Attributions for Performance: A Comparative Study of Japanese and Thai University Students

Abstract

Attribution theory posits that people look for causes for their successes and failures. Past research indicates that these causal attributions may influence future performance, and it has been suggested that attributional tendencies may be affected by culture and outcome. To understand the role that culture and outcome may play in attributions for foreign language learning, a set of questionnaires was designed to investigate how EFL university students (355 Thai and 350 Japanese) in two countries judged their successes and failures on actual language learning tasks. Although there were a few differences based on culture, MANOVA results revealed that both groups focused more on external factors (such as teachers and classroom atmosphere) for success and internal factors (such as lack of ability and effort) for failure. The implications that can be drawn with regard to cultural bias, language teaching, and the nature of the learning environment are considered. 帰属理論は、人は成功や失敗を認知する際、原因帰属を試みるとする。関連の先行研究では、原因帰属は文化や行為の結果に左右され、ひいては未来の行動に影響を与えるという可能性が示唆されている。本論文は、異なる文化背景をもつ英語学習者がその学習体験における成功と失敗の原因を何に求めるかを検証したものである。英語学習者の原因帰属プロセスを検証するにあたり、タイおよび日本の大学１年生（各355人、350人）を対象に質問調査を実施した。その結果、両国の大学生はどちらも、成功の原因は教員やクラスの雰囲気等の外的要因に求め、失敗の原因は能力不足や努力不足といった内的要因に求めることがわかった。これらの類似する原因帰属パターンを文化的な影響によるものと仮定し、英語学習においてどのような影響を与えるのかについても考察した。

Features of Success Attribution in English as a Second Language (ESL) among Tertiary-level Learners in Malaysia (Ciri-Ciri Anggapan Penyebab Kejayaan dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai Bahasa Kedua di Kalangan Pelajar Universiti di Malaysia)

“…This finding suggests that when learning ESL, the students depended highly on situation or environment. This study is also in line with Mori et al (2010) where they found out that the Japanese and Thai university students focused more on external factors for success such as teacher's encouragement and classroom atmosphere; enjoyment of the lesson and getting good grades. Teacher, class and task belong together as the most influential external attributions to achievement.…”

Academic achievement among university students: The role of causal attribution of academic success and failure

“…Locus of causality dimension correlates with students' perception of their success and failure due to their external or internal factor. Individuals with an internal locus of causality for their success (e.g., ability, effort) tend to show greater pride when achieving this success compared to those that attribute externally (e.g., luck, complex tasks) (Mori, Gobel, Thepsiri & Pojanapunya, 2010;Santrock, 2011).…”

“…Thus, when they refer failure to stable factors (e.g., bad luck, lack of effort), they would also expect failure in the future. Likewise, these individuals develop their expectation that they would be successful in the future because they perceive that failure could be changed (Santrock, 2011;Mori et al, 2010).…”

“…lack of effort/careless, angry more often). In other side, there are another uncontrollable factors, for instance weather (Mori et al, 2010;Santrock, 2011).…”

“…Previous studies attempted to analyze roles and correlation between attribution and academic achievement. Mori et al(2010) examined Japanese and Thai students' attribution where they tend to focus on external factors (e.g., teachers, class' atmosphere) as the cause of their success, and internal factors (e.g., lack of effort, ability) as the cause of their failure. On the other hand, Boekaerts, Otten, & Voeten (2003) found differences in terms of causal attribution used by junior high school students when explaining their academic success and failure.…”