First, ask questions.
Self-concept is people's observation and evaluation of their own abilities (including cognitive ability, sports ability, interpersonal skills, etc.). (W. James, 1892). Harter and Connell( 1978, 1984) and others divide self-concept into perceptual ability and perceptual control. Ability perception refers to the perception of ability, and known control perception includes perceptual control perception and unknowable control. Perceived control refers to the internal and external attribution of achievements (such as ability, effort, difficulty, luck, etc.). ), while unknowable control refers to the unclear reasons for the individual's own achievements (Hart Cornell,1984; Cornell,1985; Hart, 1990).Hart and others believe that control perception is a key cognitive judgment factor (Harter, Connell, 1984) that affects individual academic performance, ability perception and motivation orientation. Motivation orientation can be divided into intrinsic motivation orientation and extrinsic motivation-international orientation. The causal relationship between academic performance, ability perception, control perception and motivation orientation and the development difference model of primary and secondary school students are put forward and verified (Harter Connell, 1984, Harter, 1992). The model is shown in the figure.
Figure 1 hartle Total Diameter Model
Figure 2 Path model centered on "control perception"
This study is based on the research of Hart et al. and the pathmodel established by Harter et al., taking into account the achievement motivation theory of Atkinson( 1976, Chandler, 198 1) and the attribution theory of Weiner( 1986).
Figure 3 Hypothetical model
The purpose of this study is to verify and compare the research of Hart and others according to the specific situation of education in China, and to preliminarily explore the relationship between academic performance, ability perception, control perception and motivation orientation of primary and secondary school students in China and their development differences.
Where X 1 is unknowable control; X2 refers to internal control-relying on others; X3 is achievement status; X4 is the ability evaluation; X5 is ability emotion; X6 is the intrinsic dominant motivation orientation.
Second, research tools and research methods
In this study, Harter 1992, Harter1982 and Connell 1980 were used to test the reliability and validity of the scales and select suitable items. See table 65438+ for the corrected values of split-half reliability and Sibu formulas of the revised scale.
The subjects of the experiment are three classes in grade five of experimental primary school of Beijing Normal University (100) and three classes in grade two of middle school affiliated to Peking University (129). The experimental results were analyzed by multiple regression.
Table 1 Consistency coefficient before and after calibration
Third, the results analysis and discussion
According to the hypothetical model (see Figure 3), the following regression equations are established to regress the results of the whole subjects and primary and secondary school students respectively. The regression analysis method adopts stepwise regression method, the missing values are replaced by the average value of samples, the probability of independent variables moving in is PIN=0.05, and the standard regression coefficient (β coefficient) of each equation is the path coefficient of the model. The specific analysis is as follows:
(A) the establishment, analysis and discussion of the overall path model
Firstly, regression analysis is carried out on the whole sample, and the whole path model is obtained as a result (see Figure 4).
Fig. 4 Overall path model
From the overall model analysis, this study has the following similarities and differences with Hart's overall model:
1. Similarity: The direct influence of unknowable control on internal control depends on others, ability evaluation on ability-emotion and ability-emotion on motivation orientation is consistent with Hart's research (Harter,1984; 1992)。
2. Differences:
(1) In this study, the influence of agnostic control on achievement state and achievement state on capability evaluation is not significant, but in the research of Hart et al., these two paths have reached a significant level (Hater,1984); The reason may be due to the cultural background of China and the differences between the current education system and the United States.
(2) The direct influence of agnostic control on ability evaluation and motivation orientation is unique to the overall model of this study. In Hart's overall model, unknowable control has no direct influence on ability evaluation and motivation orientation. On the other hand, it reflects the direct influence of cognitive judgment process on ability evaluation and motivation orientation. In Hart's middle school students' path model, these two paths have reached a significant level (Hart, Cornell,1984);
(3) The direct influence of ability evaluation on motivation orientation and motivation orientation on achievement state is unique in this study, but in Hart's overall model, ability evaluation has no direct influence on motivation orientation and motivation orientation on achievement state. This is consistent with the research of Atkinson and James, that is, strong ability perception stimulates intrinsic motivation orientation, while poor ability perception stimulates extrinsic motivation orientation (James,1892); Atkinson's achievement motivation theory holds that below the middle level of motivation, the higher the individual's achievement motivation (that is, intrinsic motivation orientation), the easier it is to achieve (Atkinson, 1976).
(2) The establishment, analysis and discussion of the path model of primary and secondary school students.
According to the hypothetical model, the following two path models are obtained by regression analysis with primary and secondary school students as samples (see Figure 5).
Pupils' path model in Figure 5
Compared with the research of Hart et al., the path model of primary school students in Figure 5 has the following similarities and differences:
1. Similarity: In this study, the direct effects of agnostic control on internal control dependence on others, ability evaluation on ability-emotion and motivation orientation, and internal control-dependence on others on motivation orientation are consistent with the results of Hart et al. (Harter,1984; 1992)。
2. Differences:
(1) In this study, the influence of agnostic control on achievement state and achievement state on ability evaluation is not significant;
(2) Ability-emotion has no direct influence on motivation orientation;
(3) The direct influence of motivation orientation on achievement is unique in this study and not found in the overall model of Hart. Atkinson's achievement motivation theory and James' research both support this conclusion (Atkinson,1976; James, 1892).
The comparison between the middle school students' path model and Hart model in Figure 5 has the following similarities and differences:
1. Similarity: the direct influence of unknowable control on internal control depends on others and ability evaluation, and the influence of ability evaluation on ability-emotion and motivation orientation is consistent with Hart's research (Harter, Con-nell,1984; Hart,1992);
2. Differences:
(1) In this study, the influence of agnostic control on achievement state and achievement state on ability evaluation is not significant;
(2) The influence of internal control and dependence on others on achievement and motivation orientation is unique in this study. Internal control-dependence on others has a negative effect on grades, that is, students with internal control have poor grades and students who rely on others have good grades; The influence of internal control and dependence on others on motivation orientation is positive. The achievements of internal control students are often controlled by internal motivation, while those of dependent students are often controlled by external motivation, which supports the hypothesis of this study.
(3) The direct influence of motivation orientation on achievement is unique in this study and not found in the overall model of Hart.
(C) the development differences of path patterns of primary and secondary school students
As can be seen from the two models in Figure 5, the path models of primary and secondary school students are different in the number of paths and the intensity of path coefficients, mainly in the following aspects:
1. The influence of agnostic control (X 1) on ability evaluation (X4) and motivation orientation (X6) is unique to middle school students. The reason for this difference may be related to the learning experience and cognitive level of primary and secondary school students. In primary school, students lack learning experience and their cognitive level is immature, while in middle school, students have rich knowledge and experience, and their cognitive level tends to be mature, so they have the ability of independent judgment, which has been confirmed by Hart and others' research (Hart, Cornell,1984);
2. The influence of internal control and dependence on others (X2) on achievement (X3) is unique to middle school students. Moreover, in the middle school stage, the influence of internal control and dependence on others is negative, that is, the students with internal control are not as good as those who rely on others. This negative influence reflects the problems existing in the current student education in China, that is, the achievements of middle school students are closely related to the pressure of family, school and society to some extent, and students' learning is often passive, but the role of initiative in learning needs further discussion;
3. The influence of ability-emotion (X5) on motivation orientation (X6) is unique to middle school students' path model and indirectly affects students' grades. This shows that in the middle school stage, students' emotions are more complicated than those of primary school students, which is also consistent with Hart's research (Hart, Cornell, 1984);
4. On the strength of path model, the influence of agnostic control on internal control dependence and motivation orientation on achievement in middle school students' path model is stronger than that in primary school students' path model (the path coefficients in primary school students' path model are P2 1=-0.3078 1, p36 =-0.26197 respectively; The path coefficients in the path model of middle school students are P2 1=-0.36942 and P36=-0.36879, respectively, which shows the importance of the influence of unknowable control on internal control and dependence on others and the influence of motivation orientation on middle school achievements.
From the above analysis, we can see that on the one hand, this study partially verified Hart's research, on the other hand, we also found that there are some differences between primary and secondary school students in China and foreign research on the relationship between academic achievement, ability perception, control perception and motivation orientation.
Four. conclusion
From the analysis results of this study, we can draw the following conclusions:
1. It is found that the influence of agnostic control on perceptual control, ability evaluation and motivation orientation is negative, while the influence of ability evaluation on emotional change and motivation orientation is positive, which is completely consistent with Hart's research. However, unknowable control has no significant effect on achievement state and achievement state on ability evaluation, which is inconsistent with Hart's research.
2. This study found that there are developmental differences between primary and secondary school students in the relationship between academic performance, ability perception, control perception and motivation orientation, mainly in the process of cognitive judgment (that is, unknowable control) and the development of ability and emotion, that is, compared with primary school students, middle school students use cognitive judgment more for achievement attribution and ability evaluation, which affects students' motivation orientation, while primary school students' cognitive judgment only affects achievement attribution and has no effect on other aspects; Emotional change is more complicated in middle school than in primary school, which directly affects students' motivation orientation, while primary school students have no such influence;
3. In the path model of this study, unknowable control has no significant influence on achievement state and achievement state on ability evaluation, which may be caused by the differences of culture and education system; The influence of motivation orientation on students' performance and the negative influence of perceptual control in middle school students' model are unique in this study, which verifies the theoretical conception of the direct influence of motivation orientation on students' performance and also reflects the negative influence of China's current education system on students' learning initiative. How to improve students' learning initiative, reduce the leading role of family, school and social pressure in students' learning process, and balance students' learning initiative and external learning motivation is an important issue facing primary and secondary education at present.