Title: The Influences of Feedback and Praise on the Academic Self-Efficacy and Self-Perception Skills of Primary Elementary Aged Students in the Area of Mathematics
1The Influences of Feedback and Praise on the
Academic Self-Efficacy and Self-Perception Skills
of Primary Elementary Aged Students in the Area
of Mathematics
- Atiya R. Smith
- University of Baltimore
- Fall 2007
2Purpose
- The purpose of this study was to
- test, in part, Albert Banduras Social Cognitive
Theory, - examine the various beliefs about academic
efficacy and mathematic self-efficacy, and - determine the effects of feedback versus feedback
plus praise in an academic setting on childrens
perception of their own self-efficacy and
achievement skills.
3- Theory used for this study
4Albert Banduras Social Cognitive Theory
- Banduras Social Cognitive Theory defines
self-efficacy as an individuals beliefs about
their own capabilities to successfully complete
various tasks being asked of them. - This theory implies that ones self-efficacy
greatly influences how much effort they put into
a task, the choices that they make, how they feel
about themselves, their thought patterns, their
emotional, psychological and behavioral reactions
before and after the task is completed, and their
own beliefs about how long they can persevere
when faced with a task that is challenging to
them.
5Albert Banduras Beliefs
- Bandura believed that an individuals
self-efficacy skills are one of the best
predictors of successful academic achievement. - He stated that students with a high sense of
self-efficacy are more likely to have a
heightened sense of optimism that they can
succeed, show greater interest in and attention
to working towards solving problems, attempt more
challenging tasks, show greater perseverance in
the face of adversity, adopt more adaptive
cognitive and emotional patterns daily throughout
their academic careers, and display a stronger
sense of academic performances overall (Bandura,
1997).
6Albert Banduras Beliefs contd
- Bandura also stated that students whose sense of
academic self-efficacy was raised, actually set
higher aspirations for themselves, showed greater
strategic flexibility in the search for
solutions, achieved higher intellectual
performances, and were more accurate in
evaluating the quality of their performances than
students of equal cognitive ability who were led
to believe that they lacked such capabilities.
(Bandura, 1997)
7 8Mathematic self-efficacy and academic achievement
- students who were classified as having low and
average mathematical abilities, but had high
self-efficacy, worked on unsolvable mathematical
problems much longer than students who had low
self-efficacy but had average and high
mathematical abilities (Schunk, 1991 Cox 1982). - students who had high instances of mathematical
accomplishments also had a higher level of
self-efficacy in mathematics than students with
low instances of mathematical accomplishments.
(Matsui, Matsui, and Ohnishi, 1990) - students self-efficacy levels in mathematics
also related significantly to their interest in
mathematics, beliefs about a successful outcome
in mathematics, and overall performance in
mathematics. (Lent, Lopez, and Bieschke, 1993)
9Perception and academic achievement
- An individuals self-perception skills, relating
to their academic competence, help to determine
what they do with the knowledge and skills they
that gain in school (Pajares Valiante, 1999),
and have a significant influence over their
motivation, choice of activities, effort given on
tasks, persistence to complete a task, and task
accomplishment. (Schunk Gunn, 1986).
10Effects of Feedback
- Feedback is considered to be significantly
important within many theories of learning,
performance, and instruction and is a highly
effective tool that can significantly increase
the academic skill level of students at any
educational or developmental level. (Narciss,
2004). - students who received feedback showed more
motivation, self-efficacy, and skill increase
than students who did not receive feedback.
(Schunk, 1991) - The most effective function of feedback is
one-on-one tutoring or assisting in guiding the
learner to steer the learning process to a
successful outcome (Hoska, 1993).
11Effects of Praise
- In classrooms that portrayed a positive
encouraging climate, students reported positive
emotions related to the academic content being
taught, high intrinsic motivation, and
significant perceptions of task-specific
competencies. (Stipek and colleagues,1998) - praise is necessary in enhancing students
self-esteem and should include focusing on
improvement, effort, using sincere comments, and
recognizing students feelings about the task
being asked of them. (Hitz and Driscoll,1994) - students are more likely to participate in
activities and engage in them willingly if the
activities are linked to positive affects and
results in forms of praise (Schweinle, Meyer,
Turner, 2006).
12Effects of Feedback and Praise together
- Studies by Burnett (2001) and Merrett Tang
(1994) both measured elementary school students
preferences about teacher praise and feedback. - Results from both studies indicated that
- over 90 of students preferred to be praised
often or sometimes - over 80 of students preferred to be praised for
their efforts rather than actual academic
ability, and - Over half of students preferred to receive praise
individually and without too much focus being on
them while in the presence of other students
13 14Hypothesis
- It is hypothesized that students who receive
feedback with praise will have higher
self-efficacy skills in mathematical ability than
the students who only receive feedback.
15Participants
- Boys (n15) and girls (n15) from a predominately
middle-class background whose age ranged from 7
years and 2 months to 8 years and 10 months. - Ethnic composition of the population sample was
12 African American (40), 3 Asian (10), 5
Caucasian (17), and 10 Hispanic (33). - Students were drawn from 4 second grade
classrooms within a medium-sized public
elementary school - Teachers were asked to identify students with
low-average mathematical abilities (i.e.
children who have encountered some difficulties
in grasping addition and subtraction operations
but were not considered to be low achievers, did
not received remedial instruction, and were not
receiving services from the schools special
education team)
16Procedure
- Participants were randomly assigned to one of two
tutoring groups 1. a group that was just
given feedback (n15) or, 2. a group that
was given feedback with praise (n15). - In each group, pretests were given that assessed
students beliefs about their own mathematical
abilities and assessed actual mathematical skill
before treatments were provided. - After students were provided with praise and/or
feedback on assignments, students were asked if
they would like to complete a short extra credit
assignment and could either respond yes or
no. Responses were noted. - After 10 weeks, posttests were given. that were
similar to the pretest. to see if changes had
occurred in the students beliefs about their
mathematical abilities and if their actual skills
had increased.
17Results
- Results from a one-way ANOVA assessing students
self-efficacy scores showed that - Students in the Feedback plus Praise group had
higher self-efficacy skills in mathematical
ability than students in the Feedback Only group.
- Students in the Feedback plus Praise group not
only scored higher than students in the Feedback
Only group on the posttest and chose to complete
the extra credit assignment at a higher rate, but
they also scored higher than their individual
pretest scores.
18One-way ANOVA assessing students self-efficacy
scores
Table 1 Analysis of Variance (One-Way ANOVA)
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 1241.633 1 1241.633 9.873 .004
Within Groups 3521.333 28 125.762
Total 4762.967 29
Note In order for differences to be significant,
the sig. score must fall between.05 and .001
19Means and Standard Deviation of Self-Efficacy
Scores
Table 2 Means and Standard Deviation Scores of
Self-Efficacy Scores Using the 2- Leveled
Consequence Independent Variable
Consequence N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Self-Efficacy Feedback ONLY 15 21.6000 10.94662 2.82641
Self-Efficacy Praise feedback 15 34.4667 11.47585 2.96305
Table 2 shows that the mean score for the
students who were randomly assigned to the
Feedback Only group (M21.60, SD10.95) was
significantly lower than mean score for the
students who were randomly assigned to the
Feedback with Praise group (M34.46, SD11.47).
20- There were also differences in regards to
students gender
21Two-way ANOVA conducted on participants
self-efficacy scores by treatment condition and
gender
- Results of a two-way ANOVA showed that
- the independent variables of Treatments and
Gender, together, both have an effect on
self-efficacy, - the treatment of Feedback Only had a greater
effect on boys than it did on girls, and - the treatment of Feedback with Praise had a
greater effect on girls than it did on boys.
22Conclusions
- Results strengthen Banduras Social Cognitive
Theory and support his belief that students will
be more likely to attempt, persevere, and be
successful at tasks at which they have a sense of
efficacy. - Findings support conclusions that
- boys prefer praise responses and concrete
straightforward responses, while girls prefer
encouragement responses and words that are
personally empowering (Kelly, 2002), - females have higher levels of math anxiety and
that overall differences in math performance was
in fact due to a difference in math self-efficacy
(Pajares Miller, 1994), - an effective function of feedback is one-on-one
tutoring or assisting in guiding the learner to
steer the learning process to a successful
outcome (Hoska, 1993), - students preferred to be praised often (Burnett,
2001), - that boys had significantly higher perceptions of
self-efficacy in mathematics than girls (Junge
Dretzke 1995), and - that students who received feedback showed more
motivation, self-efficacy, and skill increase
than students who did not receive feedback.
(Schunk, 1991).
23Limitations
- Population sample
- Lack of repeated measures
- Considering other variables that contribute to an
individuals self-efficacy and self-perception
skills - Discrepancies amongst past researchers results
about gender and self-efficacy - Assessments used
- Availability of tutors for replications of this
study - How students felt about tutor (gender, age) and
if they were comfortable with the tutor - How students respond to and process feedback
- Individual preferences in regards to praise
24Final Statement
- This study highlights the importance of providing
students with praise, in addition to feedback, in
order to increase their self-efficacy and
self-perception skills in the area of
mathematics. In order for students self-efficacy
and self-perception skills to increase, a variety
of areas need to be assessed in order to
accurately provide students with ways to reach
their highest potential in the classroom and
beyond. Future studies should investigate these
various areas thoroughly.
25References
- Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy The exercise
of control. New York Freeman. - Burnett, P.C., (2002). Teacher Praise and
feedback and students perceptions of the
classroom environment. Educational Psychology,
22, 5-16. - Hitz, R., Driscoll, A.(1994). Give
Encouragement. Texas Child Care, Spring 1984,
3-11. - Hoska, D.M. (1993). Motivating learners through
CBI feedback Developing a positive learner
perspective. In J.V. Dempsey, G.C. Sales (Eds.)
Interactive Instruction and - Feedback (pp. 105-132). Englewood
Cliffs, NJ Educational Technology Publications. - Lent, R. W., Lopez, F. G., Bieschke, K. J.
(1993). Predicting mathematics-related choice
and success behaviors Test of an expanded social
cognitive model. Journal of Vocational Behavior,
42, 223-236. - Matsui, T., Matsui, K., Ohnishi, R. (1990).
Mechanisms underlying math self-efficacy learning
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and gender differences in the writing
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(2006). Striking the right balance Students
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