Tracing the interplay between interest, competence perceptions, and achievement during tasks and over time
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This doctoral dissertation focused on the mutual relationships between elementary school students’ interest and competence perceptions within tasks and over an extended time period. Interest and competence perceptions are important precursors of motivation and performance in tasks, and may also influence each other. However, research on their interplay is still limited, as most of it has focused on their correlations or unidirectional effects (e.g., the effects of interest on competence perceptions but not vice versa), and we know rather little about their temporal dynamics. Also, task-specific interest and competence perceptions may be connected with students’ domain-specific interest and self-concept, but empirical evidence is limited. Thus, the present dissertation addressed these dynamics in three individual studies, in which their relationships were examined across tasks and over time (Study I), and within tasks (Studies II and III). Structural equation modeling was applied for analysing the data (i.e., cross-lagged panel modeling in Studies I and II, and latent growth curve modeling in Study III) to examine the research questions. In Study I, the results demonstrated high cross-task consistency and longitudinal stability in task-specific interest and competence perceptions, and these also contributed to sixth-grade domain-specific motivation. In Studies II and III, interest, competence perceptions, and performance were temporally linked during task engagement, although the observed relationships were somewhat different across the two studies. Also, in Studies II and III, domain-specific interest contributed to on-task motivation. Together, the studies provide new insight into the temporal dynamics between interest, competence perceptions, and performance by demonstrating their interconnectedness during tasks, but also by showing their relationships to be contingent on different task characteristics (e.g., objective and subjective difficulty, unfamiliarity). Given the on-task dynamics observed in this dissertation, it seems that supporting realistic but positive self-efficacy evaluations as well as situational interest in a task can improve students’ learning and performance and facilitate later re-engagement with the task. The observed cross-task consistency and longitudinal stability over two years (Study I), as well as the effects of domain-specific interest and value on task-specific motivation (Studies II and III) suggest that students’ on-task experiences in the late elementary school years may increasingly reflect their more stable and enduring motivational beliefs and disposition. In the long term, as students’ motivational beliefs and tendencies become more established, it is possible that either positive or negative experiences accumulate to certain students, thereby further strengthening these motivational characteristics. By increasing our understanding of these developmental patterns, the findings of the present dissertation may help teachers to identify those students who need extended motivational support in the classroom.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Nuutila, Katariina
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7200313395