Student motivation, confidence, and perceived control are of key interest to sociology instructors seeking to develop pedagogical techniques that increase student engagement. However, attribution research suggests that strengthening these aspects of student learning can be challenging if students attribute academic outcomes to factors over which…

A significant number of students with learning disabilities encounter challenges in acquiring knowledge, particularly in mathematics. Nonetheless, having a disability or being disadvantaged is not a preference or decision made by these students - or more generally, by these individuals; rather, this label is assigned to them by the prevailing…

The purpose of this research was to examine relationship between the eighth-grade gifted students' perceptions of science learning environment constructive learning environment perception (CLEP) and their motivations motivation to learn science (MLS) to learn science with their intellectual risk-taking (IRT) and science achievement (SA). For this…

As part of the research on motivation, causal attribution studies have an important role in predicting and improving academic performance since controllable and uncontrollable attributions have an effect on learners' future actions. Following this path, the present qualitative study investigates the attributions of students in an English Language…

We surveyed 139 (88 traditional, 51 nontraditional) students on various motivational measures of self-determination, attribution, and expectancy-value to (a) investigate motivational differences by student status and (b) identify the motivational variables that best predict academic achievement by student status. Results of a multivariate analysis…

This study was designed to forge stronger theoretical and empirical links between achievement goal theory and attribution theory. High school students ("N" = 224) completed a self-report survey that assessed 3 types of achievement goals, 7 types of attributions, and self-efficacy. Results indicated that students' adoption of achievement…

Developing learners' ability to self-regulate their own learning has been an ideal sought after by researchers and practitioners alike. Over the past 40 years a plethora of educational psychology research on self-regulated learning (SRL) has flooded the literature. In this article I attempt to consolidate key theories from this literature base and…

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between students' interests, their use of certain specific learning strategies and causal attributions which they made for their academic achievement. In this manner, we attempted to explore the relationships between some important variables from three different, but connected phases of…

The influences of locus of control, awareness of control and metacognition on the use and transfer of a trained strategy were examined. Specifically, it was hypothesized that internal locus of control would be associated with more strategic performance, and that those children who were able to both accurately assess their performance with and…

This article discusses the importance of attribution and strategy training for understanding motivation in students with learning disabilities, contributions of attributions to the larger motivational schema, and problems associated with measuring this affective variable. (DB)

This study compared the motivational orientations and metacognitive abilities of 143 Grade 7 intellectually gifted students in an Australian selective school with 133 average-achieving age peers attending comprehensive schools. Gifted students had greater confidence in their own control over successes or failures in school tasks, demonstrated more…

Associations among children's beliefs about intelligence and effort, goal orientations, self-reported learning strategies, and academic achievement were studied with 319 children in grades 3 through 6. Results revealed a coherent set of beliefs about intelligence and academic performance, and that beliefs are powerful predictors of achievement…

The effectiveness of Strategic Content Learning, an intervention model to promote self-regulated and strategic learning, was investigated. Six adults with learning disabilities chose a task of importance to current or future academic work and were provided individualized support on relevant tasks. Results indicated student gains in task…

Undergraduate students in sociology (N=59) and psychology (N=50) participated in a study at a large midwestern university to determine if the pattern of attributional assignment, expectancy, performance, and perceived success was different in these two groups of undergraduates. Prior to taking the first of three exams each student was asked how…

The interrelationships among metamemory, intelligence, attributional beliefs, self-concept, and strategy use were observed in German and American children. Ninety-one American and 102 German fourth graders participated. After pretest assessment, children in the experimental conditions were trained to use a cluster rehearsal strategy on a Sort…