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Exploration and Validation of High School Students' Achievement Strategies for Examinations

  • The Korean Journal of School Psychology
  • Abbr : KJSP
  • 2011, 8(1), pp.17-41
  • DOI : 10.16983/kjsp.2011.8.1.17
  • Publisher : The Korean Journal of School Psychology
  • Research Area : Social Science > Psychological Science > School / Educational Psychology

Lyu Jeong Hee 1 Shin Hyeonsook 1

1전남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was two-fold: One was to explore achievement strategies used by high school students in academic contexts and the other was to validate the types of achievement strategies. High school students were asked how they feel, think and behave while they prepare for upcoming examinations. Data analyses were conducted as follows. First, a free response survey was administered to 358 high school students and the content analysis yielded 103 items describing their feelings, thoughts and behaviors in situations where school examinations were near at hand. Second, a questionnaire consisting of the 103 items was administered to 497 high school students. An exploratory factor analysis yielded 47 items, which were grouped into 11 components. Feeling scale was composed of four components (i.e., depression, rejection, sense of expectation and confidence, anxiety). Thought scale was composed of four components (i.e., worry, evasive imagination, positive imagination, negative imagination). Behavior scale was composed of three components (i.e., examination- preparatory behavior, examination-unrelated behavior, self-management behavior). The classification of such components was verified through a confirmatory factor analysis for each scale (i.e., feeling, thought, behavior). Third, a questionnaire consisting of the 47 items was administered to 410 high school students. Cluster analyses were conducted to extract distinct clusters and revealed four types of achievement strategies (i.e., strategic optimism, thoughtful-effortful strategy, self-handicapping strategy, onlooking strategy). Finally, differences in gender, self-esteem, achievement goal orientation and life satisfaction by achievement strategy were tested through chi-square analyses and analyses of variance. Differences in gender, self-esteem, achievement goal orientation and life satisfaction by achievement strategy were found significant. Theoretical implications of the results were discussed. In addition, practical implications for the development of intervention programs for high school students were presented. Finally, the limitations of this study and suggestions for future research were discussed.

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