Succeeding at junior high school: Students’ reasons, their reach, and the teaching that h(inders)elps their grasp

Publication date: Available online 22 May 2019Source: Contemporary Educational PsychologyAuthor(s): Luke K. Fryer, W.L. Quint Oga-BaldwinAbstractHow do we support students through their difficult transition to secondary school? Perceived value for and perceived ability to be successful during secondary school are a crucial part of any answer to this question. These perceptions and their interaction with classroom instruction are at the heart of many issues students face in this challenging new learning environment. Seeking to address these issues head-on, the current study modelled the shared role of motivation (intrinsic/extrinsic) and self-efficacy beliefs within mathematics, native and foreign language achievement across first-year secondary school studies at six schools in Japan. Modelling included pre-post subject achievement and students' instructional experiences. Longitudinal latent structural equation modelling was undertaken for each of the subjects to examine the interplay between students' motivational and instructional experiences across one academic year. Findings support the shared role of intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy within achievement (βs = .1-.13), and reciprocal relationships between perceptions of instruction and students’ motivations/beliefs (βs = .15-.21). Results also suggest different patterns of motivation-belief and motivation/belief-instruction interconnections between subjects of study. The pervasive role of instructional experiences ...
Source: Contemporary Educational Psychology - Category: Child Development Source Type: research