The longitudinal interplay of students’ academic self-concepts and achievements within and across domains: Replicating and extending the reciprocal internal/external frame of reference model.

Abstract

Students' cognitive and motivational profiles have a large impact on their academic careers. The development of such profiles can partly be explained by the reciprocal intemal/extemal frame of reference model (RI/E model). The RI/E model predicts positive and negative longitudinal effects between academic self-concepts and achievements within and across 2 academic domains (i.e., the mathematics and verbal domains). In the present study, we replicated the RI/E model in 2 samples and extended it by simultaneously investigating the longitudinal associations of academic self-concepts and achievements in 3 academic domains (i.e., mathe matics, German as a native language, English as a foreign language). We examined 2 domains across 4 measurement occasions in 2 independent student samples who were in Grades 5-8 (Study 1: N = 1,529) or Grades 5-7 (Study 2: N = 639). In a 3rd study, we examined a subsample of the 2nd sample (N = 465) in 3 domains. Results demonstrated support for the RI/E model for 2 as well as 3 academic domains. We found positive reciprocal effects of academic self-concepts and achievements within a domain, positive reciprocal effects between achievements across domains, negative effects of achievements on subsequent cross-domain self-concepts, negative effects of academic self-concepts on subsequent cross-domain achievements, and some support for negative effects of academic self-concepts on subsequent cross-domain self-concepts. Further more, we found that RI/E model effects were of comparable size across time. To conclude, the RI/E model provides significant insights into the development of distinct motivational and cognitive profiles and, thus, of becoming either a math or verbal person. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.

Math self-concept, grades, and achievement test scores: Long-term reciprocal effects across five waves and three achievement tracks.

“…Nonetheless, the majority of studies supporting reciprocal relations between self-concept and achievement have included school grades as achievement indicators (e.g., Marsh, 1990;Niepel et al, 2014; for an overview see Huang, 2011). Yet, there is also evidence that reciprocal relations between self-concept and achievement exist when using standardized achievement test scores as achievement indicators (Möller, Zimmermann, & Köller, 2014;Retelsdorf et al, 2014;Seaton, Parker, Marsh, Craven, &Yeung, 2014).…”

“…Therefore, in contemporary self-concept research, the reciprocal effects model (REM) prevails for depicting the relations between self-concept and achievement. Accordingly, self-concept is both an outcome of former and a predictor of subsequent achievement (e.g., Huang, 2011;Möller, Retelsdorf, Köller, & Marsh, 2011;Niepel, Brunner, & Preckel, 2014).…”

Transição escolar das crianças do 5º para o 6º ano do ensino fundamental

“…Buscou-se chegar a esse objetivo por meio de um esquema conceitual formulado de acordo com uma leitura das tarefas adaptativas de Elias (1989) Tanto para português como para matemática, os modelos finais de predição envolveram o desempenho em ambas as matérias no ano anterior, indicando efeito positivo cruzado entre os dois domínios (Niepel, Brunner, & Preckel, 2014). No mesmo bloco de preditores relacionados às mudanças de papéis, foi preditor significativo o autoconceito específico na matéria em exame (Niepel et al, 2014 Em contraste, o desempenho em matemática não está associado à natureza da transição escolar.…”

“…No mesmo bloco de preditores relacionados às mudanças de papéis, foi preditor significativo o autoconceito específico na matéria em exame (Niepel et al, 2014 Em contraste, o desempenho em matemática não está associado à natureza da transição escolar. Sua predição implica indicadores de sentimentos sobre si mesmo e percepção de suporte na família.…”

“…Desse modo, pode-se supor que o modelo de predição encontrado foi apenas discretamente associado à transição, e isso apenas para desempenho em português. O modelo geral, aplicável tanto a português como a matemática, foi mais compatível com resultados de estudos longitudinais, indicativos de estabilidade do desempenho individual (Gardinal-Pizato et al, 2012) e a sua relação com o autoconceito acadêmico (Niepel et al, 2014), em associação com o desempenho do alunado da escola de origem (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008).…”