Attitudes, beliefs, and mathematics achievement of German and Japanese high school students

Abstract

A total of 1487 eleventh grade students in Leipzig (Germany) and Sendai (Japan) were given a test of basic concepts and operations in high school mathematics and a questionnaire involving beliefs, attitudes, and practices related to mathematics, their own abilities, and their psychological adjustment. Large differences were found between the two countries in the students' performance. The lower scores of the German students are attributed to three major areas of difference. Compared to Japanese students, German students were less critical of themselves and their academic ability, held lower standards for their performance, and were less likely to attribute excellence in performance to studying. Students in both countries expressed few indications of maladjustment. When differences were found the indices of maladjustment were more common among German than among Japanese students. Boys obtained higher scores on the mathematics test than girls, were more likely to spend more time studying mathematics, and placed more importance on going to college than did girls. The poor performance of the German students appears to be attributable to the same kinds of beliefs and attitudes as those found in prior studies of US students, who also have received low scores on tests of mathematics achievement.

Global and dimensional self‐esteem in preadolescent and early adolescent children who are overweight: Age and gender differences

“…Also, contrary to expectations, cognitive and social self-esteem predicted general self-esteem for both boys and girls, and physical self-esteem did not predict general self-esteem for either gender. This, again, contradicts findings in the general population where girls view their social competencies as more central to their identity than boys (Rosenberg & Simmons, 1975) and boys view their physical and academic competencies as more central to their identity than girls (Randel et al, 2000).…”

“…Boys generally describe themselves more positively than girls in the areas of physical and academic competencies (DeBacker & Nelson, 2000) and view these competencies as more important than do girls (Randel, Stevenson, & Witruk, 2000). Girls tend to describe themselves more positively in the area of social competencies and to view these competencies as more important than do boys (DeBacker & Nelson, 2000).…”

Life's recurring challenges and the fundamental dimensions: An integration and its implications for cultural differences and similarities

“…Specifically, previous research has shown that Westerners readily infer positive compared to negative A-related traits from behavior (Skowronski & Carlston, 1987;Reeder & Brewer, 1979), whereas non-Westerners consider A-related traits to be influenced by social expectations, in addition to effort and dedication (Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993;Randel, Stevenson, & Witruk, 2000;Stevenson, Chen, & Uttal, 1990;Stevenson & Lee, 1996). For non-Westerners, this should have the effect of masking internal factors in the performance of such behaviors, which should result in the need for more information in ascribing positive A traits.…”

“…These findings may reflect differences in how much credit is given to innate and internal factors in the manifestation of intelligence and other A-related traits. Specifically, compared to Americans, non-Westerners may abide by a behavior-to-trait theory that puts greater weight on social context, in addition to other behaviors that support A-related traits, such as effort and dedication (Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993;Randel, Stevenson, & Witruk, 2000;Stevenson, Chen, & Uttal, 1990;Stevenson & Lee, 1996). These additional factors should mask internal factors in the enactment of behaviors related to such traits, which should result in the need for more Figure 1.…”

Tongan secondary students’ conceptions of schooling in New Zealand relative to their academic achievement

“…While studies worldwide have demonstrated strongly how students' attitudes and beliefs appear to influence achievement (e.g., Akey 2006;Randel et al 2000;Sarwar 2004;Stevenson et al 1993;Udoukpong et al 2012), these studies have limited direct applicability to this study's setting of Pacific Island Tongan students in New Zealand. Among the fewer studies with New Zealand students, it has been found that student beliefs about assessment, learning, and teaching have a statistically significant relationship with academic achievement.…”