Abstract
Research has shown significant impacts of academic self-concept and motivation on students’ academic outcomes. However, a majority of these studies have used samples in Western society, with Eastern students being mostly neglected. With increasing attention received by Asian samples, cross-cultural research in school psychology has found some differences between Western and Asian students, particularly in competence (i.e., academic self-concept) and effort beliefs. Still missing in the literature are the interrelations among competence and effort beliefs and academic achievement and how competence and effort beliefs may similarly or differentially influence Asian students’ achievement. In the study reported here, longitudinal data were collected from a secondary school in Southern China (N = 628) at three time points (7th to 9th grades). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted to test longitudinal interrelations (T1, T2, T3) between competence and effort beliefs on the one hand and to examine the strength of competence and effort beliefs in predicting subsequent academic achievement on the other. The results showed that both competence and effort beliefs were quite stable across 3 years. However, differential relations between the two belief constructs and academic achievement were observed across the years: T1 competence but not T1 effort positively predicted T2 achievement, whereas T2 effort but not T2 competence positively predicted T3 achievement. There seemed to be a developmental pattern suggesting a shift from a strong association of achievement with competence beliefs to a strong association with effort beliefs as Chinese students matured.
Keywords
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alsaker, F., & Olweus, D. (2002). Stability and change in global self-esteem and self-related affect. In T. M. Brinthaupt & R. P. Lipka (Eds.), Understanding early adolescent self and identity: Applications and interventions (pp. 193–224). New York: State University of New York Press.
Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 261–271.
Anderman, E. M., Maehr, M. L., & Midgley, C. (1999). Declining motivation after the transition to middle school: Schools can make a difference. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 32, 131–147.
Arbuckle, J. L. (1996). Full information estimation in the presence of incomplete data. In G. A. Marcoulides & R. E. Schumacker (Eds.), Advanced structural equation modeling: Issues and techniques. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Arens, A. K., Yeung, A. S., Craven, R. G., & Hasselhorn, M. (2011). The twofold multidimensionality of academic self-concept: Domain specificity and separation between competence and affect components. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 970–981.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Chapman, J. W., & Tunmer, W. E. (1997). A longitudinal study of beginning reading achievement and reading self-concept. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 279–291.
Craven, R. G., Marsh, H. W., & Burnett, P. (2003). Cracking the self-concept enhancement conundrum: A call and blueprint for the next generation of self-concept enhancement research. In H. W. Marsh, R. G. Craven, & D. M. McInerney (Eds.), International advances in self research (Vol. 1, pp. 91–126). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Craven, R. G., & Yeung, A. S. (2008). International best practice in effective educational interventions: Why self-concept matters and examples from bullying, peer support, and reading research. In D. M. McInerney, V. E. Shawn, & M. Dowson (Eds.), Research on sociocultural influences on motivation and learning (Teaching and learning: International best practice, Vol. 8, pp. 267–294). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Duda, J. L., & Nicholls, J. G. (1992). Dimensions of achievement in schoolwork and sport. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 290–299.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
Elliot, A. J., Chirkov, V. I., Kim, Y., & Sheldon, K. M. (2001). A cross-cultural analysis of avoidance (relative to approach) personal goals. Psychological Science, 12, 505–510.
Enders, C. K., & Bandalos, D. L. (2001). The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 8, 430–457.
Frey, A., Ruchkin, V., Martin, A., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2009). Adolescents in transitions: School and family characteristics in the development of violent behaviours entering high school. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40, 1–13.
Gehlbach, H. (2006). How changes in students’ goal orientations relate to outcomes in social studies. The Journal of Educational Research, 99, 358–370.
Gutman, L. M. (2006). How student and parent goal orientations and classroom goal structures influence the math achievement of African Americans during the high school transition. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 31, 44–63.
Hanewald, R. (2013). Transition between primary and secondary school: Why it is important and how it can be supported. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38, 62–74.
Hines, M. T. (2007). Adolescent adjustment to the middle school transition: The intersection of divorce and gender in review. Research in Middle Level Education Online, 31, 1–15.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modelling, 6, 1–55.
Hulleman, C. S., Schrager, S. M., Bodmann, S. M., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2010). A meta-analytic review of achievement goal measures: Different labels for the same constructs or different constructs with similar labels. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 422–449.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (2005). LISREL 8.72: Structural equation modelling with SIMPLIS command language. Chicago, IL: Scientific Software International.
Kember, D., & Watkins, D. A. (2010). Approaches to learning and teaching by the Chinese. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology (pp. 169–185). New York: Oxford University Press.
King, R. B., Ganotice, F. A., & Watkins, D. A. (2012). Cross-cultural validation of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) in the Asian setting: Hong Kong and the Philippines. Child Indicators Research, 5, 135–153. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12187-011-9117-3
King, R. B., & Watkins, D. A. (2012). Socializing achievement goal theory: The need for social goals. Psychological Studies, 57, 112–116.
Lee, W. O. (1996). The cultural context for Chinese learners: Conceptions of learning in the Confucian tradition. In D. A. Watkins (Ed.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological, and contextual influences (pp. 25–41). Hong Kong: Central Printing.
Li, J. (2003). U.S. and Chinese cultural beliefs about learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 258–267.
Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Achievement goal theory and affect: An asymmetrical bidirectional model. Educational Psychologist, 37, 69–78.
Luo, W., Hogan, D., Yeung, A. S., Sheng, Y. Z., & Aye, K. M. (2014). Attributional beliefs of Singapore students: Relations to self-construal, competence, and achievement goals. Educational Psychology, 34(2), 154–170.
Maehr, M. L., & McInerney, D. M. (2004). Motivation as personal investment. In D. M. McInerney & S. Van Etten (Eds.), Research on sociocultural influences on motivation and learning (Big theories revisited, Vol. 4, pp. 61–90). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Maehr, M., & Midgley, C. (1991). Enhancing student motivation: A school wide approach. Educational Psychologist, 26, 399–427.
Marsh, H. W., Byrne, B. M., & Yeung, A. S. (1999). Causal ordering of academic self-concept and achievement: Reanalysis of a pioneering study and revised recommendations. Educational Psychologist, 34, 155–167.
Marsh, H. W., & Craven, R. G. (2006). Reciprocal effects of self-concept and performance from a multidimensional perspective: Beyond seductive pleasure and unidimensional perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 133–163.
Marsh, H. W., & Yeung, A. S. (1997). Causal effects of academic self-concept on academic achievement: Structural equation models of longitudinal data. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 41–54.
Marsh, H., Ellis, L., Parada, R., Richards, G., & Heubeck, B. (2005). A short version of the self description questionnaire II: Operationalizing criteria for short-form evaluation with new applications of confirmatory factor analyses. Psychological Assessment, 17, 81–102.
McInerney, D. M. (1995). Goal theory and indigenous minority school motivation: Relevance and application. In M. L. Maehr & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement (Culture, motivation and achievement, Vol. 9, pp. 153–181). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
McInerney, D. M., Maehr, M. L., & Dowson, M. (2004). Cross-cultural studies of motivation and achievement: Implications for applied settings. In C. D. Spielberger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of applied psychology. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Academic Press.
McInerney, D. M., Yeung, A. S., & McInerney, V. (2001). Cross-cultural validation of the inventory of school motivation (ISM): Motivation orientations of Navajo and Anglo students. Journal of Applied Measurement, 2, 135–153.
Murphy, P. K., & Alexander, P. A. (2000). A motivated exploration of motivation terminology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 3–53.
Pintrich, P. R., Marx, R. W., & Boyle, R. A. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors in the process of conceptual change. Review of Educational Research, 62, 167–199.
Robins, R. W., & Pals, J. L. (2002). Implicit self-theories in the academic domain: Implications for goal orientation, attributions, affect, and self-esteem change. Self and Identity, 1, 313–336.
Ryan, A. M., & Pintrich, P. R. (1998). Achievement and social motivational influences on help seeking in the classroom. In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching (pp. 117–139). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Salili, F. (1996). Accepting personal responsibility for learning. In D. A. Watkins & J. B. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological and contextual influences (pp. 86–105). Hong Kong: Central Printing.
Salili, F., & Hau, K. T. (1994). The effects of teachers’ evaluative feedback on Chinese students’ perception of ability: A cultural and situational analysis. Educational Studies, 20, 223–236.
Seifert, T. L. (2004). Understanding student motivation. Educational Research, 46, 137–149.
Senko, C., Hulleman, C. S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2011). Achievement goal theory at the crossroads: Old controversies, current challenges, and new directions. Educational Psychologist, 46, 26–47.
Swann, W. B., Chang-Schneider, C., & Larsen McClarty, K. (2007). Do people’s self-views matter? Selfconcept and self-esteem in everyday life. American Psychologist, 62, 84–94.
Tucker, L. R., & Lewis, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38, 1–10.
Watkins, D. A. (2000). Learning and teaching: A cross-cultural perspective. School Leadership and Management, 20, 161–173.
Watkins, D., & Hattie, J. (2012). Multiple goals in a Hong Kong Chinese educational context: An investigation of developmental trends and learning outcomes. Australian Journal of Education, 56, 273–286.
Watkins, D. A., & Qi, D. (1994). Assessing the self-esteem of Chinese school children. Educational Psychology, 14, 129–137.
Wolters, C. A. (2004). Advancing achievement goal theory: Using goal structures and goal orientations to predict students’ motivation, cognition, and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 236–250.
Wu, K. J., & Watkins, D. (2005). An investigation of the psychometric properties of the Chinese adolescent self-esteem scales. Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies, 6(2), 261–279.
Yao, X. (2000). An introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Yeung, A. S. (2011). Student self-concept and effort: Gender and grade differences. Educational Psychology, 31, 749–772.
Yeung, A. S., Craven, R. G., & Kaur, G. (2012). Mastery goal, value, and self-concept: What do they predict? Educational Research, 54, 469–482.
Yeung, A. S., & McInerney, D. M. (2005). Students’ school motivation and aspiration over high school years. Educational Psychology, 25, 537–554.
Yeung, A. S., & Yeung, A. (2008). Ability vs. effort: Perceptions of students from the east and from the west. In O. S. Tan, D. M. McInerney, A. D. Liem, & A. G. Tan (Eds.), Research on multicultural education and international perspectives. Vol. 7: What the west can learn from the east: Asian perspectives on the psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 77–99). Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yeung, A.S., Han, F., Lee, F.L.M. (2016). Reciprocal Relations Between Chinese Students’ Beliefs of Competence, Effort Goal, and Academic Achievement. In: King, R., Bernardo, A. (eds) The Psychology of Asian Learners. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-576-1_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-576-1_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-575-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-576-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)