ATTRIBUTIONS TO SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE EFFECTS OF GENDER, AGE AND PERCEIVED SUCCESS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v0i0.357Keywords:
attribution to success and failure, gender, perceived successAbstract
The main purpose of this study is to analyze Turkish tertiary level EFL learners’ attributions to success and failure and the effects of gender, age, and perceived success on their attributions. The results indicated that EFL learners respectively attributed interest, ability, task difficulty, effort, luck and the influence of teacher and school as influential factors of their success whereas they respectively rated effort, interest, the effect of teacher and school, ability, task difficulty, and luck as influential factors of their failure. Furthermore, they were more inclined to agree that internal reasons are responsible for their success while blaming external reasons for their failure. In addition, females seemed to attribute external factors more than their male counterparts and unsuccessful learners attributed more importance to effort and internal dimension than successful students. Finally, the study revealed that age was not an important factor in EFL learners’ attribution to success and failure.
Article visualizations:
References
Brophy, J. E. (1998). Motivating students to learn, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Can, B. (2005). An analysis of elementary school teachers’ causal attributions related to self-identified success and failure. Unpublished MA Thesis, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul.
Chandler, T. A., Spies, C. J. (1993). Semantic differential comparisons of attributions and dimensions among seven nations, Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA, April 12-16.
Chedzoy, S.M. and Burden, R. L. (2009). Primary school children's reflections on physical education lessons: an attributional analysis and possible implications for teacher action. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 4 (3), 185-193.
Christensen K. J., Kim S. W., Dysken M. W., Hoover K. M. (1992). Neuropsychological performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biol. Psychiatry 31, 4–18
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Erten, İ. H., Burden, R. L. (2014). The relationship between academic self-concept, attributions, and L2 achievement. System, 42, 391-401.
Erten, H.(2015) Attribution retraining in L2 classes: prospects for exploratory classroom practice. Teacher-Researchers in Action, 357-367
Gardner, H. (1991) The unschooled mind: how children think and how schools should teach. New York: Basic Books Inc.
Gobel, P., & Mori, S. (2007). Success and failure in the EFL classroom: exploring students’ attributional beliefs in language learning. EUROSLA Yearbook, 7, 149–169.
Graham, S. (1991). A review of attribution theory in achievement contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 3, 5–39.
Graham, S. (1994). Classroom motivation from an attributional perspective. In H. F. O‟Neil, Jr. & M. Drillings (Eds.), Motivation theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Graham, S. J. 2004. Giving up on Modern Foreign Languages? Students’ Perceptions of Learning French. The Modern Language Journal 88 (2), 171–191.
Hassaskhah, J., & Vahabi, M. (2010). An in-depth analysis of the relationship between age and attribution in EFL context. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5, 2126–2132.
Heider, F. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: Wiley.
Höl, D. (2016). Exploring locus of control orientations of Turkish EFL learners and the relationship between attributional retraining and academic achievement: An application of an educational training programme. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale.
Hsieh, P. H. (2004). How college students explain their grades in a foreign language course: The interrelationship of attributions, self-Efficacy, language learning beliefs, and achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Texas, Austin.
Jarvis, M. (2005). The psychology of effective learning and teaching. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
Kashima, Y., Triandis, H. C. (1986). The self-serving bias in attributions as a coping strategy: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 17, 83-97.
Keblawi F.(2009). A Critical Appraisal of Language Learning Motivation Theories the Fifth International Biennial SELF Research Conference in Dubai, UAE.
McQuillan, J. (2000). Attribution theory and second language acquisition: An empirical analysis. Paper presented at AAAL Conference, Vancouver.
Mohammadi, A. Sharififar, M. (2016) Attributions for Success and Failure: Gender and Language Proficiency Differences among Iranian EFL Learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(3), 518-524
Mezulis, A. H., Abramson, L. Y., Hyde, J. S., Hankin, B. L. (2004). Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic review of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 711–747.
O’Sullivan, J., & Howe, M. (1996). Causal attributions and reading achievement: individual differences in low income families. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 363-387
Oxford, R. & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal. 78(1), 12-28.
Özkardeş, A. (2011) Achievement attributions of preparatory class learners at the School of Foreign Languages at Pamukkale University for their success or failure in learning English, Unpublished MA thesis, Pamukkale University, Denizli.
Pallant, J., 2005. SPSS survival manual: a step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for windows (Version 12). 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Parameswaran, G. & Hom, H. (2000). The Lack of ability-related explanations in children from India, Clearing House, 73(5), 279-281.
Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (2002). Motivation in education: Theory, research and application (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Pishghadam, R., Motakef, R. (2011). Attributional patterns with respect to major and attendance in private language schools: A case of EFL context. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(7), 888-894.
Pishghadam, R., & Zabihi, R. (2011). Foreign language attributions and achievement in f oreign language classes. International Journal of Linguistics, 3(1), 1-11.
Semiz, Ö. (2011) The effects of a training program on attributional beliefs, self-efficacy, language learning beliefs, achievement and student effort: A study on motivationally at-risk EFL students. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Atatürk University, Erzurum.
Schuster, B., Forsterlung, F. & Weiner, B. (1989). Perceiving the causes of success and failure: A crosscultural examination of attributional concepts. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20(2), 191-213.
Stevenson H. & Lee, S. (19 90). Contexts of achievement. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Developmen t, 55 (1-2, serial number 221).
Sweeney, P. D., Anderson, K., Bailey,S. (1986). Attributional Style in Depression. A Meta-Analytic Review, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(5) 974-91.
Taskiran, A. (2010). Exploring EFL students‟ causal attributions of perceived success and failure in language learning process. Unpublished MA thesis, Anadolu University.
Koçyiğit M (2011). Causal attributions and learning styles of university students, Unpublished MA thesis Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar.
Weiner, B. (1974). Achievement motivation and attribution theory. Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press.
Weiner, B., Russell, D. & Lerman, D. (1979). The cognition-emotion process in achievement related contexts, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1221-1230.
Weiner, B. (1980). Human Motivation. NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Weiner, B. (1992). Human Motivation: Metaphors, Theories, and Research, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Weiner, B. (2000). Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Theories of Motivation from an Attributional Perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 12, (1)
Williams, M., Burden, R. (1997). Psychology for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, M., Burden, R. L. (2000). Psychology for language teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, M., Burden, R., Poulet, G., & Maun, I. (2004). Learners’ perceptions of their successes and failures in foreign language learning. Language Learning Journal, 30, 19-29.
Woolfolk, E. A. (1998). Educational Psychology (Seventh Edition), Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
