Academic self‐attributions for success and failure in mathematics and school refusal

The aim of this research is twofold: to analyze the mean differences scores in mathematic self‐attributions based on school refusal and to verify its predictive capability on high scores in school refusal. The Sydney Attribution Scale and the School Refusal Assessment Scale‐Revised were administered to 1078 Spanish students (50.8% boys) aged between 8 and 11 years (M = 9.63; SD = 1.12). School refusers based on negative affect or anxiety attributed their failures more to the lack of capacity and effort, whereas students searching for tangible reinforcements outside of the school were more likely to attribute their successes to capacity. In turn, academic attributions acted as both positive and negative predictors of high‐school refusal. Results are discussed considering more adaptive attributional styles.     

Causal attributions of success and failure on WISC-R subtests by high and low achievers

Students referred by teachers for a gifted program and students referred for evaluation because of learning difficulties were asked a series of questions about their highest and lowest subtest scores on the WISC-R. Both groups tended to view Performance subtests as best, and the correlations between particular subtests perceived as best or worst and actual scores were significant. For free response attributions, no students ascribed success or failure to luck, and very few mentioned effort. High-achieving students credited ability as most responsible for their best subtest. No significant difference between the groups was found, however, when students rated the relative importance of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. Equal proportions of students in both groups expressed preferences for continued work on their best or worst subtest.     

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.     

Attributional profiles: Considering multiple causal attributions for success and failure at the beginning of secondary school

Students typically perceive their successes and failures to have multiple causes. The present study examined students’ profiles of causal attributions for success and failure during the first year of secondary school. The stability of attributional profile membership was assessed across three timepoints. Furthermore, it was examined whether students characterized by different attribution profiles differed in their levels of school engagement, self-esteem, and school performance. Latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses among 657 first-year Dutch secondary school students (M_age = 12.6, SD = 0.4) identified four attributional profiles, which were similar across the three timepoints. The profiles were labelled uncontrollable failure, controllable failure, uncontrollable success, and undifferentiated. About half of the students (52 %) remained member of the same profile across the three timepoints. Students in the uncontrollable success profile reported significantly lower levels of school engagement and self-esteem, and performed less well in school compared to students in the other profiles. Students in the uncontrollable failure profile and the controllable failure profile did not differ from each other with regard to school engagement, self-esteem, and school performance. The findings suggest that attributional retraining interventions may want to shift their focus from changing uncontrollable failure attributions to changing students’ external, uncontrollable attributions for success.     

The environmental worldview of children: a cross‐cultural perspective

The authors’ research investigated young people’s environmental worldviews using the revised ‘New Ecological Paradigm’ scale for children. The scale is a widely used measure of people’s shifting worldviews from a human dominant view to an ecological one, with humans as part of nature. However, the scale has not been used with children. By administering the scale to children aged 13–15 in Belgium and Zimbabwe, the authors found statistical differences between the two subgroups in their perspectives on human–environment interactions. Children in Zimbabwe and Belgium display ecological worldviews but differences occur at the human dominance dimension. Respondents in Belgium believe in human–nature equality, whereas Zimbabwean youngsters feel more dominant over nature and emphasize a utilitarian view of the environment.     

The relationships of success/failure at school with the types of orientation and causal attributions of pupils analyzed in longitudinal perspective

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

From failure to success: Changing the experience of adult learners of mathematics

For the last few years, the author has been part of a team developing a mathematics course for students most of whom are women, many of whom are black and all of whom are attempting to gain entry to a teacher-training course by successfully completing a one year re-entry course. It is a requirement that teacher-training students should have attained a suitable standard in mathematics. Further Education colleges where re-entry courses are sited have a sad history of student failure in mathematics. The theoretical environment in which the development of this course took place is described in order to place the course in context. In particular, attention is drawn to the re-definition of mathematics which encourages student enquiry and experimentation in order to establish a basis for understanding the subject, and to the teaching/learning model which creates an environment of respect and confidence. The roles of students and staff in a learning environment of this kind are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the attitudes and feelings of the students and the effects on their expectations.     

Causal attributions of teachers and parents regarding children's performance

Nine upper elementary teachers assigned equal numbers of children from their own classrooms to three performance categories: Low Performance, Moderate Performance and High Performance. A child's teacher and his or her parent (usually the mother) then completed structured and open-ended questions regarding the reasons why the child performed as he did. While teachers rated child's ability, own teaching, and mother, father and peer influence higher and other reasons (e.g., health, situational characteristics) lower for high performing than for low performing children on structured questions, parents of children in the different conditions did not differ significantly in their ratings on each factor. On both open-ended and structured questions, for all performance levels, teaching was rated as more important by parents than by teachers.     

Causal attributions of students and student-proctors for performance on a university examination

Undergraduate psychology students rated the importance of several causes of examination outcomes both prior to and after taking a course exam. Similar attributions were made by advanced psychology students who served as course proctors. Students rated proctor characteristics as more important and their own characteristics as less important determinants of exam outcomes, particularly successful outcomes. Results suggested that positivity biases rather than egotism biases are operative in actual classroom settings. Further, contrary to expectancyconfirmation theory, student and proctor preexamination confidence was not strongly related to postexamination attributions.     

从数学活动论看数学教育思想的转变

从数学活动论的角度去阐述21世纪在素质教育意义下的数学教育思想或模式的转变。     

Responsibility for student success/failure and observed verbal behavior among secondary science and mathematics teachers

The study compared selected teacher beliefs and verbal behaviors among secondary science and mathematics teachers. Teacher beliefs included teacher responsibility for student success and failure. These beliefs were measured by the Responsibility for Student Achievement (RSA) Questionnaire which has the locus of control construct as a theoretical basis. Teacher verbal behavior included (1) indirect and (2) direct behaviors and (3) praise and (4) criticism. These behaviors were measured with the Reciprocal Category System (RCS) which is consistent with the methodology of interaction analysis. Comparisons were made on the basis of the following teacher classifications: (1) science/mathematics, (2) junior high/senior high, and (3) teachers of advanced classes/basic classes. Teacher beliefs were not significantly different except for the advanced/basic comparisons. These comparisons produced significant differences in both teacher beliefs and behaviors. Teachers of basic students assumed more responsibility for student success, less responsibility for failure, and were more direct in verbal behavior. In gender comparisons, female teachers were significantly higher in incidences of indirect behavior and combined indirect-direct behavior. These findings suggest that further study of “self-fulfilling prophecy” in terms of these variables may be fruitful. Also, verbal behavior may sometimes be inadequately represented by the common practice of using ratios.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of student social attributions

One hundred sixty American and 397 Korean fourth‐ and fifth‐graders were administered the Student Social Attribution Scale (SSAS), designed to assess students' explanations for social successes and failures. A Korean version of the SSAS was developed for the study. The American and Korean instruments' internal consistency reliability were determined (rs ranged from .56 to .86 for the Korean instrument and .62 to .88 for the American instrument). The means from both the American and Korean SSAS versions on the 8 scales and global scores (e.g., internal, external) were compared. Based on the literature, Korean children should have had higher scores for effort attributions in failure situations than the American children and Americans should have shown higher scores for ability attributions in successful situations. In fact, Korean children did show significantly higher ( p < .005) Failure Effort scores and American children showed significantly higher ( p < .005) Success Ability scores. Findings indicate that Korean children are potentially more willing to accept responsibility for social failure than American students. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Consequences of teachers' attributions for student failure

This study compared mean scores on expectancy, affective, and behavioral variables of teachers assigned to read protocols of students requesting help because they “didn't understand the material presented in class.” Protocols were arranged along the controllability dimensions so that the reasons for requesting help ranged from an uncontrollable factor (low ability) through a short-term uncontrollable factor (illness) to a controllable factor (low effort). Each protocol began: “A student asks for additional help and explanation of the material that you presented in class explaining that he/she did not understand the material.” The protocol then gave a reason for the student's need for additional explanation of the material. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant difference in teachers' responses to the three protocols. Discriminant analysis produced two significant discriminant functions. Behavioral variables (willingness to praise the student and willingness to help the student) defined the functions.     

Handbook of Asian education: A cultural perspective

International Review of Education -     

PISA and policy-borrowing: A philosophical perspective on their interplay in mathematics education

Mathematics achievement in different education systems around the world is assessed periodically in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA is deemed to yield robust international comparisons of mathematical attainment that enable individual countries and regions to monitor the performance of their education systems relative to standards being achieved internationally, with a view to informing their mathematics education policy decisions. Initially, the role of PISA in instigating mathematics education policy borrowing is outlined using England as a case study, and some existing technical critiques of PISA are then reviewed. Following this, aspects of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy of mind are used to reason that an over-reliance on the use of PISA to inform policy decisions in mathematics education may be problematic. It is suggested that, when PISA is viewed through a later Wittgensteinian lens, a potential deficiency in the underpinning psychometric model, pertaining to the inherent indeterminism in unmeasured mathematical abilities, may weaken PISA’s utility in guiding mathematics education policy decisions. It is concluded that, whilst PISA mathematics scores may give some indication of the mathematical proficiency of a nation’s students, caution is required before mathematics education policies are borrowed from other jurisdictions on the basis of PISA performance. Implications for the other PISA domains are also outlined.     

Teachers' attributions and beliefs about girls,boys, and mathematics

Thirty-eight first grade teachers were asked to identify their two most and least successful girls and boys in mathematics, to attribute causation of these students' successes and failures, and to describe their characteristics. Teachers' choices of most and least successful students were compared to mathematics test scores of their students. Teachers were most inaccurate when selecting most successful boys. Teachers tended to attribute causation of boys' successes and failures to ability and girls' successes and failures to effort. Teachers thought their best boy students when compared to their best girl students, were more competitive, more logical, more adventurous, volunteered answers more often to mathematics problems, enjoyed math more, and were more independent in mathematics.     

跨文化交际视阈下的概念隐喻能力培养路径研究

本文采用问卷调查的方法对121名非英语专业研究生的隐喻意识、隐喻使用、隐喻能力培养的作用、隐喻教学现状等进行了调查,结果发现中国外语学习者的隐喻意识很为薄弱,其外语输出时也很少使用隐喻性表达,调查结果同时肯定了隐喻能力培养的必要性与积极作用。基于二语学习者混合的概念表征系统,本文提出了有针对性的隐喻能力培养路径。