How do peer groups influence academic self-concept formation? We evaluate developmental issues in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on math self-concept [MSC]) and its generalizability to peer-group-average achievement (1,017 primary-school students tested in Years 4 and 6, 46 classes, 130 peer…

There is limited and inconsistent evidence on whether absolute or relative standing feedback is more influential. Three experiments were conducted to compare the effects of absolute and relative standing feedback on self-evaluative and affective responses. College students completed math tests in a lab setting. They were randomly assigned to one…

It is unknown how multiple components of on-task regulation of learning affect task performance in school children. This research aimed to acquire insights into the interrelations between children's metacognitive monitoring, regulation of learning, and task performance. Three components of on-task regulation of learning were investigated:…

Prior research has found that student achievement is positively related to students' social standing in class. However, negative stereotypes about high academic achievers prevail among secondary school students, suggesting that higher achievers might be less well-integrated socially. These stereotypes especially target academically high-achieving…

Dimensional comparisons are comparisons of one's accomplishments between two domains (e.g., comparisons between math and verbal achievements) that affect our self-perceptions in the domains compared with each other. In particular, dimensional comparisons explain the seemingly paradoxical finding, described in the internal/external frame of…

The article presents the results of a randomized experimental study of a writing curriculum for college developmental writing courses based on strategy instruction with self-regulation integrated with practices common in college composition. Students in a full semester course learned strategies for planning and revising based on rhetorical…

Retrieval practice is a powerful way to promote long-term retention and meaningful learning. However, students do not frequently practice retrieval on their own, and when they do, they have difficulty evaluating the correctness of their responses and making effective study choices. To address these problems, we have developed a guided retrieval…

In 2 field experiments, we relied on the very features of real testing situations--where both math and verbal tests are administered--to examine whether order of test administration can, by itself, create vs. alleviate stereotype threat (ST) effects on girls' math performance. We predicted that taking the math test before the verbal test would be…

Often taken for granted, the coexistence of benefits and costs of discounting and devaluing has never been tested. Yet, not only are there inconsistent findings about the relations between these processes and global self-esteem, but little is known about their relations to motivation and performance. Here we simultaneously examined how academic…

Given the potential importance of using modality preference with instruction, the authors tested whether learning style preference correlated with memory performance in each of 3 sensory modalities: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. In Study 1, participants completed objective measures of pictorial, auditory, and tactile learning and learning…

Examines students' ability to predict and postdict test performance in a classroom context. Undergraduate students (N=96) participated during a semester-length course. Results show that the high-performing students were accurate, with accuracy improving over multiple exams. Low-performing students showed moderate prediction accuracy but good…

College subjects (n=106) judged a set of 12 covariation problems structured so that each of four judgment rules would produce a distinctive judgment pattern on a problem set. The findings suggest that self-report is a weak basis for conclusions about sources of error in covariation judgment. (Author/PN)

The hypothesis that college students' overall level of course achievement would be related positively to the accuracy of their performance evaluations and knowledge of the instructor's grading criteria was tested. Results showed no difference in poor and good students' accuracy at evaluating the course performance of others. (Author/GK)

Reanalysis of the factor analysis of S. Simpson, B. Licht, R. Wagner, and S. Stader (1996) of children's responses to four ability-related self-perceptions shows how applying a construct validity approach leads to conclusions opposed to theirs but still consistent with previous theory and research on academic self-concept. (SLD)

H. Marsh and A. Yeung have criticized the conclusions of the present authors with regard to academic self-concept as inconsistent with previous research. It is argued that this inconsistency is because items on the academic self-concept scales are not adequate for answering questions about children's differentiation of perceived ability and…