Multiple causal attributions: An investigation of college students learning a foreign language

Abstract

Past research has typically examined only single causal attributions for each student’s academic performance; however, it may be the case that students make several unique attributions for a single outcome. Learning a new language has been reported as being a difficult task that may elicit a number of explanations for success and failure. Therefore, the current study examined the multiple causal attributions of 156 North American college students in foreign language classes. Open-ended questions that allowed students to report as many as three different causal ascriptions for both their success and failure in learning a foreign language revealed that students make a wide variety of multiple explanations for their performance. Ratings of these causes indicated that the multiple attributions differed along Weiner’s (Psychological Review, 92, 548–573, 1985) causal dimensions of internal/external, stable/unstable, and personal control/external control within each student. It was also found that the pattern of causal attributions was different between success and failure causes. The importance of considering multiple causal attributions for performance outcomes is discussed.