13.1 Appendix b: deciding for yourself about the research  (Page 8/20)

References

Public Law 101-336, 104 Stat. 327 (July 26, 1990). Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.

Stowitschek, J., Lovitt, T.,&Rodriguez, J. (2001). Patterns of collaboration in secondary education for youth with special needs: Profiles of three high schools. Urban Education, 36(1), 93-128.

Kelly, S. (2004). Are teachers tracked? On what basis and with what consequences. Social psychology in education, 7(1), 55-72.

Oakes, J. (2005). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality, 2nd edition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Student motivation: is self-efficacy culturally biased?

As we explain in [link] , self-efficacy beliefs are based heavily on experiences—mastery, vicarious (or observed) mastery, and social persuasion. Research has found that these experiences are effective in a wide variety of situations, such as making decisions about careers, performing tasks at work, choosing courses at school, deciding whether to join after-school sports teams, and planning effective instruction as a teacher (Allison, Dwyer,&Makin, 1999; Bandura, 1997; Goddard, Hoy,&Hoy, 2004). Because it has proved valid in so many situations, self-efficacy seems relatively universal cognitive process—as if it “works” everywhere, for everyone.

But does it? The very fact that self-efficacy is based on experience should make us suspicious of its limits, since there are few experiences that are literally shared by all people in all places or societies. And the wide diversity among students in most schools should lead to similar skepticism. Maybe it is true that self-efficacy promotes motivation for many students, or even for most, but does it do so for all students? And if it does not, then what are the reasons?

These questions prompted a psychologist named Lori Lindley to investigate whether self-efficacy has in fact proved useful and valid for understanding motivation in unusually diverse populations (Lindley, 2006) . She searched the research literature for studies about self-efficacy in each of the following groups:

1. women with careers
2. ethnic minorities living in the United States
3. societies and cultures outside the United States
4. self-identified gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals
5. people with disabilities

What has research shown about the self-efficacy of members of these groups? Compared to the “classic” research about this concept, is self-efficacy higher, lower, confined to just limited areas of activity, or not even a meaningful idea?

What Lindley found was that self-efficacy beliefs were (like the people she studied) complex and varied. Women, for example, were just as likely to express high self-efficacy and low motivation about using computers, as to express low self-efficacy and high motivation to use them. Among ethnic minority students (Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and African Americans), some studies found lower self-efficacy about choosing careers than among white students. But other studies found no differences.