Student Motivational Beliefs Research Articles

Synergistic effects of students’ mathematics and science motivational beliefs on achievement, and their determinants

BackgroundStudents’ mathematics and science motivational beliefs are crucial determinants of their school academic achievement in math and science. The current study aimed to identify the group memberships of students’ motivational beliefs in math and science, which are closely related. Furthermore, this study probed the predictive effects of individual students’ experiences at school on forming group membership. We also tested the mean differences of the identified latent groups in math and science achievement.ResultsUsing latent profile analysis modeling, we examined data from 3857 Korean eighth-grade students participating in the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. The theoretical rationale and supplementary statistical indices showed a five-group membership as the optimal solution. The five groups are high motivation, medium motivation, low math/high science motivation, low motivation, and very low motivation. Students’ sense of school belonging was the most crucial predictor in forming group membership, whereas perceived student bullying did not predict group membership. Finally, students in distinct motivational belief groups exhibited differences in their math and science achievements.ConclusionsThis study identified five subgroups of students based on their distinct motivational beliefs in math and science, and variations in their association with achievements. In terms of policy development and intervention, it is important to nurture students’ sense of school belonging. This study advances motivational theories in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, and provides practical suggestions for improving educational practices to enhance student math and science motivational beliefs.

Perceived formative assessment and student motivational beliefs and self-regulation strategies: a multilevel analysis

Based on an integrated theory of formative assessment and self-regulated learning, this study investigated the relationship between students’ perceived formative assessment practices of teachers and their motivational beliefs (self-efficacy and incremental beliefs of ability) and self-regulation strategies (metacognitive self-regulation and adaptive help seeking). Participants were 1,939 secondary school students (nested in 94 classes) from Singapore, who completed an online questionnaire. After controlling for gender, stream, and grade, we conducted a multilevel path analysis to examine the hypothesised relationships at both student and class levels. We found that at the student level, perceived formative assessment was associated positively with self-efficacy, incremental beliefs of ability, metacognitive self-regulation, and adaptive help seeking; at the class level, perceived formative assessment was associated positively with incremental beliefs of ability and adaptive help seeking. The findings highlight the importance of investigating formative assessment as a multilevel construct and its role in developing self-regulated learning of students.

International comparative study of motivation: a commentary

AbstractIn this commentary, I focus on an international, collaborative, longitudinal study of the development of elementary school students’ math motivation and performance across six countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Portugal, and Serbia. The investigators designed motivational questionnaires to assess student motivational beliefs defined quite broadly, teacher and student questionnaires to assess teacher beliefs and practices, and family questionnaires to assess parents’ beliefs and practices as well as perceptions of their children and then tested to reliability and validity of these measures across all six countries so that they could investigate both development within countries and generalizability across countries. I focus my comparative comments on the following themes that cut across the various studies: the gender, national and SES differences, the impact of teacher beliefs and practices, the impact of parents, and the testing hypotheses derived from various social cognitive motivational systems.

Teacher‐perceived science inquiry‐based instructional practice on student achievement and motivational beliefs in classroom contexts

AbstractA hotly debated topic is the effectiveness of inquiry‐based instructional practice in science classrooms on student achievement and motivation. Numerous studies based on multinational large‐scale education data show such student‐centered instructional practice positively led to students' motivational beliefs but was negatively associated with science achievement. Current literature, however, drew such a conclusion based on the measures of instructional practice from students' perceptions, not teachers, despite teachers being the subject matter experts and actual implementers of classroom activities. Thus, this study examined the relationships between teacher‐perceived instructional practice, science motivational beliefs, and science achievement. Specifically, this study investigated the predictive effects of instructional practices on aggregated student motivational beliefs (i.e., self‐concept, utility value, and intrinsic value) and science achievement in the classroom context. Moreover, the study explored the contextual effects of student motivational beliefs on science achievement. We examined 3861 eighth graders' data nested within 168 science classrooms in the Korean portion of the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study using multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that the inquiry‐based instructional approach did not predict science achievement or motivational beliefs at the classroom level. On the other hand, student self‐concept and utility value positively predicted individual achievement, while classroom‐level utility value statistically predicted average classroom achievement. In other words, the significant effect of classroom‐level utility value on achievement was beyond the effect of individual utility value. The unique contributions of the study lie in advancing the science education literature with a fresh reflection on such relationships by using a less examined data source (i.e., teacher perceptions), focusing on the classroom context (i.e., classroom‐level science motivational beliefs and achievement), and situating in an underrepresented country (i.e., Korea) in the literature. The results shed light on the discrepancies in the effectiveness of instructional practice perceived by teachers versus students on desired educational outcomes in a learning context. This study also discusses the practical and methodological implications for instructional and motivational research.

Transitioning from secondary school to an English-medium transnational university in China: a longitudinal study of student self-efficacy and motivational beliefs

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study explores changes in self-efficacy and motivational beliefs for learners beginning to study via English-medium instruction (EMI) at a transnational university in China. Following first-year local Chinese students over their first semester of learning via EMI, the study focuses on changes in learner self-efficacy beliefs towards lecture listening alongside task value, intrinsic goal orientation, and extrinsic goal orientation. It draws upon questionnaire (N = 412) and interview data (n = 34) to show significant gains in student self-efficacy due to (1) enactive mastery experiences and (2) the development of strategies for mediating the impact of negative affect. A midterm drop in the strength of intrinsic goal orientations contrasted with a greater focus on extrinsic factors, indicating that as students transitioned to the EMI environment, short-term extrinsic factors were of greater importance. However, findings indicate a rebound in the importance of intrinsic factors due to stronger self-efficacy and self-appraisals of success in EMI study, indicating a relationship between efficacy beliefs and intrinsic value orientations. The results contribute to the currently limited research on learner motivation development during transition into EMI transnational higher education.

Inclusive learning environments can improve student learning and motivational beliefs

Inclusive learning environments can improve student learning and motivational beliefs

Not feeling recognized as a physics person by instructors and teaching assistants is correlated with female students’ lower grades

Student motivational beliefs in introductory physics courses can influence their course outcomes as well as their retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines and future career aspirations. Prior research has shown that students’ perceived recognition by others as a physics person is important in predicting their physics identity and career choices. This study used validated survey data from 827 students in the first of two college algebra-based introductory physics courses primarily taken by bioscience majors, in which women make up approximately 67% of the class. We investigated how the students’ perceived recognition by instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) as a physics person predicts their grade at the end of a mandatory physics course for bioscience majors in which women are not outnumbered by men. We found that overall women had lower perceived recognition than men as a physics person and their perceived recognition played an important role in predicting course grades controlling for high school GPA and math SAT scores. Since physics as a discipline presents a barrier to women due to deep-rooted societal stereotypes and biases about who can excel in it, the numerical representation of women alone in these courses does not imply that they will feel recognized by their instructors and TAs as a physics person without an intentional effort to make the learning environment equitable and inclusive. These findings suggest that physics instructors and TAs should focus on changing the culture in their physics classes and create an equitable and inclusive learning environment in which students from traditionally marginalized demographic groups, e.g., women, feel recognized, and can excel.Received 2 November 2021Accepted 22 March 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.18.010138Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasDiversity & inclusionEpistemology, attitudes, & beliefsLearning environmentPhysics Education Research

Relations among classroom context, student motivation, and mathematics literacy: a social cognitive perspective

The purpose of the present study was to (a) determine relationships among teacher contextual variables including support and cognitive activation, student motivational beliefs, engagement, and mathematics literacy and (b) to examine whether different types of motivational and behavioral engagement variables act as viable mediators between the classroom context and student mathematics literacy. Data were extracted from the 2012 PISA, with a sample of N = 4978 students. Using structural equation modeling, the results indicated that students’ perceptions of teacher support had a positive effect on their motivational beliefs, behaviors, and mathematics literacy. In particular, perceived teacher cognitive activation had a positive direct effect and an indirect effect through student self-efficacy beliefs, and persistence on mathematics achievement. In addition, self-efficacy resulted in significant paths on their intention to pursue careers in mathematics and work ethic, but a negative path was found between work ethic and mathematics achievement. Implications for educational practice and future research directions are also discussed.

Teacher self-efficacy, instructional quality, and student motivational beliefs: An analysis using multilevel structural equation modeling

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) is one of the most salient motivational characteristics that is assumed to affect teachers’ instructional quality and student motivational beliefs. However, discussions of these associations have primarily been often primarily conceptual and/or based on empirical research that has suffered from methodological shortcomings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationships between TSE, instructional quality (i.e., classroom management, cognitive activation, and supportive climate) and student motivational beliefs (i.e., self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation) by using responses from both teachers and students and implementing a sophisticated doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach. A total of 94 high school teachers and their 2087 students participated in the study. The results demonstrated that, at the class level, TSE was positively related to the three dimensions of instructional quality but not to student motivational beliefs. As expected, instructional quality was positively related to student motivational beliefs.

The Validation of the Citizen Science Self-Efficacy Scale (CSSES)

Citizen science programs provide opportunities for students to help professional scientists while fostering science achievement and motivation. Instruments which measure the effects of this type of programs on student motivational beliefs are limited. The purpose of this study was to describe the process of examining the reliability and validity of The Citizen Science Self-Efficacy Scale (CSSES) designed to measure the effectiveness of citizen science programs on student self-efficacy for scientific observation skills. Fifteen (n =15) field experts and 248 (n = 248) eighth grade students participated in three studies. The results suggest that the psychometric properties of this scale are sufficient. Implications for the development and utility of self-efficacy scales in a variety of citizen science contexts are discussed. The aim of the present study is twofold: (a) to establish the psychometric properties of a scale developed to measure student self-efficacy beliefs for scientific observations in citizen science programs and (b) to describe the process in the validation of a self-efficacy scale to support researchers who want to create their own scales for similar citizen science programs. Three studies were conducted to develop the Citizen Science Scale (CSSES) and evaluate its psychometric properties. The purpose of the CSSES was to develop a measure suitable for analysis within a social cognitive career framework and informal natural science contexts. The findings in the present study found that the measure had an acceptable unitary factorial structure and high internal reliability of .89 for the CSSES. The purpose of the Citizen Science Self-Efficacy Scale (CSSES) is to assess individual’s beliefs about their capabilities for scientific observational skills. This scale is applicable to measuring individual’s self-efficacy in outdoor learning contexts (e.g., horseshoe crab citizen science context). Given that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement and motivation, self-efficacy scales like the CSSES may provide a way for stakeholders involved in outdoor education to measure student gains and to substantiate program effectiveness. From a methods standpoint, the contribution of this work is to serve as a guide of how to develop a self-efficacy scale.

Parental involvement in homework: relations with parent and student achievement-related motivational beliefs and achievement.

Parental involvement in homework is a home-based type of involvement in children's education. Research and theory suggest that it is beneficial for learning and achievement under certain conditions and for particular groups of individuals. The study examined whether different types of parents' involvement in homework (autonomy support, control, interference, cognitive engagement) (1) are predicted by their mastery and performance goals for their child and their beliefs of the child's academic efficacy, and (2) predict student achievement goal orientations, efficacy beliefs, and achievement. Grade-level differences were also investigated. The sample consisted of 282 elementary school (5th grade) and junior high school students (8th grade) and one of their parents. Surveys were used for data collection. Structural equation modelling was applied for data analysis. (1) Autonomy support during homework was predicted by parent mastery goal, parents' control and interference by their performance goal and perceptions of child efficacy, and cognitive engagement as supplementary to homework by parent perceptions of child efficacy. (2) Parental autonomy support, control, and interference were differentially associated with student mastery and performance goal orientations, whereas parent cognitive engagement was associated with student efficacy beliefs. (3) The structural model was the same for elementary and junior high school students but the latent means for a number of variables were different. Different types of parental involvement in homework were associated with different outcomes with parent autonomy support to be the most beneficial one.

The Roles of Social Support in Promoting Adolescents' Classroom Cognitive Engagement Through Academic Self-Efficacy

Purpose – The main aim of the present investigation was to examine the role of teacher, peer, and parental academic and emotional support in predicting adolescent cognitive engagement, especially within the context of ESL classrooms. Method – The present study examined the availability of academic and emotional support from teachers, classmates and parents as perceived by adolescents, via instruments which were adapted from a number of established measures. This cross-sectional study utilized the survey method, and a total of 450 adolescents from 11 secondary schools in Malaysia, representing early and middle adolescence, took part in the survey. The study assessed each source of support namely teacher, peers and parents within one model. Findings – Findings from the structural equation modelling suggest that both teacher and parental support are significantly related to adolescent cognitive engagement through their academic efficacy, thus lending support for a full mediation model while peer support was directly related to cognitive engagement. Significance – Even though parents and teachers played important roles in influencing adolescent cognitive engagement (as suggested by previous studies), this study suggests that the relationship was through academic efficacy, which had served as a mediating variable. One of the contributions of this study is that its findings supported the inclusion of student motivational beliefs in explaining the relationship between support factors and engagement. This study had also examined the unique contribution of emotional support. Additionally, it was found that research should not disregard the importance of peers in promoting cognitive engagement directly.

Pharmacy students' motivational beliefs regarding pursuance of graduate school after completion of the PharmD program

Objectives The primary objective of the study was to develop and validate an instrument, within an expectancy-value framework, to assess student motivational beliefs regarding pursuance of graduate school after obtaining a PharmD degree. A secondary objective of the study was to examine additional student perceptions regarding graduate school. Methods Using a web-based survey instrument, information was obtained from samples of 2 nd and 3 rd professional year pharmacy students regarding motivational beliefs, graduate school, and other post-PharmD options. Results The developed instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. Differences in motivational beliefs were discovered across student demographic variables. Furthermore, intrinsic value and attainment/utility value motivational beliefs were significant predictors of likelihood of students pursuing graduate school in a pharmacy-related area. Faculty encouragement was positively associated with increased likelihood of pursuing graduate school and increases in intrinsic value and attainment/utility value motivational beliefs. Conclusions Student value beliefs of graduate school influence the likelihood of pursuing graduate school. Student motivational beliefs should be considered when determining effective methods of recruiting students to post-PharmD graduate education.

Examining the Teacher Efficacy and Achievement Goals as Predictors of Turkish Student Teachers’ Conceptions about Teaching and Learning

Based on the fact that the relationships among student teachers’ efficacy beliefs, achievement goals, and conceptions about teaching and learning has remained to be investigated to date, this study aimed to examine student teachers’ efficacy beliefs and achievement goals as predictors of their conceptions about teaching and learning. Results of the present study showed that student teachers’ conceptions about teaching and learning are significantly predicted by their efficacy beliefs and achievement goals. Results also demonstrated that the effects of student teachers’ efficacy beliefs and motivational beliefs on their conceptions about teaching and learning vary as a function of the fields of study, indicating that the effects of both efficacy beliefs and motivational beliefs on student teachers’ conceptions about teaching and learning are domain-specific. Overall results of the study suggested that the relationships among teacher efficacy, motivational beliefs, and conceptions about teaching and learning are not negligible. Implications for teacher education and directions for future studies were also discussed.

Teachers as Facilitators of Student Participation in School Mental Health Promotion

A research project examined longitudinal and cross-sectional relationships between teacher facilitation of student participation and student motivational beliefs in health promotion planning and action. Participants were 1,864 students from the ten pilot schools of the Norwegian Network of Health Promoting Schools. Multi-level regression models revealed that teacher facilitation was associated with a range of positive outcomes, including higher perceived participatory skills, collective efficacy, outcome expectancy and school satisfaction. Longitudinal analysis revealed that a change in teacher facilitation was associated with change in participatory skills, collective efficacy and outcome expectancy, but not school satisfaction. The results highlight the important motivational role of teachers in school mental health promotion.

Teachers' Sense of Efficacy: An Important Factor in School Improvement

Teachers' Sense of Efficacy: An Important Factor in School Improvement