Peer, Home, and School Achievement: A Study in Achievement Motivation (Virgin Islands, Grade Five, Caribbean)
Benjamin, Linda White
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68970
Description
Title
Peer, Home, and School Achievement: A Study in Achievement Motivation (Virgin Islands, Grade Five, Caribbean)
Author(s)
Benjamin, Linda White
Issue Date
1985
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Elementary
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which home, peer, and school factors relate cross-gender to differential achievement patterns among fifth-grade students, particularly the degree of relationship between self-concept of ability and achievement, and between area-specific (peer, home, and school) achievement motivation and actual achievement.
Survey data were collected from 521 students, their parents, and teachers in the St. Thomas/St. John School District through parent, student and teacher questionnaires, student achievement motivational and self-concept scales, in-class sociometric measures, and by administering the vocabulary subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Interviews were conducted with a subsample of students and parents in order to expound responses given by the students and parents on their questionnaires.
During preadolescent years, students are affected by experiences related to peer, home, and school factors which may be due to varied societal expectations and family backgrounds. This may motivate the development in males and females of divergent views with respect to achievement and its multiple facets.
The variables which contributed most to school achievement in reading for males were peer achievement motivation, school achievement motivation and school reading interest. The student interviews revealed differential but largely positive attitude toward classroom instruction and materials except during instances of reported boredom due to routinized daily written exercises.
The variables contributing most to school achievement in reading for females were peer achievement motivation, home achievement motivation, home reading habits, and self-concept of ability. This supported the assumption made that home factors play an integral role in the lives of females in the study while school factors seem to have a greater effect on reading achievement in males.
An examination of the demographic data revealed that many students from diverse backgrounds and neighborhoods have the capacity to achieve within the public elementary schools in St. Thomas.
The results are indicative of significant male-female differences in achievement motivation and resultant achievement but cannot be construed to be conclusive. Subsequent studies should focus much more closely on the range of school factors which may affect achievement differentially in male and female students.
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