CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study:
We live in a competitive society where excellence is often defined in terms of an individual’s achievement. Academic achievement of a student determines whether he or she is considered to be successful or not, thus, academic achievement is very important in education. Self-concept and achievement motivation are two major factors that are found to predict academic achievement. Self-concept which is an important, ignored and neglected area in psychology and education for long has now been recognized to play a vital role in personality development. This has awakened growing interest in self- concept research in recent years. Despite the many studies devoted to it, it is difficult to find an unanimous and accepted definition of the term given that, it has been approached from different perspectives.
According to Sanchez & Roda (2000), there is no clear, concise and universally accepted definition of self concept because of the ambiguity of the term. Nonetheless, there exist agreements among different authors in that the term has a multi-dimensional nature. Self-concept is considered to comprise of various dimensional areas or facets some of which are more related to certain personality aspects such as physical, social, emotional etc while others appear to be more linked to academics in different areas and subjects.
Kent (2007) defined self – concept as a person’s perception of himself having three components: the ideal self which is the person you would like to be; the public self which is the image you think other people have of you and the real self which is what you really think about yourself. It is the perception people hold regarding their personal attributes and the roles they fulfill in life
According to Ahmed & Bruinsma (2006), “Self-concept is a person’s perceptions regarding himself or herself formed through environmental experiences and by significant others. The person’s appraisal of his appearance, background, origin, abilities and resources, attitudes and feelings, which culminate as a directing force in behaviour.
Self-concept is a multidimensional construct that refers to an individual’s perception of ‘self’ in relation to a number of characteristics such as academic, gender roles, sexuality, racial identity etc. it is composed of a permanent self-assessment such as personality attributes, knowledge of ones skills and abilities, ones occupation hobbies. It is an individual’s perception of him/herself, a psychological entity which includes ones feelings, evaluations and attitudes, as well as descriptive categories (Baadjies 2008).
The importance of self concept stems from its notable contribution to personality formation, since it influences how the person feels, thinks, learns, values himself or herself, relates to others and ultimately how he or she behaves.(Clark, Clemes & Bean, 2000). What individuals think and how they feel about themselves affect the way they care for others. Individuals who have poor self concept often do not feel in control of situations and may not feel worthy of themselves which can influence decisions in different areas of their lives.
Everyday and in every way, our concept of ‘self’ directs and organizes our relationships with the world. Our self-concept is the gateway between our inner thoughts and feelings and the events of our external world. Without such a structure to guide and interpret our sense of ‘Self’, chaos and disintegration of self-awareness could occur. As such, a positive self-concept becomes a desirable goal throughout life. Because of its broad significance, a high self-concept is now recognized as a valuable goal in many areas of life from infancy, through our formative years and into adulthood, careers and family life. Self-concept is also highly valued as an important mediating factor that can influence other important psychological and behavioural outcomes.
Marsh, (2002) states that, the influence of self concept has resulted to its development as one of the key goals of education because, the attainment of a positive self- concept also affect academic behaviours, academic choices, educational aspirations and subsequent academic achievement.
Academic Achievement Motivation according to Slavin (2006) is defined as the general tendency to strive for success and to choose a goal oriented success or failure activity. It is the individual’s need or drive towards the achievement of success in academic work. It is assumed that, people differ in their need to achieve in situations that call for excellence. Geside (2000) argues that the urge to achieve varies from one individual to the other. For some the need for achievement is very high while for others it is very low. He added that, achievement motivation is learnt through the socialization process, those who have high achievers as their role models in their early life experiences would develop the need for achievement while, those who have low achievers as their role models will hardly develop the need for achievement. Achievement motivation therefore is a personality trait that develops in some people more than others as a result of early socialization experiences. The family is a major socializing agent and therefore important in determining an individual’s motivation to achieve success in various areas.
According to Slavin (2006), motivation is what gets one going, keeps one going and determines where one is going. It is one of the factors that contributes to academic success and is crucial to a student’s academic success at any age. Since students form self- concept, values and beliefs about their abilities at a very young age, the development of early academic motivation has significant implication for later academic careers. Research has found that students high in academic motivation are more likely to have increased levels of academic achievement and have lower dropout rates. (Broussard & Garrison, 2004; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2004 & 2006). Academic achievement motivation is assumed to be one of the driving forces which cause individuals to be competitive, hardworking and have more persistence.
| Project details | Contents |
|---|---|
| Number of Pages | 71 pages |
| Chapter one | Introduction |
| Chapter two | Literature review |
| Chapter three | methodology |
| Chapter four | Data analysis |
| Chapter five | Summary,discussion & recommendations |
| Reference | Reference |
| Questionnaire | Questionnaire |
| Appendix | Appendix |
| Chapter summary | 1 to 5 chapters |
| Available document | PDF and MS-word format |
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