scholarly journals Does Learning English Require Grit? Examining the Differential Effects on Grades in Core Subjects

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-85
Author(s):  
Cecilia Thorsen ◽  
Stefan Johansson ◽  
Kajsa Yang Hansen

Research indicates that beliefs on the locus of the primary source of learning can have negative effects on learning behaviors in school (Mercer & Ryan, 2011). To an increasing extent, young people in Sweden acquire English outside school through different cultural practices (Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2012). At the same time, students lack enthusiasm in English lessons, which can lead to a reduced investment of effort in the language classroom (Henry, 2014). However, learning a language requires both interest and effort. In psychological research, the capacity of showing consistency in interest and perseverance to achieve a goal, such as learning a language, is defined as grit (Duckworth et al., 2007). Studies investigating the association between grit and language achievement remain scarce. The present study contributes to filling this gap by investigating whether the effects of grit differ across different performance domains (i.e., English, Swedish and Mathematics). An additional purpose is to investigate whether there are differential effects of grit for subgroups of students with different SES, achievement levels, and gender. A total of 4646 compulsory school students born in 1992 were extracted from the Evaluation Through Follow-up Database (ETF). Multiple-group path analysis was used to examine the mechanisms of the grit facets (i.e., interest and perseverance) across time and subgroups. While both interest and perseverance predicted grades in Swedish and Mathematics, interest alone predicted grades in English. The low SES high achieving group also showed higher consistency in interest and perseverance than the other groups, indicating that grit could be more valuable in face of adversities.

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 469-480
Author(s):  
Giang-Nguyen T. ◽  
Byron Havard ◽  
Barbara Otto

<p>Students drop out of schools for many reasons, and it has negative effects on the individual and society. This paper reports a study using data published in 2015 from the Educational Longitudinal Study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics to analyze the influence of parental involvement on low-achieving U.S. students’ graduation rates from high school. Findings indicate that both students and parents share the same perspective on the need for parental involvement in their academic progress. For low-achieving high school students, parental involvement in academic work is a positive factor influencing students’ graduation from high school.</p>


Author(s):  
Jalal Haj Hussien

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of students’ grade levels, gender, and interaction between the two on mathematics motivation. In addition, the relationship between students’ various types of mathematics motivation and achievement were examined. Four hundred twenty four elementary school students (186 boys and 238 girls), 588 middle school students (296 boys and 292 girls), and 276 high school students (154 boys and 122 girls) completed the MMS. The findings of this study showed that all types of motivation in mathematics steadily decreased with grade advancement (elementary through high school) with the exception of introjected regulation. Moreover, results indicated a significant gender difference in each type of mathematics motivation, exception regarding intrinsic motivation, where the difference was not significant. In addition, the interaction between grade levels and gender was significant only in students’ introjected regulation; the differences in intrinsic, external regulation, and amotivation were consistent between males and females in different grade levels. Finally, the results revealed a significant relationship between all types of motivation and mathematics achievement as well as overall academic achievement. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1497-1508
Author(s):  
E Dale Broder ◽  
Katie E Guilbert ◽  
Robin M Tinghitella ◽  
Shannon M Murphy ◽  
Cameron K Ghalambor ◽  
...  

Abstract Ethnically and gender diverse groups are more efficient, creative, and productive than homogeneous groups, yet women and minorities are underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. One contributor is unequal access to high-quality STEM education based on socioeconomic status and race, which we may be able to address through inquiry-based out-of-school time programs. Here we describe a 6-month after-school program that allows an underrepresented community of middle school students to conduct original scientific research that they present at a conference each year. Through qualitative assessments and interviews, we found a trend for increased interest in STEM careers and self-efficacy in participants. Self-efficacy, or belief in one’s ability to succeed, predicts performance and persistence in STEM. Both self-efficacy and interest in STEM careers increased after students presented their research at a conference, highlighting the unexplored importance of dissemination for shaping self-efficacy in K-12 students. Small after-school programs like ours can be easily accomplished as broader impacts by scientists, and well-designed programs have the potential to positively affect change by increasing access and participation in STEM for diverse students.


Author(s):  
Lisa Irmen ◽  
Julia Kurovskaja

Grammatical gender has been shown to provide natural gender information about human referents. However, due to formal and conceptual differences between masculine and feminine forms, it remains an open question whether these gender categories influence the processing of person information to the same degree. Experiment 1 compared the semantic content of masculine and feminine grammatical gender by combining masculine and feminine role names with either gender congruent or incongruent referents (e.g., Dieser Lehrer [masc.]/Diese Lehrerin [fem.] ist mein Mann/meine Frau; This teacher is my husband/my wife). Participants rated sentences in terms of correctness and customariness. In Experiment 2, in addition to ratings reading times were recorded to assess processing more directly. Both experiments were run in German. Sentences with grammatically feminine role names and gender incongruent referents were rated as less correct and less customary than those with masculine forms and incongruent referents. Combining a masculine role name with an incongruent referent slowed down reading to a greater extent than combining a feminine role name with an incongruent referent. Results thus specify the differential effects of masculine and feminine grammatical gender in denoting human referents.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffael Heiss ◽  
Jörg Matthes

Abstract. This study investigated the effects of politicians’ nonparticipatory and participatory Facebook posts on young people’s political efficacy – a key determinant of political participation. We employed an experimental design, using a sample of N = 125 high school students (15–20 years). Participants either saw a Facebook profile with no posts (control condition), nonparticipatory posts, or participatory posts. While nonparticipatory posts did not affect participants’ political efficacy, participatory posts exerted distinct effects. For those high in trait evaluations of the politician presented in the stimulus material or low in political cynicism, we found significant positive effects on external and collective efficacy. By contrast, for those low in trait evaluations or high in cynicism, we found significant negative effects on external and collective efficacy. We did not find any effects on internal efficacy. The importance of content-specific factors and individual predispositions in assessing the influence of social media use on participation is discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 24-33
Author(s):  
K. V. Rozov

The article presents the structure, content and results of approbation of the C++ programming course developed for the 10th grade students of physics and mathematics profile and implemented as part of the academic subject “Informatics”. The aim of the course is to develop in the student not only knowledge and skills in programming, but also his algorithmic culture and programming culture as important qualities of a potential IT-specialist. This is facilitated by special control of educational process by the teacher, which consists in monitoring the activities of students in writing programs and timely correction of this activity. The assessment of the level of development of student algorithmic culture and programming culture relative to the basic level of their formation (when mastering the basics of algorithmization and programming in the 9th grade) was carried out on the basis of a number of criteria presented in the article. The results of approbation showed that the specially organized teacher activity makes it possible to increase the level of algorithmic culture and programming culture of high school students when studying the basics of programming in C++.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Endang Wahyuningrum ◽  
Disti Pratiwi ◽  
Sandra Sukmaning Adji

The purpose of this study was to describe the creative thinking skills of junior high school students based on mathematics anxiety and gender. Aspects of creative thinking skills used in this study are fluency, flexibility, and novelty. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. The instruments used were open-ended questions consisting of algebra and geometry questions, mathematics anxiety questionnaires, and interview guidelines. The study was conducted in class IX E of SMPI Al Azhar 12 Rawamangun Jakarta. The subject of this study consisted of four students, they are male student with low mathematics anxiety, female student with low mathematics anxiety, male student with medium mathematics anxiety, and female student with medium mathematics anxiety. The results of the mathematics anxiety questionnaire showed that none of the students in class IX E had high math anxiety. There are differences in the fulfillment of aspects of creative thinking in terms of differences in mathematics anxiety and gender levels. Students with low math anxiety fulfill aspects of fluency, flexibility, and novelty in algebra and geometry questions. Students with medium math anxiety fulfill aspects of fluency and flexibility both in algebra and geometry questions. Female students fulfill aspects of fluency, flexibility, and novelty both in algebra and geometry questions. Male students fulfill aspects of fluency and flexibility in algebra questions, while in geometry questions the aspects that are fulfilled are fluency, flexibility, and novelty.


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