Students Perception of Subjective Competence and Their Use of Avoidance Strategies

Author: Biing-Lin Cherng(Institute of Education, National Cheng Kung University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 51, No.2
Date：October 2006
Pages：1-24
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2006105102001

Abstract：

Although research in educational psychology has always emphasized that students’ perception of subjective (i.e. of their own) competence and their use of avoidance strategies might form a vicious circle of reciprocal causation, no empirical evidence has yet been offered. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to: (a) test the fit between empirically observed data and the reciprocal causal model of subjective competence and avoidant strategies proposed by the author, (b) analyze the moderating effects of classroom goals on students’ perception of subjective competence and use of avoidant strategies, and (c) confirm the developmental trends of students’ perception of subjective competence and use of avoidant strategies. A longitudinal design for a two-year period was adopted in this study. Participants were 655 students (51% males) from ten junior high schools, and data were collected during 2 consecutive academic years. The first wave of data was collected when students were in the 7th grade (2003), and the second wave was collected when students had moved to the 8th grade (2004). The observed data were analyzed via SEM, multi-sample analysis, and one-way repeated MANOVA. The results of this study are as follows: (a) the theoretical model fits the empirically observed data well, and the results of this study supported the predictions made at the outset; (b) the relations between students’ perception of subjective competence and use of avoidance strategies were moderated by students’ perception of the classroom goal structure: students’ perceptions of subjective competence were not related to use of avoidance strategies in classroom mastery goal structure, whereas there was an inverse relation between students’ perception of subjective competence and their use of avoidant strategies in classroom performance goal structure; and (c) there was a significant downward developmental trend in junior high school students’ perception of subjective competence, together with a significant upward developmental trend in their use of avoidance strategies. Implications for theory, instructional intervention, and future research are discussed.

Keywords：students’ perception of subjective competence, avoidance behavior, avoidance strategies, structural equation modeling, classroom goal structure

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