A. Research Problems
The purpose of the study is to investigate the determinants of the self-concept of ability and attitude toward school learning in the elementary school, and to provide information on child education. The research problems of the ...
A. Research Problems
The purpose of the study is to investigate the determinants of the self-concept of ability and attitude toward school learning in the elementary school, and to provide information on child education. The research problems of the present study are :
1. Are there any differences between the children who have experienced successful history of achievement and those who have failed in school learning?
2. Is there any change in the self-concept of ability and in the attitude toward school learning as the grade goes up?
3. What are the levels of academic self-concept and attitude toward school learning, appearing in the advanced-group of the 6th graders?
B. Hypotheses
The present study has six hypotheses following :
Hypothesis 1-1
The lower-group of children will show negative self-concept of ability, as compared with that shown by upper-group of children.
Hypothesis 1-2
The lower-group of children will show negative attitude toward school learning, as compared with that shown by upper-group of children.
Hypothesis 2-1
The lower-group of the 6th graders will show negative self-concept of ability, as compared with that shown by lower-group of the 2nd graders.
Hypothesis 2-2
The lower-group of the 6th graders will show negative attitude toward school learning, as compared with that shown by lower-group of the 2nd graders.
Hypothesis 3-1
No difference will be found in the self-concept of ability between the advanced-group and the upper-group of the 6th graders.
Hypothesis 3-2
No difference will be found in the attitude toward school learning between the advanced-group and the upper-group of the 6th graders.
In the statements of the hypotheses the term, upper-group, means the group of children who have belonged to one-third of higher level in school achievement. On the other hand the term, lower-group, means the group of children who have belonged to one-third of lower level in school achievement. And the term, advanced-group, describes the group of the 6th graders who belong to the upper-group, but they had belonged to the lower-group during the 1st and 2nd grade level.
C. Samples
The subjects selected for the present study are the children in the 2nd, 4th and 6th graders from two elementary schools in Taejeon area.
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D. Instruments
The instruments utilized for the present study are the self-concept test, attitude scale, home-environment scale and standardized intelligence test.
E. Findings
1. On the self-concept test, the upper-group of the 2nd, 4th and 6th graders marked higher scores than the children of lower-group did. The results of the study reveals that children who have had successful experiences in school achievement tend to develop positive self-concept of ability, while those who have encountered repeated failures develop negative self-concept of ability.
2. On the attitude scale, the children of lower-group showed poorer scores than the children of upper-group. This means that children who have experienced unsuccessful events in school setting show a strong tendency to develop negative attitude toward school learning.
3. The children of the 4th and 6th grade who have been unsuccessful in school achievement show negative self-concept of ability, as compared with the lower-group of children in the 2nd grade.
4. On attitudes test, the lower-group of the 4th and 6th graders show more negative tendency than those of 2nd graders do.
5. Between the advanced-group and the upper-group there were no significant differences in the self-concept of ability and the attitude toward school learning. This suggests that even when the children who have improved their school achievement gradually from grade one through six, their self- concept of ability and attitude toward school learning resist to change toward a positive phase.