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.