Teachers' attributions for students' low achievement: A validation of cooper and good's attributional categories

Tollefson, Nona

doi:10.1002/1520-6807(199001)27:1<75::aid-pits2310270111>3.0.co;2-#

Cited by 19 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…More recent studies confirm similar tendencies, where teachers are more likely to explain student failure due to dispositional traits of the student (such as ability and effort) or family influences rather than teacher-and schoolrelated issues. More specifically, approximately half of the teachers in Tollefson et al's study attributed student failure to student effort, with a significant proportion of attributions also involving external family variables (30%) and other internal student characteristics (77%; e.g., previous experiences, emotional maturity, interest, attention) [22]. However, only 2% of teachers in this study attributed student failure to teacher characteristics, and no attributions were reported to task difficulty.…”

Section: B Attributions In Educational Settingscontrasting

confidence: 51%

“…The additional challenges could influence the educators' attributions both in positive and negative dimensions. Following Tollefson's results on attributions [22], the example of technical difficulties could lead to negative attributions, such as a perceived lack of interest of the student due to the impaired interactions, but also to more positive interpretations, where the educators empathize with the student. For example, educators might assume that the situation is primarily tricky for the student as they have difficulty following the content.…”

Section: B Attributions In Educational Settingsmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Attribution-based Personas in Virtual Software Engineering Education

Madhi,

Reimer,

Jonas

2023

2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET)

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent introduction of virtual collaboration have introduced educators to unexpected situations and challenges. One of these challenges is social distance, which minimizes knowledge of another person's character, and leaves room for misconceptions. Perceptions of a person's personality are also referred to as dispositional attributions and, when misplaced, impact the educator-student dynamics. This paper studies dispositional attributions exhibited by software engineering educators in higher education and aims to raise awareness of potential misconceptions affecting the educator-student relationship caused by the virtual setting. We performed an exploratory case study in a practical university course with twelve distributed software engineering teams, each led by one or two educators. The course was conducted entirely virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research process included discovering, categorizing, and modeling attributionbased personas, followed by qualitative and quantitative research methods of semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires. These personas represent the subjects of potential misconceptions and encapsulate typical behaviors and attributions. Our research created seven personas: the Unprofessional, Ego is the Enemy, The Detached, the Loner, the Underperformer, Hiding but not Seeking, and Distraction Monster. These personas differ primarily in terms of character traits and motivation attributed to them. The results provide evidence that the virtual setting of the course can lead to several dispositional attributions. Educators in virtual software engineering settings should be aware of these attributions and their potential impact on the educator-student relationship.

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Section: B Attributions In Educational Settingscontrasting

confidence: 51%

Section: B Attributions In Educational Settingsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Attribution-based Personas in Virtual Software Engineering Education

Madhi,

Reimer,

Jonas

2023

2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET)

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Teachers' perceptions of students' excuses for academic difficulties

1991

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Ninety‐seven teachers described situations in which their students experienced academic difficulties and gave reasons (excuses) to explain their difficulties. Teachers indicated whether or not they believed the reasons students gave, what they thought the “real” reasons for the students' difficulties were, and how they reacted and behaved toward the students. Analysis of teachers' reports indicated that students were most likely to attribute their academic difficulties to external, uncontrollable factors, whereas teachers tended to believe that the “real” reasons for students' difficulties were internal and controllable. Teachers reported that they would react in a positive manner toward the students whether or not they believed the reasons the students gave to explain their difficulties. Implications of these findings for student motivation are discussed.

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Teacher attributions of student failure and teacher behavior toward the failing student

Γεωργίου

Christou

Stavrinides

et al. 2002

Psychology in the Schools

114

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The aim of this study was to examine the relation between teacher attributions of student school failure and teacher behavior toward the failing student. A structural equation model was proposed and its ability to fit the data was tested. It was found that teachers tend to behave in ways that indicate more pity and less anger when they attribute a student's low achievement to her or his low abilities, whereas they express more anger when attributing low achievement to the student's low effort. In contrast to previous research that argues in favor of anger as a high ability cue, this study has found that the presence of anger was associated with a teacher tendency to give-up efforts to help the student improve. This giving-up behavior was negatively related to the tendency of the teachers to accept some responsibility for the student failure. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The most important beliefs that teachers have about students are those that deal with the teachers' perceptions of the causes of students' behavior (Clark & Peterson, 1986). These beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and expectations determine, to a large extent, teacher behavior and teacher interaction patterns with students, especially the low-achieving ones (Brophy, 1985). Ainscrow (1998), for example, claimed that teacher attitudes toward a particular student guided the teaching methods that would be selected each time and the strategies used for instructing the student.This article examines the relationship between teacher attributions of student failure and teacher self-reported behavior toward the failing or low-achieving student. Attributions are special kinds of beliefs through which an individual explains observed events in a causal fashion. From a psychological point of view, the interpretation of an event is perhaps more important than the event itself. Thus, the examination of teacher attributions of student failure becomes justified. According to Miller (1995), attribution is the explanation and evaluation of behavior, both the behavior of others and our own. Heider (1958), who is considered by many to be the father of attribution theory, suggested that people are not content simply to observe events around them, but strive to understand their causes as well. In his earlier writings, he maintained that actions are usually attributed to stable and enduring factors, such as the actor's personality characteristics, rather than transitory or variable factors such as moods.Another leading figure in this area, Weiner (1985), proposed a three-dimensional taxonomy of attributions. According to this taxonomy, an attribution can be internal or external in terms of its locus, stable or unstable in terms of its stability over time, and controllable or uncontrollable by the acting individual (controllability). In educational settings, effort and ability are two major internal sources of attribution; the first is controllable but unstable, while the second is stable but uncontrollable. Examples of external attributions regarding success or failure at...

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Teachers' attributions for students' low achievement: A validation of cooper and good's attributional categories

Cited by 19 publications

References 8 publications

Attribution-based Personas in Virtual Software Engineering Education

Attribution-based Personas in Virtual Software Engineering Education

Teachers' perceptions of students' excuses for academic difficulties

Teacher attributions of student failure and teacher behavior toward the failing student

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