| Summary: | The aims of this study were:
I. to determine the nature of attributions and affect, and the interactive
relationships between these two composite variables and academic
achievement, from a literature review;
II. to empirically determine the relationship between socio-economic status, age
and sex and achievement in English of Standard 8 students; and
III. to empirically determine the relationship between attributions, affect and
achievement in English of Standard 8 students.
From the literature review it was evident that the causes (i.e. attributions) to which
students ascribe their achievement (especially poor achievement) in specific subjects
or learning tasks, and their perceptions of the locus, stability and control (Le.
attributional dimensions, or attributional style) of such attributions, influence their
affect, as aspect of motivated behaviour, as well as their achievement. Students who
ascribe their success to internal, stable (Le. ability) or variable but controllable causes
(Le. effort), experience a high level of self-efficacy and pride and high expectancies
of future success. Failure which is ascribed to internal (or external), but variable and
controllable causes (such as effort), leads to feelings of gUilt and does not affect selfefficacy
detrimentally. Failure which is ascribed to stable and uncontrollable causes
(such as ability or teaching methods), however, results in shame or hopelessness and
decreased self-efficacy. A strong relationship was also evident between achievement
and the type of value attached to achievement (mastery or learning values versus
achievement or social recognition values).
The empirical study led to the following conclusions: * there is no relationship between the socio-economic status of the school, the
age and sex and the achievement in English of the students of this study;
* there is no relationship between the attributional style, affect and achievement
in English of the students who were used in this study, yet; * there is a relationship between the students' affect and their achievement in
the comprehension test that formed a part of the motivational questionnaire
used in this study.
The results must, however, be interpreted with care, due to the classification used for
SES, the nature of the questionnaire and the rather high average achievement in
English of the students who formed the sample. === Skripsie (MEd)--PU vir CHO, 1993
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