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The relationship between history of academic achievement, academic self-concept and attribution of students in Malaysia
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Type
Thesis
Author
Yee, Su Har
Supervisor
Tay-Koay, Siew Luan
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the academic self-concept and the attribution of students. It first examined how these two variables are related to the students' history of academic achievement and also what is the relationship between the variables. The study next investigated whether students who experienced consistent academic success did or did not differ significantly in their academic self-concept and attribution from those who experienced consistent academic failure.
The study was conducted using two separate structured-response instruments to measure the academic self-concept and attribution of the students for specific subjects, namely Mathematics and English Language. It was administered to 599 Secondary Three students from five schools in Malaysia.
Analyses of the total sample revealed that students with a better history of academic achievement tend to have a more positive academic self-concept and attributed their academic outcomes more to their effort and less to their abilities. The results are significant at .001 level. Findings also showed that students with a more positive academic self-concept tend to perceive effort as a more important causal element to their academic outcomes. In contrast, low academic self-concept students tend to attribute failure to their lack of ability.
Analyses of the Success and Failure Groups revealed significant differences between students who experienced consistent academic success and consistent academic failure in terms of their academic self-concept, ability-attribution and effort-attribution to academic outcomes.
Qualitative analyses of the students' attribution to academic outcomes provided support to the results obtained using the structured Attribution scale. Students again noted that the effort element was the key factor influencing their academic achievement.
The study therefore suggests that differences in academic experiences among the students over a period of time may result in differences in the students' perceptions of their academic ability and also in the way they explain their academic outcomes. The more positive self-concept and higher confidence demonstrated by the Success Group of students imply that teachers should make an effort to create more opportunities for students to experience success in their school work. Students should be avoided from being exposed to continuous and prolonged failures experiences as results showed that failures may be detrimental to their self-concept. In addition, students may develop a "self-fulfilling prophecy" of inadequacy as indicated by their high ability-attribution to failure outcomes.
On the basis of the findings, the study suggests that teachers may need to be more cautious in the usage of test and examination results as a standard measure to judge the academic achievement of their students.
The study was conducted using two separate structured-response instruments to measure the academic self-concept and attribution of the students for specific subjects, namely Mathematics and English Language. It was administered to 599 Secondary Three students from five schools in Malaysia.
Analyses of the total sample revealed that students with a better history of academic achievement tend to have a more positive academic self-concept and attributed their academic outcomes more to their effort and less to their abilities. The results are significant at .001 level. Findings also showed that students with a more positive academic self-concept tend to perceive effort as a more important causal element to their academic outcomes. In contrast, low academic self-concept students tend to attribute failure to their lack of ability.
Analyses of the Success and Failure Groups revealed significant differences between students who experienced consistent academic success and consistent academic failure in terms of their academic self-concept, ability-attribution and effort-attribution to academic outcomes.
Qualitative analyses of the students' attribution to academic outcomes provided support to the results obtained using the structured Attribution scale. Students again noted that the effort element was the key factor influencing their academic achievement.
The study therefore suggests that differences in academic experiences among the students over a period of time may result in differences in the students' perceptions of their academic ability and also in the way they explain their academic outcomes. The more positive self-concept and higher confidence demonstrated by the Success Group of students imply that teachers should make an effort to create more opportunities for students to experience success in their school work. Students should be avoided from being exposed to continuous and prolonged failures experiences as results showed that failures may be detrimental to their self-concept. In addition, students may develop a "self-fulfilling prophecy" of inadequacy as indicated by their high ability-attribution to failure outcomes.
On the basis of the findings, the study suggests that teachers may need to be more cautious in the usage of test and examination results as a standard measure to judge the academic achievement of their students.
Date Issued
1992
Call Number
LB1065 Yee
Date Submitted
1992