Development of attributional beliefs and strategic knowledge in years 5-9: A longitudinal analysis

This paper reports on a three-year longitudinal study of students' attributional beliefs and strategic knowledge in school learning. Two cohorts of primary and high school students were followed for three years from Years 5-7 and 7-9, respectively. Data were collected each year on students' attributional beliefs regarding the reasons for their school success and failure, their knowledge and reported use of learning strategies, and academic achievement. Intervention programs were implemented in six Year 6 and seven Year 8 English classes in the second year of the longitudinal project. The intervention aimed to promote strategic learning in students through combining the teaching of learning strategies with attempts to change students' attributional beliefs. In the third year of the project, the intervention continued in three Year 7 and three Year 9 English classes as well as in three Year 7 and one Year 9 mathematics classes. This paper focuses on the causal influences of prior measures of attributional beliefs, strategic knowledge, and achievement on measures taken in the following year. Results of the differential patterns of causal influence of these measures for intervention and non-intervention students are reported. Copyright © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.