Longitudinal effects of task performance and self-concept on preadolescent EFL learners’ causal attributions of grammar success and failure
Journal cover Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, volume 9, no. 4, year 2019
pdf

Keywords

causal attributions
self-concept
grammar performance
gender
grade level

How to Cite

Faber, G. (2019). Longitudinal effects of task performance and self-concept on preadolescent EFL learners’ causal attributions of grammar success and failure. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(4), 633–656. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.4.4

Number of views: 924


Number of downloads: 721

Abstract

Learners’ academic self-concepts and attributions have been widely evidenced to substantially regulate their educational development. Develop­men­tally, they will not only oper­ate in a mu­tually reinforcing manner. Rather, self-concepts will di­­­­rectly affect learners’ out­come attri­bu­­tions in a particular academic set­ting. Current research in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context has increasingly anal­­yzed learners’ attributions and self-concepts on a task-spe­­cific construct level. Never­the­less, there still exist certain research gaps in the field, partic­ularly con­cerning learners’ gram­mar self-con­cept and attributions. There­fore, the present study aimed at anal­yzing lon­gi­tu­dinal re­­lat­ions of prior performance and self-concept with subsequent attri­bu­tions of gram­mar suc­cess and failure in a samp­le of preadolescent EFL learners. Findings demonstrated that attri­bu­tional pat­terns most­­­­ly but not en­tire­ly depended on learn­ers’ grammar self-concept. Poor per­­form­ing learn­ers hold­ing a low self-concept dis­­played a maladaptive attri­bu­tion pattern for ex­­plain­ing both gram­­­mar suc­cess and failure. Though not with respect to all causal factors, these findings largely con­firm the crucial role of task-spe­cific self-concept in longitudinally explaining re­­lated control beliefs in the EFL con­text.

https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.4.4
pdf

References

Abramson, L. Y., Garber, J., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1980). Learned helplessness in humans: An attributional analysis. In J. Garber & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications (pp. 3-34). New York: Academic Press.

Arens, A. K., & Jansen, M. (2016). Self-concepts in reading, writing, listening, and speaking: A multidimensional and hierarchical structure and its generalizability across native and foreign languages. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 646-664.

Bandalos, D. L., Yates, K., & Thorndike-Christ, T. (1995). Effects of math self-concept, perceived self-efficacy, and attributions for failure and success on test anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 611-623.

Blossfeldt, H.-P., Bos, W., Lenzen, D., Hannover, B., Müller-Böling, D., Prenzel, M., & Wößmann, L. (2009). Geschlechterdifferenzen im Bildungssystem – die Bundesländer im Vergleich. München: Aktionsrat Bildung.

Boekaerts, M., Otten, R., & Voeten, R. (2003). Examination performance: Are student’s causal attributions school-subject specific? Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 16, 331-342.

Bong, M. (2004). Academic motivation in self-efficacy, task value, achievement goal orientations, and attributional beliefs. Journal of Educational Research, 97, 287-297.

Butkowsky, I. S., & Willows, D. M. (1980). Cognitive-motivational characteristics of children varying in reading ability: Evidence for learned helplessness in poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 408-422.

Chan, K. S., & Moore, P. J. (2006). Development of attributional beliefs and strategic knowledge in years 5-9: A longitudinal analysis. Educational Psychology, 26, 161-185.

Demir, Y. (2017). Turkish EFL learners’ attributions for success and failure in speaking English. International Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 4(2), 39-47.

Diener, C. I., & Dweck, C. S. (1978). An analysis of learned helplessness: Continu-ous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions follo-wing failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 451-462.

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. London: Routledge.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.

Enders, C. K. (2010). Applied missing data analysis. New York: Guilford Press.

Erten, I. H. (2015a). Age related gender differences in causal attributions of Turkish learners of English as a foreign language. ELT Research Journal, 4(2), 129-146.

Erten, I. H. (2015b). Attribution retraining in L2 classes: Prospects for exploratory classroom practice. In K. Dikilitaş, R. Smith, & W. Trotman (Eds.), Teacher-researchers in action (pp. 357-367). Faversham: International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL).

Erten, I. H., & Burden, R. L. (2014). The relationship between academic self-concept, attributions, and L2 achievement. System, 42, 391-401.

Faber, G. (2012a). Elementary school children’s spelling-specific self-beliefs: Longitudinal analyses of their relations to academic achievement, school attitudes, and self-esteem. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Faber, G. (2012b). Measuring self-perceptions of oral narrative competencies and anxiety in the EFL context. Electronic Journal of Research in Edu-cational Psychology, 10, 1343-1382.

Faber, G. (2013). Gender and achievement differences in secondary students’ verbal self-concepts: A closer look beyond bivariate comparison. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 11, 665-692.

Faber, G. (2017a). A scale for measuring preadolescent EFL learners’ grammar self-concept: Preliminary psychometric and multivariate validation results. In R. V. Nata (Ed.), Progress in education (Vol. 41, pp. 29-81). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Faber, G. (2017b). The mediating role of the foreign language self-concept: Predicting preadolescent EFL learners’ causal attributions of grammar success and failure. In J. A. Sorensen & N. S. Schultz (Eds.), Self-perception: Research advances and clinical challenges (pp. 1-82). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Gabillon, Z. (2005). L2 learner’s beliefs: An overview. Journal of Language and Learning, 3, 233-260.

Genç, G. (2016). Attributions to success and failure in English language learning: The effects of gender, age and perceived success. European Journal of Education Studies, 2(12), 25-43.

Gobel, P., & Mori, S. (2007). Success and failure in the EFL classroom: Exploring students’ attributional beliefs in language learning. In L. Roberts, A. Gürel, S. Tatar, & L. Marti (Eds.), EUROSLA yearbook (Vol. 7, pp. 149-169). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Gonzalez, A. S. (2016). Attribution theory: Dimensions of causality, stability and controllability according to learners. In C. Gkonou, D. Tatzl, & S. Mercer (Eds.), New directions in language learning psychology (pp. 209-232). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Graham, S. (1991). A review of attribution theory in achievement contexts. Edu-cational Psychology Review, 3, 5-39.

Graham, S. (2006). Listening comprehension: The learners’ perspective. System, 34, 165-182.

Hau, K. T., & Salili, F. (1993). Measurement of achievement attribution: A review of instigation methods, question contents, and measurement formats. Educational Psychology Review, 5, 377-422.

Helmke, A. (1999). From optimism to realism? Development of children’s academic self-concept from kindergarten to grade 6. In F. E. Weinert & W. Schneider (Eds.), Individual development from 3 to 12: Findings of the Munich longitudinal study (pp. 198-221). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Holder, M. C. (2005). Fähigkeitsselbstkonzept und Leistungsmotivation im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Bern: Lang.

Hsieh, P. H. (2004). How college students explain their grades in a foreign language course: The interrelationship of attributions, self-efficacy, language learning beliefs, and achievement (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Texas, Austin, USA.

Hsieh, P. H. (2012). Attribution: Looking back and ahead at the ‘why’ theory. In S. Mercer, S. Ryan, & M. Williams (Eds.), Psychology for language learning: Insights from research, theory and practice (pp. 90-102). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hsieh, P. P.-H., & Kang, H.-S. (2010). Attribution and self-efficacy and their interrelationship in the Korean EFL context. Language Learning, 60, 606-627.

Jean, G., & Simard, D. (2011). Grammar teaching and learning in L2: Necessary, but boring? Foreign Language Annals, 44, 467-494.

Jensen, L. (2013). Fostering task-specific self-efficacy expectancies in the EFL classroom: An empirical analysis of short-time effects. München: Grin Verlag.

Kang, D. (2017). EFL learner and teacher beliefs about grammar learning in Korea. English Teaching, 72(2), 51-69.

Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1980). Attribution theory and research. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 457-501.

Lamb, M. (2017). The motivational dimension of language teaching. Language Teaching, 50, 301-346.

Lau, I. C., Yeung, A. S., Jin, P., & Low, R. (1999). Toward a hierarchical, multidimensional English self-concept. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 747-755.

Lian, X. (2012). An empirical study on causal attribution regarding listening achievement of Chinese English majors. Contemporary English Teaching and Learning in Non-English-Speaking Countries, 1(1), 23-46.

Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198-1202.

Loewen, S., Feifei, S. L., Thompson, A., Nakatsukasa, K., Ahn, S., & Chen, X. (2009). Second language learners’ beliefs about grammar instruction and error correction. Modern Language Journal, 93, 91-104.

Luo, W., Hogan, D., Yeung, A. S., Sheng, Y. Z., & Aye, K. M. (2014). Attributional beliefs of Singapore students: Relations to self-construal, competence, and achievement goals. Educational Psychology, 34, 154-170.

Marsh, H. W. (1984). Relations among dimensions of self-attribution, dimensions of self-concept and academic achievements. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 1291-1308.

Marsh, H. W. (1986). Self-serving effect (bias?) in academic attributions: Its relation to academic achievement and self-concept. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 190-200.

Marsh, H. W., & O’Mara, A. J. (2008). Self-concept is as multidisciplinary as it is multidimensional: A review of theory, measurement, and practice in self-concept research. In H. W. Marsh, R. G. Craven, & D. M. McInerney (Eds.), Self-processes, learning, and enabling human potential: Dynamic new approaches (pp. 87-115). Charlotte: New Age Publishing.

Mercer, S. (2011). Towards an understanding of language learner self-concept. Dordrecht: Springer.

Mori, S. (2008). Who is to blame? University students’ perception of lack of improvement in their English ability. JACET Journal, 47, 1-15.

Mori, S. (2012). Gender differences in causal attributions in language learning. Kinki University Center for Liberal Arts and Foreign Language Education Journal. Foreign Language Edition, 3, 147-161.

Mori, S., Ming, T. S., Nor, N. F. M., Suppiah, V. L., & Imm, O. S. (2011). Attri-bution tendency and its relationship with actual and perceived proficiency. GEMA Online. Journal of Language Studies, 11, 199-218.

Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2004). Current developments in research on the teaching of grammar. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 126-145.

Nicholls, J. G., & Miller, A. T. (1983). The differentiation of the concepts of difficulty and ability. Child Development, 54, 951-959.

Peacock, M. (2010). Attribution and learning English as a foreign language. ELT Journal, 64, 184-193.

Phothongsunan, S. (2015). Causal attributions of English learning success of Thai students in an international university. NIDA Development Journal, 55, 101-129.

Pomerantz, E. M., Altermatt, E. R., & Saxon, J. L. (2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed: Gender differences in academic performance and internal distress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 396-404.

Raoofi, S., Tan, B. H., & Chan, S. H. (2012). Self-efficacy in second/foreign language learning context. English Language Teaching, 5(11), 60-73.

Robertson, J. S. (2000). Is attribution training a worthwhile classroom intervention for K–12 students with learning difficulties? Educational Psychology Review, 12, 111-134.

Ryan, S., & Mercer, S. (2012). Implicit theories: Language learning mindsets. In S. Mercer, S. Ryan, & M. Williams (Eds.), Psychology of language learning: Insights from research, theory and practice (pp. 74-89). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sahinkarakas, S. (2011). Young students’ success and failure attributions in language learning. Social Behavior and Personality, 39, 879-886.

Sakai, H., & Kikuchi, K. (2009). An analysis of demotivators in the EFL classroom. System, 37, 57-69.

Schulz, R. A. (1996). Focus on form in the foreign language classroom: Students’ and teachers’ views on error correction and the role of grammar. Foreign Language Annals, 29, 343-364.

Schunk, D. H. (2008). Attributions as motivators of self-regulated learning. In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Motivation and self-regulated learning: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 245-266). New York: Routledge.

Schunk, D. H., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2006). Competence and control beliefs: Distinguishing the means and ends. In P. A. Alexander & P. H. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 349-367). New York: Erlbaum.

Simon, E., & Taverniers, M. (2011). Advanced EFL learners’ beliefs about language learning and teaching: A comparison between grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. English Studies, 92, 896-922.

Sorić, I., & Ančić, J. (2008). Learning strategies and causal attributions in second language learning. Review of Psychology, 15, 17-26.

Stables, A., Murakami, K., McIntosh, S., & Martin, S. (2014). Conceptions of effort among students, teachers, and parents within an English secondary school. Research Papers in Education, 29, 626-648.

Stipek, D. J., & Mason, T. C. (1987). Attributions, emotions, and behavior in the elementary school classroom. Journal of Classroom Instruction, 22(2), 1-5.

Taşkiran, A., & Aydin, B. (2017). EFL learners’ causal attributions and dimensionality styles for perceived success and failure. Anadolu University Journal of Social Sciences, 17(2), 11-26.

Tomarken, A. J., & Serlin, R. C. (1986). Comparison of ANOVA alternatives under variance heterogeneity and specific noncentrality structures. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 90-99.

Tulu, G. (2013). Boys’ and girls’ attribution of performance in learning English as a foreign language: The case of Adama high schools in Ethiopia. Educational Research and Reviews, 8, 2197-2211.

Vispoel, W. P., & Austin, J. R. (1995). Success and failure in junior high school: A critical incident approach to understanding students’ attributional beliefs. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 377-412.

Watkins, D., & Gutierrez, M. (1989). Between- and within-construct aspects of academic self-attributions: An investigation of the construct validity of an Australian instrument for Filipino subjects. Australian Journal of Psychology, 41, 291-301.

Weiner, B. (2005). Motivation from an attribution perspective and the social psychology of perceived competence. In A. J. Elliott & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 73-84). New York: Guilford Press.

Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Williams, M., Burden, R., Poulet, G., & Maun, I. (2004). Learners’ perceptions of their successes and failures in foreign language learning. Language Learning Journal, 30(1), 19-29.

Yaghoubi, A., & Rasouli, Z. (2015). EFL learners’ attributions to English language learning. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 4(3), 130-138.

Yeung, A. S., Lau, S., & Nie, Y. (2011). Primary and secondary students’ mo-tivation in learning English: Grade and gender differences. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36, 246-256.

Yilmaz, C. (2012). An investigation into Turkish EFL students’ attributions in reading comprehension. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3, 823-828.

Yördem, A. (2016). An investigation into the prep school students’ attributions for success and failure in an EFL context: The case of a state university in Turkey (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.

You, S., Hong, S., & Ho, H.-Z. (2011). Longitudinal effects of perceived control on academic achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 104, 253-266.

Zohri, A. (2011). Causal attributions for failure and the effect of gender among Morroccan EFL university learners. English Language Teaching, 4, 130-137.