Sociocultural differences in students' cognitions and feelings about school learning and achievement

Abstract

Using the theoretical framework of Maehr and his colleagues, an attempt was made to determine if the sociocultural background, age, and self-perceived academic achievement of secondary school students make a difference in their cognitions and feelings and also their perceived parental cognitions and feelings about school learning and achievement. Sociocultural background was defined in terms of the ethnicity, gender, and SES of the students.

The subjects were 333 Caucasian American students attending the grade 8, 10 and 12 classes in the Roman Catholic schools in a Midwestern city in the U.S. and 375 Chinese students attending the same grades in several Roman Catholic schools in Hong Kong.

Subjects responded anonymously to a questionnaire in their classrooms. The questionnaire consisted of items that measured the following areas of cognitions and feelings about school learning and achievement: meaning of success, task preferences, preference for school feedback, dimensions of causal attributions for success and failure, causal attributions of success and failure, achievement goal orientations, and perceived academic achievement. Subjects responded to the measures twice: first from their own perspective and second from the perspective of their parents. Subjects also indicated their gender, grade level, birthday, the highest level of schooling completed by their father and mother (or guardians, if applicable), and their ethnic background.

The data were analyzed using a number of statistical techniques, including factor analysis, discriminant analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results showed considerable cultural differences in the dependent measures. Some age, sex, SES, and self-perceived academic achievement differences in the dependent measures also were observed.

It is concluded that students' sociocultural background, particularly their cultural background, is an important variable that might affect their cognitions and feelings about school learning and achievement. Variables useful for predicting students' cognitions and feelings about school learning and achievement in one culture are often not useful in another.

The implication of these findings is that students' sociocultural background, especially their cultural background, must be taken into account when attempts are made to enhance the learning and achievement of students.