Self-efficacy, attribution, and outcome expectancy mechanisms in reading and writing achievement: Grade-level and achievement-level differences.

Abstract

This study examined grade- and achievement-level differences in 4th-, 7th-, and lOth-grade students' control-related beliefs and relations between students' beliefs and their reading and writing achievement. MANOVA results indicated grade- and achievement-level differences in self-efficacy, causal attribution, and outcome expectancy beliefs but no interaction between grade and achievement level. Canonical correlations identified a single dimension linking students' beliefs to achievement in both reading and writing. Quadratic relations to achievement were found for outcome expectancy and intelligence attributions. As grade increased, beliefs for reading were more highly related to comprehension skill relative to component skills, whereas beliefs for writing were more highly related to component skills relative to communication skills. At all achievement levels, a similar pattern of beliefs was related to achievement. People's beliefs about their abilities to exercise personal control of important events in their lives are thought to play a major role in motivating the self-regulation of cognitive performance and learning (see Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1991; Weiner, 1985; Zimmerman, 1989). Three particular control-related beliefs have received extensive theoretical formulation and empirical examination: (a) self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1991; Zimmerman, 1989), defined as confidence in one's capability for organizing and implementing the cognitive, behavioral, or social skills necessary for successful performance of a task; (b) causal attributions (Weiner, 1985), defined as one's judgments about the causality of success or failure in achievement situations; and (c) outcome expectancy (Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1991), defined as beliefs about the contingencies between one's successful task performance and possible outcomes or the expectation that a behavior will result in particular outcomes. These beliefs are thought to play a foundational role in motivating behavior for tasks that require high levels of personal self-initiation and active self-regulation (see Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1991; Zimmerman, 1989).