EFFECTS OF INTERNALLY FOCUSED FEEDBACK AND ATTRIBUTIONAL FEEDBACK ON ENHANCEMENT OF ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT

The purpose of this investigation is to investigate the effectiveness in enhancing academic self-concept of an intervention delivered by primary school teachers and researchers. Subjects were 162 students from a primary school in metropolitan Sydney, Australia, who scored in approximately the lowest three quarters of their class on academic self-concept. The intervention was a combination of internally focused performance feedback and attributional feedback. The researcher-administered treatment produced modest enhancement of self-concept in target facets (reading and mathematics) and in related facets (school and general) but did not affect three areas of self-concept that were unrelated to the intervention. This treatment increased students' attributions to effort in success situations. The teacher-administered treatment did not significantly affect either self-concept or self-attributions. The findings (a) provide some support for the effectiveness of the researcher-administered treatment as an intervention to enhance self-concept and (b) further indicate the importance of considering the multidimensionality of self-concept in intervention studies.