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A Comparative Study on Undergraduate Students' Academic Motivation and Academic Self-Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Mine Isiksal
Mine Isiksal*
Affiliation:
Middle East Technical University (Turkey)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mine Isiksal. Middle East Technical University. Faculty of Education. Department of Elementary Education. 06531 Ankara. (Turkey). Phone: +90-3122106412. Fax: +90-312-2107984. Email: misiksal@metu.edu.tr
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate Turkish and American undergraduate students' academic motivation and academic self-concept scores regarding the years that they spent in university. The analysis was based on 566 (284 Turkish, 282 American) undergraduate students where, Academic Motivation Scale and Academic Self-Concept Scale were used as measuring instruments. The results showed that there was a statistical significant effect of nationality and number of years spent in university on undergraduate students' intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and self-concept scores. Turkish students had higher intrinsic scores whereas American students had higher extrinsic scores and more positive academic-self concept compared to Turkish partners. Regarding grade level, senior students from both cultures had higher intrinsic motivation and academic self-concept scores compared to other grade levels. In terms of extrinsic motivation, there is steady decline in American students' scores as grade level increases. On the other hand, Turkish undergraduates' extrinsic scores decrease in the second year but increase in the third and fourth year of university education. Results were discussed by taking into consideration the social and cultural differences between two nations.

El propósito de este trabajo fue investigar en postgraduados turcos y americanos la motivación y el autoconcepto académicos, en relación con los años invertidos en la universidad. Se registraron las puntuaciones de una muestra de 566 estudiantes postgraduados (284 turcos y 282 americanos) en una Escala de motivación académica y otra Escala de autoconcepto académico. Los resultados indicaron un efecto estadísticamente significativo entre la nacionalidad y el número de años invertidos en la universidad para las puntuaciones de motivación intrínseca, extrínseca y autoconcepto. Los estudiantes turcos puntuaban más alto en motivación intrínseca mientras que los americanos puntuaban más alto en extrínseca y mostraron un autoconcepto más positivo que los estudiantes turcos. En relación con el nivel de estudios, los estudiantes licenciados de ambas culturas puntuaban más alto en motivación intrínseca y en autoconcepto académico que los estudiantes diplomados. En cuanto a la motivación extrínseca, los estudiantes americanos mostraron un descenso en sus puntuaciones a medida que aumentaba el nivel de estudios. Por otro lado, las puntuaciones extrínsecas de los postgraduados turcos disminuía en la segunda mitad del año aunque incrementaba entre el tercer y cuarto año de estudios universitarios. Los resultados se discutieron teniendo en cuenta las diferencias socioculturales de ambas naciones.

Keywords

comparative studyacademic motivationacademic self-conceptestudios comparativosmotivación académicaautoconcepto académico
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 2010 , pp. 572 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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