COGNITIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR IN 3RD-GRADE AND 4TH-GRADE DISADVANTAGED-CHILDREN

While most studies on the determinants of learning deal with either co gnition or motivation, there is a growing awareness that both should b e considered. Our purpose was to examine the relative roles of cogniti ve and motivational factors for the scholastic achievement and behavio ur of disadvantaged children. Cognition was conceptualised in terms of the psychosemantic theory that assesses cognitive processes by charac teristics of the individual's meaning assignment (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1987a). Motivation was conceptualised in terms of the cognitive orien tation (CO) theory which assumes that cognitive contents guide behavio ur (Kreitler & Kreitler, 1982). Participants were 57 third and fourth graders of both genders, recommended for a remedial summer programme. They were administered the Meaning Test assessing cognitive abilities; the CO Questionnaire of Motivation for Learning assessing the disposi tion to learn; and the Metropolitan Achievement Test and the IOWA test s assessing verbal, mathematical and working skills. Teachers complete d the Teacher-Child Rating Scale assessing six scholastic behaviours. Regression analyses showed that all dependent variables were predicted by the cognitive and motivational variables, better by specific than global predictors. Cognitive variables contributed more to the predict ions, especially of academic achievements, and more in the case of ver bal than mathematical abilities. In girls, motivational factors played a larger role than cognitive factors, absolutely and relative to boys . Implications for promoting scholastic achievements are discussed.