Consistency, longitudinal stability, and predictions of elementary school students' task interest, success expectancy, and performance in mathematics

Does Individual Interest Still Predict Achievement in Science and Technology When Controlling for Self-Concept? A Longitudinal Study Conducted in Canadian Schools

“…This study makes a contribution by confirming that the agency of interest in achievement can hardly be recorded, at least as it is generally measured, when controlling for neighbouring perceptual constructs such as self-concept. This research seems to align with other similar results that were obtained in recent math education studies (Denissen et al, 2007;Ganley & Lubienski, 2016;Grigg et al, 2018;Nuutila et al, 2018;Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2004;Xu, 2018), suggesting a certain transdisciplinary conformity of the constructs considered.…”

“…Based on their own review of the literature, Grigg et al argued that previous available evidence is in line with this hypothesis, and were also able to confirm it through a longitudinal panel design in Australia (Grigg et al, 2018). Other longitudinal designs that controlled for (sometimes many) other possible covariables were also able to confirm rather strong bidirectional, reciprocal interaction between achievement and self-concept in Korea (Lee, Lee, & Bong, 2014), China (Xu, 2018), and Finland (Nuutila et al, 2018). However, the large…”

“…Along with prior achievement, gender and sociocultural variables, self-concept may be one of the most studied variables in the prediction of academic success. The general idea refers to "collections of beliefs that individuals hold about themselves" (Leflot, Onghena, & Colpin, 2010), but sometimes also has more specific forms that can focus, for instance, on what one is capable (or not) of accomplishing (self-efficacy), or even sometimes on specific tasks, like success expectancy (Nuutila, Tuominen, Tapola, Vainikainen, & Niemivirta, 2018). Self-concept is often assessed by comparing oneself to one's peers, their capabilities, or to the relative effort provided to obtain equivalent results.…”

Reciprocal Predictions Between Interest, Self-Efficacy, and Performance During a Task

“…The focus was on elementary school students as during this developmental period, students' motivational beliefs and tendencies gradually become more stable (Spinath and Steinmayr, 2008). It is also likely that accumulating task experiences contribute to the formation of more stable motivation in different school domains (Nuutila et al, 2018), and thus exploring task-specific motivational dynamics may have relevance for understanding better the development of subject-specific motivation.…”

“…It has been associated with continuing an activity (e.g., reading; Ainley et al, , 2005 and study-related choices (e.g., taking more psychology courses; Harackiewicz et al, 2000), and as theories on interest development (Hidi and Renninger, 2006) suggest, it may, through re-engagement, eventually lead to the development of an individual interest (i.e., enduring interest in a domain and desire to re-engage with it; Renninger, 2009). However, there is fairly limited direct evidence on this (however, see Lipstein and Renninger, 2007;Rotgans and Schmidt, 2017;Bernacki and Walkington, 2018;Nuutila et al, 2018).…”