Research suggests that motivated students and those with high academic self-concepts perform better academically. Although substantial evidence supports a reciprocal relation between academic self-concept and achievement, there is less evidence supporting a similar relation between achievement goal orientations and achievement. There is also a…

One's self-concept and value perceptions can significantly influence one's behaviours and beliefs. Australian teachers from urban and rural areas of the state of New South Wales were asked to respond to survey items on two predictors (teacher self-concept, valuing of learning) and three outcomes. Confirmatory factor analysis established the five…

Research evidence for the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) has demonstrated that attending high-ability schools has a negative effect on academic self-concept. Utilizing multilevel modeling with the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment database, the present investigation evaluated the generalizability and robustness of the BFLPE…

Background: Students' motivation is known to influence academic outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research showing the relative influences of motivational factors on short-term and long-term outcomes. Purpose: The study investigates the relative influences of motivational factors--mastery goal orientation, value of schooling, and academic…

Academic self-concept is consistently proven to be multidimensional rather than unidimensional as it is domain specific in nature. However, each specific self-concept domain may be further separated into competence and affect components. This study examines the twofold multidimensionality of academic self-concept (i.e., its domain specificity and…

The notion of academic disengagement, regardless of its specific conceptualisation (e.g., cognitive, affective, or behavioural) is one that has received considerable attention within the educational and social psychological literature, especially with regard to disadvantaged minority groups. Although such research has done much to identify the…

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) predicts that equally able students have lower academic self-concepts (ASCs) when attending schools where the average ability levels of classmates is high, and higher ASCs when attending schools where the school-average ability is low. BFLPE findings are remarkably robust, generalizing over a wide variety of…

This chapter examines how adolescents' self-concept beliefs are powerfully influenced by frame of reference effects, which involve students comparisons of their ability levels with those of other students in the immediate context as well as assessments of their own ability and academic accomplishments. Noting that academic self-concept is…