The role of study orientation and casual attribution in mathematics achievement

[摘要] English: This study was conducted to investigate and clarify the role that certain study orientationvariables play in predicting mathematics achievement. To achieve this, the empiricalrelationship between study orientation as measured by the SOM (study attitude, mathematicsanxiety, study habits problem-solving behaviour and study milieu) and achievement in thissubject was investigated for grade 9 learners from jive racially integrated, secondary schoolsin the Northern Cape. The role of gender and culture as possible moderator variables wasconsidered. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were performed to determine thepercentage of the criterion (mathematics achievement) variance that could be explained bystudy orientation in mathematics. This investigation was augmented by the furtherexploration of learners' perceived causes of their achievement in mathematics. Once again,the contribution of the attribution of causes (internal or external factors) to the variance inmathematics achievement for both gender and culture was investigated. The resultsemphasized the importance of the set of study orientation variables as predictors ofachievement in mathematics for both genders and all three culture groups. Study milieu andproblem-solving behaviour appeared to be the most significant (at the 1% level) individualpredictors of mathematics achievement for both genders and both black and white grade 9learners. The causal attribution of achievement scales jointly contributed significantly to theexplanation of the variance in mathematics achievement for the following groups: male,white and coloured learners with positive perceptions of their achievement in mathematicsand male, white and black learners with negative perceptions of their achievement inmathematics. The external factor only contributed significantly to the explanation of thevariance in mathematics achievement for the white learners with positive perceptions of theirachievement in mathematics. However, the internal factor made a significant contribution tothe explanation of the variance in mathematics achievement for the following groups: thecoloured learners with positive perceptions of their achievement in mathematics and bothmale and female and black and white learners with negative perceptions of their achievementin mathematics.

[发布机构] University of the Free State