Testing the three-way interaction effect of academic stress,academic self-efficacy,and task value on persistence in learning among Korean college students

Persistence is an important indicator of academic success in higher education. Academic stress, which influences individuals’ learning motivation and behaviors, is inevitable in college life; however, individuals handle it differently based on their expectancy and value beliefs. In this study, academic stress, academic self-efficacy, and task value were chosen as predictors of persistence in learning, and the joint relationship between them was examined. The sample comprised 483 Korean college students. A multiple regression analysis was performed. The results revealed significant main and interaction effects, including a three-way interaction effect of academic stress, academic self-efficacy, and task value on persistence in learning. Particularly, students with strong motivation were less affected by a stressful and demanding environment. Furthermore, academic stress did not appear to be an exclusively negative factor and could be a catalyst to boost persistence in some conditions. Implications of the findings for promoting persistence in learning are discussed.     

The success and failure of one mandated reform for young children

This article illustrates the implementation of a school reform policy for educating young children in one south eastern state in the US, a reform known as the non-graded primary program. The reform is examined through the lens of Sabatier and Mazmanian's [(1981). The implementation of public policy: A framework for analysis. In D.A. Mazmanian, & P.A. Sabatier (Eds.), Effective policy implementation (pp. 3–36). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books] framework for policy implementation and Hashweh's [(2003). Teacher accommodative change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 421–434] model of accommodative change which proposes to explain how individual teachers change their practices. The article features four related studies of teacher change and the attitudes of teachers, administrators, and community members. The community, politics, and media had an impact on the sustainability of the change, and subsequently, after 10 years, many teachers had reverted to old practices. Teachers who made the most progressive changes were those whose beliefs were philosophically aligned with the theory of the policy, had excellent and continued professional development, and had supportive leadership.     

进步就是成功 坚持就是胜利

笔者认为学生辍学的最根本原因是学生看不到自己的进步，没有成功感，因而造成自信心不足，从而导致辍学．因此教师要让学生认识到自己的进步，进步就是成功，坚持就是胜利，从而有成功感。     

Interaction between task values and self-efficacy on maladaptive achievement strategy use

We tested the interaction between task value and self-efficacy on defensive pessimism, academic cheating, procrastination and self-handicapping among 574 Korean 11th graders in the context of English as a foreign language. We hypothesised that perceiving high value in tasks or domains for which self-efficacy was low would pose a threat to perceived self-worth, leading students to resort to various maladaptive achievement strategies. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that, consistent with our hypothesis, the relationships of task value with academic cheating and procrastination depended on the level of self-efficacy. Perceiving high intrinsic value positively predicted academic cheating for students with low self-efficacy but not for students with high self-efficacy. Likewise, perceiving intrinsic or utility value positively predicted procrastination for students with low self-efficacy but not for students with high self-efficacy. Our findings support the major tenets of self-worth theory.     

大学生英语学习成败归因调查分析

本文就九江学院非英语专业学生英语学习情况做了问卷调查,并对他们英语学习的成败归因作了分析。结果表明,大学生英语学习的成败主要取决于努力程度和学习方法。因此,教师要正确引导学生调节心理状态,端正学习态度,掌握学习方法,以帮助学生提高英语水平。     

Changes in self-efficacy and task value in online learning

This study was designed to investigate whether course content self-efficacy, online technologies self-efficacy, and task value change over the course of a semester. Sixty-nine participating students from four classes provided data through two instruments: (1) the self-efficacy instrument and (2) the task value instrument. Students’ self-efficacy and task value measures were collected three times during the semester (i.e., beginning of semester, mid-term, and final). Data were analyzed using repeated measures of variance. Findings of repeated measures indicate that course content self-efficacy and online technologies self-efficacy fluctuated, but task value remained unaffected during the course of the semester. Educational implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Academic self-concept and causal attributions for success and failure amongst elementary school children

A great deal of research shows that the way in which children attribute causes to their successes and failures in school has implications for the development of their academic self-concept (ASC). The most common attributions are ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. The present study asked 68 elementary school children aged seven to eight years how they explained their successes and failures in school subjects. The aim of the study was to examine whether there were gender differences in the children’s responses which might indicate differences in ASCs or in their explanations for the causes of success or failure. Data were collected via quantitative questionnaires. Results showed no gender differences in ASC but, within the group, boys were more likely to attribute their success to high ability; on the other hand girls were more likely to attribute their failures to low ability or the difficulty level of task. This suggests that boys are more likely than girls to provide positive, self-enhancing reasons for their success while girls are more likely than boys to provide negative, self-deprecating reasons for their failures.     

The effects of effort feedback and performance patterns on children's attributions and task persistence

This study examines the effects of performance patterns (ascending versus random) and attributional information regarding the causes of that performance (effort feedback versus no feedback) on attributions and task persistence. Subjects were 40 fourth and fifth graders with dispositional tendencies not to perceive effort as a cause of their school-related performance. Results indicated that performance patterns did not systematically influence either children's attributions or persistence. As predicted, children given effort feedback exhibited greater levels of task persistence than those given no feedback; unexpectedly, however, this effect was not mediated by children's attributions.     

Competence,persistence, and success: The positive psychology of behavioral skill instruction

Early school failure is a critical factor in the development of peer rejection and antisocial behavior in children. This paper describes three sets of instructional strategies that have been shown to promote high levels of academic competence by arranging frequent opportunities for correct skill practice: (a) teaching children at their instructional level and monitoring progress, (b) teaching children differently as their skills improve, and (c) rewarding success and setting goals. Research is reviewed showing that practicing skills to high levels of fluency leads to retention and endurance, the emergence of new forms of a skill, and creative problem solving. The motivation of children to complete academic tasks through the strategic use of reinforcement is discussed, as are the implications of these strategies for encouraging children to be persistent, self‐motivated, life‐long learners. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 19–30, 2004.     

The effect of grade framing on task engagement,task completion,and anticipated regret

Instructional Science - Student tasks are assigned frequently in higher education to facilitate learning. For the students, the task grade is one of the motivating components for successfully...     

Effects of success and failure on emotionally handicapped boys

The study was designed to investigate the extent to which expectancies and performance of emotionally handicapped children could be altered by success- or failure-induced experiences. Students were randomly assigned to either of two experimental conditions during five trials of a guessing task. Immediately following the initial experience, all children were asked to estimate their expectancy of success on a novel learning task; students were then given a progressive matrix worksheet with ten problems which required adding and/or subtracting. It was hypothesized that those students in the success condition would have higher expectancies and actual performance scores than the children in the failure condition. It was further hypothesized that expectancy levels and performance scores would be related. An analysis of the results indicated that success and failure on a task were influential on subsequent expectancy estimates and performance; a discussion of these results is presented.     

The attribution of success and failure: The subject/object contrast

160 secondary school teachers were administered questionnaires on attributions for success and failure in students familiar to them. Student profiles were obtained by a 2 (success or failure) x 2 (extreme or moderate grades) design. The list of attributions employs classic dimensions (internal/external), stable/unstable, controlable/non controlable) plus a new dimension (academic/non academic) shown to be relevant in two preliminary surveys. The results indicate an interaction between the two independent varables as a function of the internal/external dimension. Responses characterizing for success and failure reveal a specific dimension termed subject/object, that parallels the a-priori academic/non academic dimension.     

Visual orientation and self-perceptions of children in an external-cue-relevant or cue-irrelevant task situation.

On the basis of visual orientation on a block design task, 180 kindergarten through fifth-grade children were assigned to 3 categories of task approaches: (a) inner directed or task oriented (TO), (b) information seeking (IS), and (c) approval seeking or cue dependent (CD). The performance and self-perceptions of the children were then examined as they worked on a concept-identification task in which an external cue was either relevant or irrelevant. The results showed that performance of the children in the 3 categories on the task was differentially affected by the manipulated cue conditions, though not consistently across grade levels. The relationship between task-approach categories and self-perceptions also differed over grade levels.     

The role of parenting self-efficacy in children? social and academic behavior

A latent variable structural model was constructed to test the relations among mothers’ and fathers’ parenting self-efficacy (PSE), their loneliness, and their child’s peer-evaluated social competence, self-evaluated loneliness, teacher-evaluated motivational orientation, and academic skills. In order to do this, first the Self-Efficacy for Parenting Tasks Index (Coleman & Karraker, 2000) was applied to a sample of mothers (n=876) and fathers (n=696) to test the relevance of these parenting task categories to Finnish mothers and fathers. The results of the latent variable structural model indicated a strong relationship between both mothers’ and fathers’ loneliness and their PSE, consisting of Nurturance, Discipline, Recreation, and Participation factors. Moreover, there was a modest relationship between parents’ PSE and their child’s social competence and consequently between social competence and child’s loneliness. The relationship between PSE and child’s academic achievement were mediated via child’s social competence.     

The effect of instructor race and gender on student persistence in STEM fields

The objective of this study is to determine if minority and female students are more likely to persist in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major when they enroll in classes taught by instructors of their own race or gender. Using data from public 4-year universities in the state of Ohio, I analyze first semester STEM courses to see if the race or gender of the instructor effects persistence of initial STEM majors in a STEM field after the first semester and first year. Results indicate that black students are more likely to persist in a STEM major if they have a STEM course taught by a black instructor. Similar to previous findings, female students are less likely to persist when more of their STEM courses are taught by female instructors.     

The effects of mainstreaming on success expectancy and imitation in mildly retarded children

The University of North Florida, in partnership with educational, business, and community agencies, has established the Florida Early Literacy and Learning Model (ELLM) to improve literacy among over 1,000 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds in the region. The ELLM initiative is founded on the concepts of collaborative restructuring, reading research, high-performance learning environments, and family involvement. It has been found to be effective in increasing literacy and reading achievement of young children who have come to school underprepared.