Attributions to Success and Failure in Chinese Language Learning and Its Predictive Effect on Academic Performance among Thai Trilingual Undergraduate Students
Keywords:
Chinese learning, learning attribution, attributional tendency,, Academic performance, Thai undergraduate studentsAbstract
In order to explore the attributional tendencies and characteristics of success and failure in Chinese language learning among Thai trilingual Chinese undergraduates, as well as the learning attributions’ predictive effect on academic performance. Based on the three-dimensional attributional theoretical framework, this study used a questionnaire to examine the attributions of Chinese learning success and failure of 84 third-year Chinese trilingual undergraduates at a university in northern Thailand. The results showed that 1) Thai Chinese learners showed average positivity in both overall attribution and attributional tendency of success attribution, and were more negative in failure attribution. They were more likely to attribute learning success or failure to internal, unstable, and controllable factors. At the same time, they are less likely to attribute success mainly to effort or ability, and more likely to attribute it to external factors such as the help of teachers and classmates, and the classroom atmosphere; 2) the high and low subgroups tended to attribute learning success to internal controllable and external unstable factors, respectively, but both attributed failures mainly to internal, unstable and controllable factors. Among them, the teacher, classmates’ help, likes and interest factors were important factors in the attributions for success of the high and low subgroups, and the effort factor was the most important factor in the attributions for failure of the high and low subgroups; (3) all seven factors, namely, effort, grades emphasis, after-school practice, likes and interest, ability, teacher’s help, and learning strategies, were significant predictors of academic performance. The above findings help to deepen Thai Chinese language teachers’ understanding of the attribution of learners’ academic success and failure, and provide implications for the implementation of attribution retraining in the teaching process.
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