Factors influencing elective language choice

1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith McGannon ◽  
Anna Medeiros

Abstract Factors influencing the decision of secondary school students to continue or discontinue the study of French beyond the compulsory years were investigated in a government secondary college in an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne. Six classes of year 8 French students were surveyed. The results of the study indicate that gender, perceived ability in French, encouragement from parents and teachers, peer group preference, and beliefs about the career relevance of French influence the decision of students to opt in or out of the language programme.

Neofilolog ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 163-171
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Więckowska

In traditional classrooms, where students are evaluated on the basis of their actions, poor performance is closely linked to the lack of ability. Many students often see failure as a threat to their positive self-image and instead of increasing efforts, apply various ego-protective strategies to shift attention from real or hypothesized lack of ability to other factors influencing unsatisfactory production. In both cases self-worth is protected. This paper aims at performing a motivational analysis of two such strategies, i.e. self-handicapping and defensive pessimism used by secondary school students in achievement context.


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