global affective-motivational appraisals of specific subjects rather than by the construct-and-subject-specific components. Overall, the structural architecture of the integrative model provides a way to simultaneously analyze complex within- and between-subject relations of affective-motivational constructs.     

A Study of Ability Grouping and the Self-Concept

Abstract

This study Investigated the relationships between acceptance of self, academic self-concept and two procedures used to group seventh-grade students for Instruction. The two facets of the self-concept were indexed for 323 heterogeneously grouped students and 244 homogeneously grouped students. Chi-square tests were applied to study the data by total groups, sex and achievement levels. Regardless of grouping procedures used, high achievers reported significantly more positive academic self-concepts (.01), while these concepts for low achievers were significantly less positive (.01). No other significant differences were found. It was concluded that grouping procedures do not significantly effect either facet of the self-concept, but success In school significantly influences the academic self-concept regardless of the grouping procedure used.     

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.     

Native Language Self-Concept and Reading Self-Concept: Same or Different?

In assessing verbal academic self-concept with preadolescents, researchers have used scales for students’ self-concepts in reading and in their native language interchangeably. The authors conducted 3 studies with German students to test whether reading and German (i.e., native language) self-concepts can be treated as the same or different constructs. Compared with other facets of academic self-concept, reading self-concept was more highly related to reading test scores (Study 1) and German self-concept to German grades (Study 2). In Study 3, reading and general school self-concepts demonstrated similar relations to German grades. The findings of the 3 studies, albeit indirect, supported the specificity matching principle and caution researchers against applying reading and native language self-concept scales uncritically to infer verbal self-concept.     

Social and dimensional comparisons in math and verbal test anxiety: Within- and cross-domain relations with achievement and the mediating role of academic self-concept

The present study builds on two strands of research: (1) the recently established generalized internal/external frame of reference (GI/E) model assuming social (comparing one’s achievement in one domain with the achievement of one’s peers in the same domain) and dimensional (comparing one’s achievement in one domain with one’s achievement in another domain) comparison processes in the formation of motivational constructs and self-perceptions, and (2) research on domain-specific facets of test anxiety. Using a sample of 5135 German seventh grade students, it is tested whether and how both comparison processes are involved in the formation of domain-specific facets of test anxiety when considering both the emotionality and worry components of test anxiety, and whether the relation between achievement and test anxiety is mediated through academic self-concept. When applying the GI/E model to test anxiety, the results showed negative relations between achievement and test anxiety within math and verbal (German) domains, but partially positive relations across domains. This pattern of relations emerged for both the worry and emotionality components while stronger achievement relations were found for worry. These findings indicate that dimensional achievement comparison processes operate in the formation of domain-specific test anxiety. Domain-specific academic self-concepts were found to mediate the relations between achievement and test anxiety within and across domains, the mediation being stronger for worry than for emotionality as an outcome. Boys and girls did not differ regarding direct and indirect relations among constructs. Implications for research on dimensional comparison processes and test anxiety are discussed.