ASSESSMENT ON STUDENTS‘ ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY, SELF-CONCEPT, GOAL ORIENTATION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: THE CASE OF DEBRE MARKOS HIGHER EDUCATION PREPARATORY SCHOOL, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there are significant relationships and gender differences among academic self-efficacy, self-concept, and goal oriented behaviors, and academic achievement of students. The target population was 1884 in Debre Markos higher education preparatory school in 2005 E.C. A sample size of 210 participants was selected using stratified and simple random sampling technique from the population based on the roster of record office. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data on academic self-efficacy, self-concept and goal oriented behaviors while current semester examination marks were used to determine the average academic achievement scores for each participant. The instruments were administered after piloting to determine their suitability, validity and reliability. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient after piloting was 0.862. The questionnaire was revised to improve the reliability coefficient. The data collected from the sample size were analyzed by Pearson product movement correlation coefficient and independent sample t-test. The hypotheses were tested at a = 0.05. The findings indicated a significant positive relationship between students' academic self-efficacy, self-concept and goal oriented behaviors, and academic achievement. The findings also indicated that there were significant gender differences in academic self-efficacy, self-concept, goal oriented behaviors and academic achievement scores of students. Thus, it was recommended that providing welcome orientations, counseling services, short-term training and selecting classroom models are some of the solutions need to be given a due attention from teachers and school counselors. Article visualizations: