Abstract

Background

Academic achievement goals are important for student outcomes, including their well-being, collaboration with peers, and academic achievement. Theory and research also indicate that achievement goals are linked to students' social context, playing a role in forming and maintaining peer relationships within the school environment.

Aims

We examined relationships between students' achievement goals and their positioning in social networks. Specifically, we hypothesized that mastery approach goals are positively associated, and performance avoidance goals are negatively associated with social network centrality in the classroom.

Sample

472 high-school students (52% female; M _age = 15.71) from 23 classrooms participated in the study.

Methods

Multilevel Social Network Analysis examined relationships between academic achievement goals and social network centrality calculated based on sociometric data.

Results

Students with higher levels of mastery approach goals tended to be more central in the classroom, reaching out to more peers (out-degree), closer to their peers (closeness) and connecting classmates who are not directly connected (betweenness). On the other hand, students with higher levels of performance avoidance goals reached out to more classmates (out-degree) but were reached out to less by their peers (in-degree).

Conclusions

Students with enhanced performance avoidance goals might try to engage in more social interactions with their peers, but these attempts appear to be ineffective. These findings help illustrate the contribution of achievement goals to students' social positioning in the classroom and provide insight for interventions to support both adaptive achievement goals and central social positioning in the classroom.

Abstract

Background

Compared to the role of classmates on students' academic development, less research has focused on the role of peers in students' motivation and developmental outcomes in school-organized Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs).

Aims

This study examined how perceived acceptance from CCA peers early in the school year (T1) is associated with changes in CCA outcomes at the end of the school year (T2), with T1 and T2 mastery and performance goals serving as a linking factors.

Sample

Participants were 517 Primary-3 to Primary-6 students in Singapore (50.7% female; M _age = 10.58, SD _age = 1.08). These students took part in various CCA groups classified into Physical Sports (34%), Visual and Performing Arts (31%), Clubs and Societies (24.2%), and Uniformed Groups (10.8%).

Methods

The same survey was administered at two time points within a school year, with an interval of 24–26 weeks between them.

Results

Perceived CCA peer acceptance early in the school year was significantly related to changes in both academic and non-academic outcomes later in the year, primarily through mastery goals. Mastery goals were positively associated with gains across all developmental outcomes, including school belonging, educational aspirations, classroom engagement, lifelong learning, teamwork disposition, and leadership skills. In contrast, performance goals were linked to gains in leadership but slight declines in teamwork and lifelong learning.

Conclusions

These findings have theoretical implications for researchers studying peer relationships in CCAs and their impact on children's academic and non-academic development, as well as for practitioners optimizing the benefits of school-based CCA involvement.

Abstract

Background

At school, students need to learn to collaborate with others to achieve common objectives. However, we are lacking insights into how students determine preferred collaboration partners, while multiple plausible factors, such as similar goal orientations, can be derived from the literature.

Aims

We examined whether students prefer teammates in physical education based on similar achievement goals, stronger degrees of goal orientation, the same gender, and friendship.

Sample

We recruited 364 students aged 10–16, across 16 classrooms in three German secondary schools.

Methods

Social Network Analyses with Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) are applied to identify relevant achievement-goal dimensions for teammate selection and to assess preferences for collaborating with peers with similar or stronger degrees of goal orientation or with their friends.

Results

Our findings indicate that students prefer to collaborate with peers who display similar levels of achievement-goal orientations in physical education. Additionally, students prefer collaborating with friends and often select peers of the same gender, with boys being chosen more frequently than girls. When students do not pick their friends, they seek out peers with stronger degrees of goal orientation, specifically for goals aimed at winning.

Conclusion

When collaborating in sports games, peers are faced with the dilemma of choosing between friends and the desire to win. Teachers should supervise the formation of groups and, depending on the aim of a particular lesson, should allocate students on the basis of different characteristics or let students choose their own group members.

Abstract

Background

Math anxiety (MA) is recognized as a heterogeneous and dynamic construct, significantly affecting students' academic performance. Despite its importance, longitudinal studies examining the profiles of MA from multiple dimensions and their transitions remain limited.

Aims

The study identified distinct MA profiles, controlling for general anxiety, test anxiety and math achievement. It also examined how teacher support, peer support and math attitudes predict changes in MA profile membership, alongside potential gender differences.

Samples

The sample included 1025 Chinese third graders (M _age = 8.39, SD = .56; 411 girls), assessed four times from third to sixth grade via questionnaires.

Methods

MA, perceived teacher support, peer support and math attitudes were measured at four time points. Latent transition analysis was used to examine MA profiles while controlling for general anxiety, test anxiety and math achievement, with teacher support, peer support and math attitudes as predictors.

Results

Three MA profiles were identified: Low MA profile (LMA), Moderate math evaluation anxiety profile (MMEA) and High math learning, problem solving and teacher anxiety profile (HLPTMA). Higher perceived teacher and peer support increased the likelihood of transitioning from MMEA and HLPTMA to LMA. Positive math attitudes facilitated the shift from MMEA and HLPTMA to LMA. Boys were more likely to shift from MMEA to HLPTMA than girls.

Conclusions

The study sheds light on MA profile stability and highlights the crucial role of teacher and peer support and math attitudes in MA changes. These findings underscore the importance of early intervention strategies for managing MA in children.

Abstract

Background

Preparing preservice teachers for teaching placements and future careers is crucial. However, their motivation often fluctuates as they gain experience and receive feedback from influential sources. While previous studies have examined changes in preservice teachers' motivation over time, there has been little research on how this motivation varies in relation to performance during simulations.

Aims

We explored how performance on a series of classroom simulation sessions predicts preservice teachers' self-efficacy, career intentions, and perceived fit with the profession, after controlling for the baseline levels.

Sample

Participants were 1411 preservice teachers from an undergraduate teacher education programme in Australia (M = 20.27 years, SD = 4.54).

Methods

Data were collected from students enrolled in an introduction to teaching course in a 4-year teacher education programme. Participants completed three classroom simulation sessions spaced over a 3-week period. We used latent change structural equation modelling to test the effects of performance on classroom simulations on preservice teachers' self-efficacy, career intentions and perceived person–vocation fit.

Results

The level of performance on classroom simulations significantly predicted changes in self-efficacy and person–vocation fit (but not career intentions), even after controlling for baseline levels of the constructs, as well as gender and age. Moreover, the change in teaching self-efficacy was progressively more pronounced after the second and third classroom simulation sessions. Finally, both age and gender were found to be associated with preservice teachers' motivation to teach.

Conclusions

The implications for practice are that preservice teacher motivation may respond well to regular, repeated teaching-related simulations.

Abstract

Background

Students with learning disabilities often struggle to achieve expected academic performance despite average or above-average intelligence. Reading comprehension, a cognitive process involving multiple mental skills, is particularly challenging for these students, with approximately 80% experiencing difficulties.

Aims

This study investigates the relationship between academic self-concept and reading comprehension among middle school students with learning disabilities, focusing on the serial mediating roles of reading anxiety and reading motivation.

Sample(s)

The sample consists of 302 middle school students (165 males, 137 females) diagnosed with learning disabilities. The participants included 77 fifth graders, 80 sixth graders, 75 seventh graders and 70 eighth graders.

Methods

Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyse the data, with reading anxiety and reading motivation considered as mediators.

Results

The SEM results indicated that reading motivation partially mediated the relationship between academic self-concept and reading comprehension, while reading anxiety and reading motivation together fully mediated this relationship.

Conclusions

The findings highlight the importance of addressing both reading anxiety and motivation to improve reading comprehension in students with learning disabilities. Enhancing academic self-concept and reducing reading anxiety can significantly boost reading motivation and comprehension skills.

Abstract

Background

Past studies on mindsets have mostly examined them as an individual difference variable. However, the mindset-by-context framework argues that mindsets do not occur within a vacuum, and their successful implementation depends on the social context. One of the most important social contexts for students is the socioeconomic conditions of their families, schools and countries.

Aims

This study aimed to examine whether growth mindsets were associated with focal learning-related outcomes and whether socioeconomic conditions moderated the association between growth mindsets and focal outcomes.

Methods

Multilevel moderated analyses were conducted to analyse the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 database with 612,004 students from 80 countries.

Results

Having a growth mindset was positively associated with academic achievement, intrinsic motivation and academic engagement. Furthermore, students from affluent families, schools, and countries benefited more from the growth mindset, supporting the ‘rich get richer’ hypothesis. We did not find any support for the compensatory hypothesis, which assumes that growth mindsets would be more advantageous for disadvantaged students.

Conclusion

This study extends mindset research by emphasizing the role of social context, particularly socioeconomic conditions at the family, school and country levels.

Abstract

Background

Previous national and international research has investigated potential patterns of SEN identification, in which there may be overrepresentation of males, individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and pupils attending schools in economically disadvantaged areas.

Aims

The aim of the current study is to link administrative education data for the academic year 2011/12 to data from the UK 2011 Census to explore which individual, family and school characteristics are associated with SEN identification.

Sample(s)

The analysis sample consists of 284,010 pupils attending schools in Wales in 2011/12 linked to household data from the UK 2011 Census.

Methods

Multilevel models were used to estimate the association between individual, family and school characteristics with SEN identification. Further models examined how these factors influence four areas of SEN needs: cognition and learning; communication and interaction; physical and/or sensory; and behavioural, emotional and social development.

Results

Results suggest that aspects of a child's individual and family environment are associated with SEN identification. In particular, males, pupils reported as White ethnicity, pupils who were persistently absent, pupils from households with lower parental education, parental economic inactivity, and lower household social grades have an increased likelihood of SEN identification.

Conclusions

This study emphasizes the importance of considering the environmental context (family and school) of the child in addition to child characteristics for a more accurate and holistic understanding of a child's needs. This research can inform the development of more inclusive and effective support strategies under the new Additional Learning Needs framework in Wales.

Abstract

Background

Individual achievement goals are influenced by the learning context, such as the classroom. In this social space, social norms emerge and shape motivation and behaviour. Classroom goal structures reflect injunctive norms (what is considered acceptable) and influence individual achievement goals. The role that descriptive norms (what others typically do or think) play in individual achievement goals is unclear. We propose that peer achievement goals reflect descriptive norms and additionally influence individual achievement goals.

Aims

We aim to better understand contextual influences on individual student motivation by applying a social norms framework to study changes in individual achievement goals and acknowledge the role of peers.

Sample and Methods

We used longitudinal data from 4189 students from 169 classes at two time points after the transition to secondary school.

Results

We calculated multilevel models to predict changes in individual mastery-, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. As Level-2 predictors, class-level classroom goal structures represented injunctive norms, while peer achievement goals represented descriptive norms. Individual achievement goals and individual-level classroom goal structures were added on Level 1. Class-level classroom goal structures related to changes in individual achievement goals only if peer achievement goals were not added. If added on the classroom level, peer achievement goals remained as a single Level-2 predictor of changes in individual achievement goals.

Conclusion

We demonstrated the key role that descriptive norms (reflected by peer achievement goals) play in individual achievement goals. The role of injunctive norms needs to be investigated further to enhance our understanding of how social norms shape individual student motivation.

Abstract

Background

Learning interest is an intrinsic motivation that dynamically interacts with friendships. Students alter their learning interests to assimilate with their friends and actively establish friendships on the basis of similar interests. These processes do not operate in isolation but rather in the broader peer context. Class-level social–emotional competency (SEC) is a contextual characteristic that influences students' social and learning processes.

Aims

This study used reading and mathematics as examples to examine the moderating role of class-level SEC in the friendship influence process on learning interest and the friendship selection process based on learning interest.

Sample

A total of 2252 students (48.7% female) were surveyed in grades 4 and 6.

Methods

The friendship influence effect on reading/mathematics interest and the reading/mathematics interest-based selection effect were estimated with stochastic actor-based models. Parameter differences were tested between the low- and high-SEC classes.

Results

The friendship processes related to learning interest were strengthened in high-SEC classes. Students in high-SEC classes chose friends according to having similar reading/mathematics interests, and their reading/mathematics interests tended to assimilate with those of their friends over time. However, students in low-SEC classes chose friends more randomly, and the friendship influence effects were much weaker.

Conclusions

In reading and mathematics, friendship selection and influence processes contribute to similarities in learning interests among friends. Increasing students' early learning interests is important for constructing a virtuous circle of friendship establishment and learning interest development. This mutual promotion relationship can be reinforced by improving class-level SEC.

Abstract

Aim

This study employed a three-wave random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to investigate whether a reciprocal relationship exists between perceived peer relationships (intimacy and conflict) and achievement motivation in math and English in the Chinese context.

Samples

A total of 4040 high school students were tracked with their perceived intimacy and conflict with peers and achievement motivation levels in math and English over three academic years since Grade 10.

Results

A reciprocal association was found between perceived peer intimacy and achievement motivation in English, and the predictive effect of intimacy on achievement motivation in English was the same as the reverse association. Only a unidirectional association between perceived peer intimacy and achievement motivation in math could be found. Perceived peer conflict change could not be significantly related to the change in achievement motivation in either math or English.

Conclusions

This study emphasizes that the influence of peer intimacy on achievement motivation is more pronounced compared to that of peer conflict. Moreover, the effect of peer intimacy varies across subject areas. Notably, there is no need for motivational intervention approaches based on gender in math and English.

Abstract

Background

Social support is assumed to play a key role in motivation at university, particularly for disadvantaged students, such as first-generation and community college transfer students. However, longitudinal research investigating reciprocal associations between social support and motivation is lacking.

Aims

We examined such associations between confidence in getting support from faculty and peers and students' expectancies and subjective task values in their most difficult and most important course.

Sample

Data stemmed from two cohorts of undergraduate students (n = 320/417 in Fall 2019/2020) at a diverse Southern Californian university.

Methods

Students reported on their confidence in getting support and their expectancies and subjective task values at the beginning, in the middle and (only for motivation) at the end of the academic term.

Results

Results indicated no differences in confidence in getting support based on university generation or transfer student status. Cross-lagged panel models provided some evidence for reciprocal associations between students' confidence in getting support and their expectancies and subjective task values. Findings were similar across the Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 cohorts, providing support for the generalizability across in-person vs. remote learning settings. Longitudinal associations tended to be stronger for first-generation and transfer students.

Conclusions

Future research should, therefore, examine whether university programmes targeting social support are especially effective for disadvantaged students.

Abstract

Background

The achievement composition effect (ACE) posits that students' academic performance is influenced by the collective achievement level of their classmates. While ACE has been demonstrated across various learning domains, its role in second language (L2) learning and motivational moderators of this effect remain underexplored.

Aims

This longitudinal study examines ACE in the context of L2 learning, with a particular focus on the moderating roles of students' intrinsic motivation and engagement.

Methods

A sample of 766 secondary school L2 learners from 30 classrooms was analysed using linear mixed-effects models to investigate the relationship between students' relative achievement at Time 1 and their subsequent achievement at Time 2, as well as the moderating effects of intrinsic motivation (to know, to accomplish and to experience stimulation) and engagement (behavioural and emotional).

Results

Results indicate that students' relative achievement significantly predicts subsequent achievement, supporting the presence of ACE in L2 classrooms. Moreover, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation, behavioural engagement and emotional engagement significantly moderated this relationship in that ACE was stronger among students with higher levels of these motivational and engagement factors.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the interplay between peer achievement and individual motivational factors in shaping learning outcomes. The discussion situates these results within the broader literature on peer influence, motivation and engagement, exploring their theoretical and practical implications for L2 learning. The study underscores the importance of considering social, motivational, affective and behavioural factors in understanding and fostering optimal L2 learning environments.

Abstract

Background

Social context and peers significantly impact students' motivation, especially in collaborative learning settings. However, there is limited evidence on how students strategically influence each other's motivation through socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL).

Aims

This study examined secondary school students' SSRL during collaborative learning, focusing on how groups regulate motivation and how these regulation processes influence individual situational motivation through peer interactions.

Sample

The participants were 95 secondary school students (13–16 years) performing a collaborative science task in 31 groups.

Methods

Collaborative learning was videotaped to capture motivation regulation from social interactions. Four times during the task, individual perceptions of peer influence on motivation and motivation regulation were collected with situational self-reports, and individual stimulated-recall interviews were conducted after the task.

Results

The results showed that motivation regulation is embedded within broader SSRL processes. When motivation regulation coincided more likely with cognitive regulation, students perceived significantly higher peer influence on motivation. In interviews, students highlighted cognitive and social aspects of SSRL as crucial for their situational motivation but did not hardly recognize any direct motivation regulation strategies.

Conclusions

This study contributes to the methodological advancements for studying motivation as situation- and context-specific, emphasizing the use of different data channels to capture the dynamic interplay between the individual- and group-level aspects throughout the learning process. For educational practice, this study supports the claim that peer interactions, particularly in collaborative learning, play a crucial role in individual students' motivation.

Abstract

Background

Differences in competence gains between academic and non-academic track schools are often attributed to selection effects based on students' primary school performance and socioeconomic status (SES). However, how the competencies of comparable students (in terms of school performance and social background) at different tracks develop is often neglected.

Aims

We investigated whether comparable students diverge in their math competencies due to attending different types of secondary schools, contributing to the ongoing debate on whether inaccurate stratification may lead to disadvantages.

Methods

Using data from the National Education Panel Study (Kindergarten Cohort SC2, N = 4180), we examined students' competence development from the fourth to seventh grade.

We employed a quasi-experimental design (propensity score weighting, PSW) comparing similarly capable students at academic and non-academic school tracks to make causal inferences. The outcome variable was students' math competence in seventh grade. PSW used fourth-grade competency measures in math and reading and other variables such as sex, migration background, SES, class composition, special educational needs, school grades and school location.

Results

Results revealed a significant average treatment effect on the treated, indicating that comparable students attending non-academic track schools show lower math performance than those at academic track schools.

Conclusion

Non-academic tracks seem to hinder the full development of students' competencies. We conclude that the effects of preconditions like the students' SES, ability and aspirations on competence development are lower than assumed and that school learning environments should be given greater importance. We discuss practical solutions and provide suggestions for future research.

Abstract

Theoretical Background

In the area of teacher motivation, the teaching practicum stands out as a pivotal element. The pronounced complexity of teaching during this specific phase may pose an emotional challenge, making the exploration of student teachers' emotions a worthwhile endeavour.

Aims

Based on a theoretical model and rooted in a process-oriented perspective, this diary study examines student teachers' discrete emotions, focusing on proximal (cognitive appraisals) and distal antecedents (classroom conditions) during the teaching practicum while accounting for contextual variables.

Sample

Data were collected from 178 student teachers in Switzerland and Germany and their 3736 school students. Student teachers conducted a six-lesson-teaching-unit within three-weeks of their obligatory teaching practicum (57% had prior teaching experience) and received different levels of support (coaching by peers or cooperating teachers, subject-didactic materials, usual support).

Methods

After three lessons (N = 511), student teachers reported their enjoyment, anger, anxiety and cognitive appraisals (control, value). School students reported on individual perceptions of class discipline and situational interest.

Results

Enjoyment was strongly experienced in 80%, anger in 8% and anxiety in 14% of lessons. School students' situational interest and discipline were weakly related to enjoyment and anger, but not to anxiety. Control appraisals were strongly associated with all emotions. The frequent experience of anxiety and its lack of relation to classroom conditions deviate from findings observed in in-service teachers.

Relevance

Besides strong positive emotional experiences during the teaching practicum, the observed patterns highlight the necessity for targeted support in navigating emotional complexities during the teaching practicum.

Abstract

Background

In recent years, the endeavour to stimulate positive emotions, regulate negative emotions, and facilitate the learning of elementary school students through emotional design has attracted a lot of attention.

Aims

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of warm colours and anthropomorphism as emotional design elements on multimedia learning, and whether combining a positive pedagogical agent with positive learning materials would be better.

Samples

Experiment 1 recruited 203 elementary school students. Experiment 2 recruited 140 elementary school students.

Methods

Experiment 1 employed a 2 (Colours: warm vs. grayscale) × 2 (Anthropomorphism: with vs. without) between-subjects design. Experiment 2 employed a 2 (Learning materials: positive vs. neutral) × 2 (Pedagogical agent: positive vs. neutral) between-subjects design.

Results

Results of Experiment 1 showed that warm colours reduced boredom and anxiety; anthropomorphism increased enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and mental effort, and reduced boredom; their combination facilitated retention and transfer performance. Results of Experiment 2 revealed that combining a positive pedagogical agent with positive learning materials ameliorated learners' overall emotional experiences, but did not significantly affect retention and transfer performance.

Conclusions

Incorporating both warm colours and anthropomorphism as emotional design elements yielded the most favourable impact in designing positive learning materials. Integrating emotional design approaches to both learning materials and pedagogical agents could be conducive to happy and effective learning, showing the importance of holistic approaches to emotional design in educational settings.

British Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 95, Issue 1, Page 219-221, March 2025.

British Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 95, Issue 1, Page i-iv, March 2025.

Abstract

Background

Various findings regarding the relationship between math anxiety and engagement have been identified in the literature, with many focusing on general math anxiety and overall math engagement.

Objectives

Based on the control-value theory, this study examined the relationships between trait- and state-math anxiety and behavioural and cognitive engagement in math under daily practice and exam preparation conditions across math tasks of varying difficulty levels.

Methods

A survey study with 449 high school students and an experimental study with 33 freshmen were conducted. Students' trait- and state-math anxiety, as well as behavioural and cognitive engagement in math, were measured under daily practice and exam preparation conditions across easy and difficult math tasks.

Results

A two-level latent variable model was built in the survey study, and two-way ANOVAs and regressions were used in the experimental study. Students exhibited greater state anxiety under exam preparation conditions in the survey study and showed differences in state-math anxiety and engagement across learning contexts and math tasks in the experimental study. Students with higher trait-math anxiety displayed less engagement in both studies, while those with higher state-math anxiety when facing difficult tasks tended to engage more cognitively in the experiment.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrated discrepancies in the relationships between trait- and state-math anxiety and math engagement, while accounting for learning context and task difficulty.