Dimensional comparison theory: an extension of the internal/external frame of reference effect on academic self-concept formation

In a comprehensive study (15,356 Dutch 9th grade students from 651 classes in 95 schools) we empirically tested the dimensional comparison theory (DCT) propositions formulated by Möller & Marsh (2013) as an extension of I/E theory, exploring methodological, theoretical, and substantive insights. According to DCT, academic self-concepts (ASC) are formed in relation to dimensional comparisons in different school subjects, as well as to social and temporal comparisons. In support of DCT predictions, paths from achievement to ASC in matching domains were substantially positive, but paths to non-matching domains (e.g., math achievement to verbal self-concept) were significantly negative. Extending DCT, we show that the more dissimilar the subjects, the more negative the cross paths (far comparisons), whereas cross paths relating more similar subjects (near comparisons) are much less negative and sometimes positive. Extending previous self-concept research and its integration with DCT, we found that positive paths for matching domains and negative paths for non-matching domains were larger for class marks based on classroom performance than for standardized test scores. Controlling for direct measures of social comparison (meVclass ratings of how each student compares to classmates) substantially reduced positive paths from achievement to ASC in matching domains, but also reduced the size of the negative paths from non-matching domains. Supplemental analyses suggest that dimensional comparison processes in both subjective rankings and actual class marks are consistent with those found in ASCs.     

Theoretical orientations of Australian counselling psychologists

One hundred and thirty two Australian counselling psychologists responded to a mail survey seeking information about their theoretical orientation to therapeutic practice. The theoretical orientation self-ascribed most frequently was Cognitive-Behavioural (34%), followed by Psychodynamic (26%), Experiential (18%), Family Systemic (14%), and Eclectic (7%). Mean scores on the two dimensions of the Counsellor Theoretical Position Scale, Rational-Intuitive and Objective-Subjective, confirmed epistemological differences among the self-ascribed theoretical position groups. Almost all the counselling psychologists reported that they made use of some concepts and techniques from orientations other than their primary self-ascribed orientation, with 34% listing Cognitive-Behavioural and 29% listing Family Systemic as a secondary theoretical orientation. This finding is consistent with a reported trend toward theoretical integration among North American counsellors and psychotherapists.     

Teachers' goal orientations for teaching: Associations with instructional practices,interest in teaching,and burnout

Two studies (one longitudinal) were designed to extend Butler's model of teachers' goal orientations for teaching. In Study 1, results from 281 teachers in Germany confirmed the predicted four-factor model comprising mastery, ability-approach, ability-avoidance, and work-avoidance goal orientations. As expected, mastery orientation and work avoidance emerged as positive and negative predictors, respectively, of adaptive patterns of instruction (mastery-oriented practices and cognitive stimulation) and high interest in teaching and low burnout; associations for both ability orientations were less consistent. In Study 2, 69 Israeli teachers completed the measures of instructional practices, interest in teaching and burnout several months after reporting their goal orientations. Results were very similar to those of Study 1. The two studies confirm that research on teachers' goal orientation is promising and has implications for understanding how teacher motivation might influence both teachers and their students.     

Cognitive development and instructional theory

The foundations of the cognitive-developmental curriculum movement are briefly examined in this paper. The key features of this movement are the recommendations it makes in three areas: curriculum sequencing, curriculum content, and teaching strategies. Each of these areas is critically examined. It is concluded that the grounds for all proposals are purely theoretical. When the data are considered, they either contradict specific proposals or provide no direct evidence.     

Goal orientations and perceptions of the motivational climate in physical education classes among Colombian students

This study examined the relationships of achievement goal orientations and perceptions of the motivational climate in physical education classes among Colombian students, and tested gender and age differences in goal orientations and perceived motivational climate. Participants (1378 boys and 1615 girls, ranging in age from 9 to 18 yr) completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ), and the Learning and Performance Orientations in Physical Education Classes Questionnaire (LAPOPECQ). Bivariate and canonical correlation analysis identified conceptually consistent relationships between goal orientations and perceptions of motivational climate. Boys scored higher than girls in ego orientation and in perceptions of performance orientation. Task and ego goal orientations, and perceptions of learning or performance orientations decreased with age. Data obtained indicate that the Spanish versions of the TEOSQ and the LAPOPEQ could be useful instruments for physical education teachers, helping them to identify achievement goal orientation of their students and perceptions of the motivational climate in their education classes.     

Students’ School Motivation and Aspiration Over High School Years

Students from a school in Hong Kong (n?=?199) responded to 22 items asking about their school motivation and aspirations in a survey. Structural equation models found four school motivation factors consistent with the task, effort, competition, and praise scales of the Inventory of School Motivation, one education aspiration factor, one career aspiration factor, and significant relations of the motivation factors with the aspiration factors. Task and effort orientations were found to be stronger than the other orientations and to have relatively stronger associations with education aspirations, whereas task and praise had stronger associations with career aspirations. In examining potential change in students’ goal orientations and aspirations through high school years, analysis of variance found that 7th‐graders had significantly higher scores in task and effort orientations and career aspirations than 9th‐graders, and higher scores in praise orientation than 11th‐graders. The apparent drop in motivation scores from Grade 7, especially in task and effort orientations, both pertaining to a mastery orientation dimension that has been assumed to be a major driving force for excellence, calls for urgent attention to student motivation in junior high school classes.     

Teachers and Social Class Orientation: An Empirical Note Based on Comparisons with Different Social Classes in Sweden 1

Abstract: Lindblad, S. 1986. Teachers and Social Class Orientation. An Empirical Note Based on Comparisons with Different Social Classes in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 30, 181‐192. The study is an exploratory reanalysis of a questionnaire survey of a random probability sample drawn from the economically active population in Sweden. The investigation was carried out in 1980 and includes 1170 subjects. The teachers in the sample were used as a specific category. Their social class orientations were compared with those of different social classes pictured in the sample. The orientations in focus concerned economic contradictions, political preferences, division of labour, and norms of socialization. The results showed that the social class orientations of teachers concerning economic contradictions and political preferences were closest to employers and most distant from workers. In addition, the teachers were the group that was most negative to a vertical division of labour and advocated more liberal socialization norms. These results were empirically related to the social origin of teachers.

     

Deliberate Psychological Education for Women: From Iphigenia to Antigone

Women's psychological growth is presented in this article from a developmental perspective. The findings are related to socialization patterns, and a cognitive-developmental curriculum model that has successfully promoted ego maturity and moral decision-making maturity in a class of 23 young women is overviewed. A formative evaluation model and the pre, post, and one-year follow-up data are included.     

Assessment preferences and their relationship to learning strategies and orientations

The study investigated inter- and intra-group differences in assessment preferences among students in two academic disciplines which differ in their educational environment through examining the relationships between assessment preferences and student learning orientations and strategies. The sample consisted of 85 engineering and 87 education students in a major university in Israel. The subjects were administered the MSLQ for measuring their motivated learning strategies and the API for measuring their assessment preferences. The results indicated that individual differences in assessment preferences overshadow disciplinary group differences and that differences in assessment preferences are to a relatively large extent related to learning strategies and orientations. Implications for adaptive assessment were discussed.     

Children's Depictions of Different Views of the Human Figure

Children's ability to modify their canonical representations of the human figure was assessed by presenting them with a model in three different orientations. The subjects were 4‐year‐old tadpole‐drawers and conventional‐drawers aged 4, 6 and 8 years. Although the 6‐and 8‐year‐olds were more able to adapt their drawings so as to depict the figure's different orientations, many of the younger children and even the tadpole‐drawers also attempted to modify their figures.     

A longitudinal study of moral reasoning

Several issues concerning Gilligan's model of moral orientations and Kohlberg's models of moral stages and moral orientations were examined in a longitudinal study with 233 subjects (from 78 families) who ranged in age from 5 to 63 years. They participated in 2 identical interviews separated by a 2-year interval. In each interview, they discussed hypothetical dilemmas and a personally generated real-life dilemma, which were scored for both moral stage and moral orientation (both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's typologies). Results revealed few violations of the stage sequence over the longitudinal interval, supporting Kohlberg's moral stage model. Sex differences were almost completely absent for both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's moral orientations, although there were clear developmental trends. Hypothetical and real-life dilemmas elicited different moral orientations, especially in terms of Kohlberg's typology. The interrelations between the 2 models of moral orientations were generally weak, indicating that they are not synonymous.     

Gender-Aware Supervision in Marriage and Family Counseling and Therapy: How Far Have We Actually Come?

A systemic cognitive-developmental framework is used to critique how the field of marriage and family counseling and therapy supervision currently integrates issues of gender.     

Motivational goal orientation, perceptions of biology and physics classroom learning environments, and gender

Researchers have reported persuasive evidence that students?? perceptions of their classroom learning environment account for significant variance in cognitive and affective outcomes (e.g. intrinsic motivation, self-concept, liking for particular subjects and students?? intention to drop out). The study reported in this paper investigated the relationship between students?? perceptions of classroom learning environment and motivational achievement goal orientations towards biology and physics, as well as the influence of gender. Participants (N?=?1538) were high school science students from the north-eastern region of Thailand. Our results suggest that motivational goals are linked to differences in students?? perceptions of learning environment and levels of biology and physics classroom anxiety. We found that females adopted significantly higher levels of mastery and performance approach goals towards biology, while males adopted significantly higher levels of mastery and performance approach goals towards physics. Males adopted significantly higher levels of performance avoidance goals towards both biology and physics. Positive associations emerged between gender and the adoption of specific performance goals, perceived degree of competition in biology and physics classrooms, and levels of biology and physics classroom anxiety. These results suggest that motivational goal orientations and perceptions of learning environment are gender-dependent and domain-specific for the two science content areas.     

Filipino and American student perceptions of teacher effectiveness

Filipino and American undergraduate students rated college instructor characteristics according to their perceived importance for effective teaching. Items were selected to reflect relevant value orientations in Filipino and American cultures. Factor analysis of the ratings revealed six underlying dimensions. MANOVA results showed that the group ratings on the six corresponding subscales were significantly different. Discriminant function analysis revealed that Filipino students rated items pertaining to authoritarianism and personal appearance of the instructor as significantly more important for effective teaching than did American students. This suggests that cross-cultural differences in perceptions of effective teaching may be predictable from a knowledge of both similar and conflicting value orientations in the specific cultures. Implications for the academic adjustment of students from different cultures were discussed.     

Children's use of motives and intentionality in person perception and moral judgement.

Preschool, second-, and fifth-grade children watched films and heard stories which portrayed an actor who intentionally or accidentally injured another for either good or bad motives. After each film or story, children were interviewed to determine their understanding of the actor motives and the intentionality of his act and their moral judgements. The results suggest that children of all ages understood the concepts of motive and intentionality, but that the ability to make accurate inferences about motives and intentionality develops with age. Motives affected children's evaluations at all ages, but intentionality affected only grade school children's evaluations. The results for moral judgment were discussed in terms of a theory which included features of both cognitive-developmental and social learning explanations of moral development.     

FIRST YEAR IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROJECT-BASED LEARNING APPROACH: THE NEED FOR ADDRESSING TEACHERS�� ORIENTATIONS IN THE ERA OF REFORM

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which three teachers’ professional experience and existing orientations toward teaching and learning mathematics and science influenced their implementation of a project-based curriculum (i.e. project-based learning (PBL)). Data sources included interviews, videotapes of classroom activity, and a teaching philosophy questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using an iterative coding technique. We found coherency between the teachers’ perceived orientations and their emergent ideas about PBL, their sense of PBL as being compatible with their goals, and the specific challenges with which they struggled. All the teachers wanted their students to be successful; however, different definitions of success led to quite different approaches toward teaching, and for the most part, these differences appeared to have occurred because of existing orientations the teachers held for teaching their discipline. Implications for professional development taking into account teachers’ orientations and thus their professional experience are discussed, as well as disciplinary challenges to using PBL.     

Social negotiations of meanings and changes in the beliefs of prospective teachers: A vygotskian perspective

This study presents an exploration of the belief changes of prospective teachers (PTs) through social co-constructivist teaching. The future presumed in-class teaching orientations of the PTs were also estimated by metaphor analysis. A case study was conducted to monitor the belief changes of the PTs and estimate their probable in-class practices. The participants were six PTs involved in a certification in education programme. The data were gathered from the following different sources; interviews, written reflections and metaphor explanations. The data that were analysed interpretatively and specific parts of the analysed data were subjected to quantification. The PTs held considerably conventional and idealistic teaching beliefs prior to the implementations. The PTs improved their reasoning and enlarged their conceptualisations regarding teaching and learning after the implementations. Five types of teaching belief typologies displaying inherently sophisticated nature of the beliefs were extracted. Some of the PTs appeared to have promise in terms of implementing more learner-centred teaching; however, others preserved their traditional teaching practical orientations. It was considered that changes in teaching beliefs may have motivational and attitudinal dimensions. Finally, capturing the metaphors of the PTs regarding teaching and learning appeared to provide more realistic insights into the estimated in-class practical orientations.     

Effects of conceptual systems and instructional methods on general chemistry laboratory achievement

Conceptual systems theory predicts four system orientations. System 1 individuals are highly concrete in their reasoning ability and beliefs. System 2 individuals are strongly negative toward authority and institutions and tend to be autonomous and rebellious. System 3 individuals are more abstract than System 1 or System 2 individuals and have strong need to maintain secure relationships. System 4 individuals have the most abstract, flexible, and open-minded orientation and have an analytical approach to problem solving. Conceptual systems orientations of subjects taking a general chemistry laboratory were determined using the “This I Believe” test. Subjects were classified into Systems 1, 2, 3, 4, or admixtures. Laboratory sections were assigned randomly to three instructional methods (traditional approach, learning cycle, computer simulation) for teaching a three-hour laboratory covering spectrophotometry principles. Factorial analysis of covariance indicated no significant conceptual system by instructional method interaction. The main effect for conceptual system was significant, and pairwise comparisons of adjusted mean posttest scores indicated that System 4 subjects as well as System 3 subjects scored significantly higher than System 1 subjects. There was no significant difference in scores between System 4 and System 3 individuals. Conceptual systems orientation is an attribute variable that may influence chemistry learning.     

Student Approaches to Studying: identifying the Malaysian constructs and comparing them with those in other contexts

The study undertook to identify the constructs in Approaches to Studying in a Malaysian higher education context by using factor analysis. These constructs were compared with those in other contexts. The study was undertaken in a Malaysian public university and the subjects of the study were distance learners and on‐campus learners from three disciplines: social sciences, sciences and business administration. A questionnaire comprising items taken mainly from the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI) was used. The results indicated the presence of the two main orientations to studying (a meaning orientation and a reproducing orientation) in the Malaysian distance and on‐campus learners. These findings were consistent with those in other studies. The study also suggested the association of positive and negative connotations with both memorization and syllabus‐boundedness in the Malaysian context.