Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Spelling, Psychology of; Academic achievement -- Psychological aspects; English language -- Orthography and spelling -- Study and teaching; Academic theses;

Abstract

This study investigates the relationships between spelling strategy instruction and use, student attributional beliefs, and achievement. Nineteen fifth grade students from the same classroom were taught three different strategies to remember their spelling word lists over the three-week intervention. The students reported their attributional beliefs relating to the causes of their spelling performance at the beginning and end of each week. They reported to what extent they agreed that luck, ability, effort, and task difficulty are the cause of their spelling performance. A different strategy was taught to the classroom of students at the beginning of each week by the classroom teacher, and the students were encouraged to use those strategies to learn their spelling words. After taking their final spelling test on Friday of each week, the students not only reported their attributions, but also their frequency and accuracy of spelling strategy use throughout the week. The data analyses investigated whether or not students who attributed their performance to effort had higher spelling achievement. Additionally, the study looked at the effect of student attributions on spelling strategy use. Do students who attribute their performance to effort tend to use the spelling strategies well and often each week? Do students who attribute their performance to luck or task difficulty fail to use the strategies well and often? Results suggest that students with high spelling achievement do tend to attribute their performance to effort. Additionally, those that attributed their performance to effort were more likely to use the strategies frequently and accurately. No difference was found in the use of strategies among students who attributed their performance to either luck or task difficulty. Limitations, implications, and future research ideas are given regarding this research.

Year of Submission

2004

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Radhi H. Al-Mabuk

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2004

Object Description

1 PDF file (85 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS