0000000000094643
AUTHOR
Pilvi Peura
Benefits of Integrating an Explicit Self-Efficacy Intervention With Calculation Strategy Training for Low-Performing Elementary Students
This study examined the malleability of math self-efficacy (SE) among children with poor calculation fluency via an intervention that targeted four sources of SE (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and emotional and physiological states). The effect of pure strategy training was contrasted with an intervention that integrated strategy training and explicit SE support. Moreover, the changes in SE source experiences and their relation with math SE, as well as the relation between math-SE profiles and calculation fluency development, were examined. In a quasi-experimental design, 60 Finnish children with calculation fluency problems in Grades 2 to 4 participated in…
"Pystynkö minä?" : lasten uskomukset omista kyvyistään merkityksellisiä lukutaidon kehittymiselle
Pilvi Peuran erityispedagogiikan väitöskirja "Children's reading self-efficacy: specificity, trajectories of change and relation to reading fluency development" tarkastettiin Jyväskylän yliopiston kasvatustieteen ja psykologian tiedekunnassa 19.6.2021. Vastaväittäjänä toimi professori Janna Viljaranta Itä-Suomen yliopistosta ja kustoksena Mikko Aro Jyväskylän yliopistosta. peerReviewed
Development of math anxiety and its longitudinal relationships with arithmetic achievement among primary school children
Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the development of two separable aspects of math anxiety, anxiety about math-related situations and anxiety about failure in math, and their cross-lagged relationship with arithmetic achievement. The mean level of anxiety about math-related situations decreased among second, third, and fourth graders, and the level of anxiety about failure in math declined among third, fourth, and fifth graders. The rank-order of individuals was more stable in arithmetic achievement than in either aspect of math anxiety. Arithmetic achievement predicted later anxiety about failure in math, but neither aspect of math anxiety predicted later achievement. The result…
Can reading fluency and self-efficacy of reading fluency be enhanced with an intervention targeting the sources of self-efficacy?
Abstract The first aim of the study was to analyze whether reading fluency and self-efficacy of reading fluency (SE-rf) are malleable for children (Grades 3–5) with deficits in fluent reading via a 12-week special education program targeting both reading fluency and the sources of SE-rf (SE-program). The second aim was to investigate whether changes in SE-rf are related to changes in reading fluency. The SE-program (n = 40) was contrasted with the SKILL-program (n = 42) providing training solely in reading fluency. The groups showed equal improvements in reading fluency. Positive change in SE-rf emerged only in the SE-group, and this change was associated with changes in fluency, but the as…
Specificity of Reading Self-Efficacy Among Primary School Children
We investigated the specificity of reading self-efficacy among second- to fifth-grade children in Finland (N = 1,327). Bandura (1997 Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Freeman. [Google Scholar] ) theorized that efficacy beliefs can be assessed at different levels of specificity; however, empirical support for this view is scarce among young children. Efficacy beliefs targeting reading-related activities were assessed at three specificity levels (general, intermediate, and specific). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that these specificity levels are separable, but correlated, and the structure was invariant across gender and grade level. Self-effic…
Trajectories of change in reading self-efficacy: A longitudinal analysis of self-efficacy and its sources
The beliefs children hold about their capabilities as readers are known to influence their reading achievement. The aim of this study was to extend previous work by examining trajectories of change in reading self-efficacy among primary school students (N = 1327) and the relations between the trajectories of self-efficacy and their hypothesized sources over 11 months. Using growth mixture modeling, we identified four trajectories of change in reading self-efficacy, involving increasing, stable, and declining trends. These trajectories of change in reading self-efficacy were associated with students’ varying experiences with the four sources of self-efficacy over time. Higher levels of maste…
Reading self-efficacy and reading fluency development among primary school children: Does specificity of self-efficacy matter?
Abstract Efficacy beliefs relate to effort and persistence devoted to learning. Therefore, efficacy beliefs might be especially important in achieving skills that require persistent practice, such as fluent reading. Although reading self-efficacy has been positively linked to reading comprehension, less is known about its relationship to reading fluency . The relationship between reading self-efficacy studied at three specificity levels and reading fluency development was examined among Finnish primary school students ( N = 1327). The results showed that self-efficacy related positively to reading fluency and its development. The association was dependent on the specificity of the self-effi…
Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children
Background Children have been found to report and demonstrate math anxiety as early as the first grade. However, previous results concerning the relationship between math anxiety and performance are contradictory, with some studies establishing a correlation between them while others do not. These contradictory results might be related to varying operationalizations of math anxiety. Aims In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills in primary school children, with explicit focus on two aspects of math anxiety: anxiety about failure in mathematics and anxiety in math-related situations. Sample The participants comprised 1…
Cognitive Skills, Math-Related Emotions, and Beliefs Explaining Response to Arithmetic Fluency Intervention
We examined the associations of cognitive skills, math-related emotions and beliefs, and gender with responses to an arithmetic fluency intervention. Elementary school children with dysfluent arithmetic skills (N=69) participated in an arithmetic fluency intervention (with and without self-efficacy support) implemented in small groups in schools for 12 weeks. Hierarchical regression models including cognitive skills or math-related emotions and beliefs predicted 21% to 50% of the variation in the intervention response, i.e., improvement in arithmetic fluency. Cognitive skills were associated with the response mainly among boys, whereas math-related emotions and beliefs explained more among …