The central aim of this thesis was to investigate relationships between students’ goals and self-concepts and to demonstrate how these two sets of motivational variables interact to influence academic achievement. Answers were, thus, sought for vexed questions concerning the causal ordering of students’ goal orientations, academic self-concepts and academic achievement by hypothesising three competing models of causality: a/ goal orientations affect academic self-concepts, which in turn affect subsequent academic achievement, b/ academic self-concept affect goal orientations, which in turn affect subsequent academic achievement, and c/ goal orientations, academic self-concepts, and academic achievement affect each other such as they are reciprocally related over time. Findings from this research hold important implications for our theoretical understanding of factors affecting student motivation, and also for educational practice and research relating to students’ goals and academic self-concepts. These implications, in turn, provide new perspectives for promoting optimal motivation and academic achievement amongst secondary school students. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Recent research has shown that children under two years demonstrate some early social understanding. Previous research has also demonstrated that mother talk about mental states is a factor in older preschoolers� later theory of mind understanding. In order to learn more about the predictive nature of mother mental state talk to very young children, this study examined the relation between mother talk about mental states at 15 and 24 months and their later mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 and 33 months. At all three time points, 71 mothers and 3 fathers (N=74) described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and non-mental state language at 15, 24 and 33 months. In addition, at all three time points, children�s mental and non-mental state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. At the second and third time points the children were administered an emotion situation and a body emotion task. The mothers� ability to interpret emotion faces was also assessed. The results showed that mother use of desire language was more prevalent at 15 months, with references to thinking and knowledge increasing at 24 months. Partial correlations demonstrated that mother use of desire language with 15-month old children uniquely predicted a child�s mental state language and emotion situation task performance at 24 months, even after accounting for earlier child language, mother socioeconomic status, mothers� own emotion understanding, and other types of mother non-mental state language. Similarly, at 24 months of age, after accounting for potentially confounding variables, such as child language, mother use of think/know language as well as desire language were both predictors of children�s mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. The results further demonstrated that mothers� tendency to refer to the child�s (versus others�) desires at 15 months was the more consistent correlate of children�s mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 months. At 24 months a different pattern emerged with both references to the child�s and others� thoughts and knowledge correlating with child mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. It is proposed that Vygotsky�s zone of proximal development provides a framework within which maternal talk about specific mental states scaffolds the development of children�s later social understanding. I also suggest that such scaffolding motivates mothers to talk more about the child�s mental states when they are younger, before introducing talk that focuses on others� mental states.

This study was designed to determine degree to which self concept and reading readiness of kindergarten children might be affected through a bibliotherapeutic intervention program. The procedure employed oral reading of selections by the teacher, retelling of stories by children, discussion questions, and follow-up activities.The population consisted of ten kindergarten sections (six experimental and four comparison) in four elementary schools within Harrison District #2, Colorado Springs, Colorado.Assessment instruments included scales from the Stanford Early School Achievement Test,, and three subcategories and total self concept measures from the I Feel . . . Me Feel: Self Concept Appraisal.The procedures followed by classroom teachers who used the bibliotherapy program during a four-month experimental period were explicitly described in a handbook provided.A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tested the null hypotheses of no significant differences between bibliotherapy and comparison groups on measures of (1) self concept and (2) readiness. Univariate F statistics revealed that factors contributing to the significant F included three measures of self concept--Self, Others, Surrounding--and one reading readiness measure--Word Reading.The hypothesis of correlation between self concept employed a one-tailed t statistic. Statistically significant correlations were evidenced between self concept total and two readiness subtests--Math and Environment.Findings included:1. Significant differences for all three self concept measures favoring the bibliotherapy group.2. Statistically significant differences between the bibliotherapy and comparison groups for one of the two reading readiness measures with no significant difference for general areas of readiness.No statistically significant correlations between self concept and reading readiness measures; statistically significant correlations for two areas of general readiness.Among the population studies, it was concluded that bibliotherapy appeared to have a favorable impact on pupil perceptions and achievement. Use of bibliotherapy by teachers was recommended as well as further research to establish potential effectiveness.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-143). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.Ed.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 92-106.

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Childrens' spatial ability has been studied from developmental and differential psychology orientations and by information-processing theorists. No unified means of examining spatial ability has been attempted by investigators. The focus of this research is thus based on the integration of developmental predictions with a processing model created to generate and test hypotheses regarding certain spatial competencies of young children. Of primary interest was how young children perform depending on the dimensionality of the spatial materials utilized in the experimental task. One hundred and sixty 4 and 6 year old children were randomly selected for one of four treatment conditions with age and sex distributed equally in each condition. Spatial materials were presented in either two or three dimensions and subjects were required to judge whether a response item also presented in two or three dimensions matched the stimulus display. Across-versus within-dimensional performance was therefore compared in a single study. Five displays were presented ranging in difficulty from simple to complex. Response materials consisted of a correct match on the stimulus item and four error types. Types of errors included a geometric violation (in which the objects in the display were unconnected at one point), a depth violation (lack of the depth dimension), a 90° or 270° rotation violation and a 180° violation. These last two violations were considered orientation errors similar to those children exhibit on perspective-taking tasks. Three separate analyses of variance were performed on the data. Results from each of these analyses indicated that six year old children significantly outperformed four year olds in all conditions. However, of importance to developmental psychology was the finding that all subjects performed as well as they did on a task thought to be quite difficult. Also reiterated in these analyses was the result that within-dimensional performance was significantly better than across-dimensional ability for all subjects. Analysis of display complexity revealed that there was differential success for the subjects based on the complexity of the display. Errors analysis indicated that the rotation and reflection foils created the most difficulty for subjects. This finding was reiterated in the Age X Foil Type interaction and Sex X Stimulus Dimension X Response Dimension X Foil Type interaction, in which four year olds' relative inability to perform on these errors as compared to six year olds was shown. This suggests that the ability to correctly discriminate orientation occurs late in the developmental sequence. While no main effect for sex was indicated by any of the analyses, there was an interesting finding as a result of the Sex X Stimulus Dimension X Response Dimension X Foil Type interaction. When across-dimension performance was examined, it was found that males made relatively more errors of an orientation type than females, exhibiting a possible lack of attention to the provided facilitative reference frame. Results were further discussed in terms of predictions from the hypothetical model and in regard to developmental issues. Limitations of the work were also discussed.