How social expectations affect eighth-grade students' math achievement: An investigation of motivational drivers

Abstract

In this study, we aim to discover unique and relative associations among eighth-grade students’ motivational constructs (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and mathematics self-concept), their expectations, social expectations (student perception of teacher treatment, school teacher expectations, and parent expectations), and mathematics achievement using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015 dataset. We analyzed direct and indirect relationships between these constructs using structural equation modeling on the Turkey portion of the dataset (N=6,079; 2,933 female and 3,123 male). We found that intrinsic motivation, mathematics self-concept, student expectation, parent expectations and SES significantly predicted mathematics achievement. Teacher treatment predicted mathematics self-concept and mathematics self-concept predicted student expectation. We also found that student expectation and parent expectations partially mediated the relationship between SES and mathematics achievement and mathematics self-concept fully mediated the relationship between teacher treatment and mathematics achievement. We did not find evidence for the achievement gap between female and male students. However, female students are found to be more extrinsically motivated than male students; female expectations are higher; and their mathematics self-concept is less than that of male students. Based on our findings, interventions targeting associations among these cognitive and non-cognitive elements—specifically the mediation role of student motivation and expectation on the relationship between social expectations and mathematics achievement—can contribute to future research toward creating a more feasible and low-cost educational context toward improving mathematics achievement using a more comprehensive approach.