Contours of self-efficacy across nested mathematical domains: A case of a Singapore student with a history of low performance in mathematics

Abstract

Self-efficacy is a subject of ongoing intense research in cognitive psychology. Studies within this tradition are focused on how this agentic aspect of human functioning fits within and contributes to a network of other sociocognitive functionalities. From a mathematics education perspective, we seek a theoretical re-framing of self-efficacy that accounts for and advances thinking in students’ (lack of) learning of mathematics in the classroom. This study takes this perspective by starting with a student’s actual experiences in switches of self-efficacy states. Through a case study of a student who has a profile that matches one with low mathematics self-efficacy, I examine the contours of self-efficacy across nested mathematical domains. This nuanced view provides an alternative to static presumptions of self-efficacy models common in research reports in this area, and is in keeping with the dynamic ebb and flow of actual classroom experiences.