能力與努力稱讚對華人學童成就動機之影響

Abstract

近年來西方針對教師評語的研究發現，能力稱讚相對於努力稱讚對學童的成就動機有較為不良的影響，接受能力回饋的學童在成就目標上會偏向表現目標，進而於學業挫折之後，顯示較低的內在動機和較強的能力歸因，並且有較差的後續表現。但是，華人社會之儒家文化相當強調努力對學習的影響、忽略能力差異在學習中的角色，如此之學習價值觀體系與西方有很大的差異，因此，能力及努力稱讚對華人的影響，也可能不同。本研究根基於此，以台灣樣本重複Mueller與Dweck（1998）的研究結果。實驗一以58名國小五年級學童為樣本完整重複Mueller與Dweck的實驗三。結果發現，能力稱讚、努力稱讚及中性稱讚對華人學童成就動機的影響皆相同，他們在成就目標傾向、失敗後實際表現、作業持續力、能力及努力歸因傾向、訊息尋求偏好上皆無差異。實驗二修正部份實驗用語，使之更符合中文使用者的語言習慣，以63名受試者重複實驗一的程序，亦獲得相同的結果。除了稱讚效果的結果，實驗一與實驗二亦同時發現傾向表現目標的學習者和傾向學習目標的學習者，在前列的依變項上無顯著差異，此結果不符合傳統成就動機理論的預期。實驗三因此以268位大學生為樣本，透過因素分析及迴歸分析探討華人的成就目標結構，結果發現華人的成就目標可以區分為三個因素，包括學習目標、成果目標與能力目標，其中學習目標可以預測最為適應的學習組型，能力目標則預測不適應的習得無助反應，成果目標則於內在動機上偏向受挫、但行為上則較趨於精熟反應。因此，同屬於表現目標範疇之成果目標與能力目標中，只有能力目標才會引發華人學童的不適應性學習傾向。根據前三個實驗的結果，實驗四先操弄受試者對能力訊息的敏感度，再重複實驗一與實驗二的研究程序，以45位受試者進行實驗的結果，與實驗一及實驗二一致，即使增加學生在乎能力的傾向，能力與努力稱讚對華人學童而言，仍不會造成不同的效果，選擇學習目標或表現目標的受試者也傾向相同的成就動機趨勢。本研究揭示成就動機研究領域中，文化差異會對理論的適用性造成影響。

Past research has shown that praise aimed at the child's ability results in a helpless response and that praise directed at the child's effort fosters a mastery- oriented response. However, in Chinese society, effort is always encouraged but ability is rarely mentioned. The value system for learning in Chinese culture differs from that in the Western culture. The present research attempted to replicate the paradigm applied in Mueller and Dweck (1998) to demonstrate cultural differences of children’s reaction to ability and to effort praises. Fifty-eight and sixty-three Chinese fifth graders in Taiwan participated in Study 1 and Study 2 respectively. They were praised for ability, effort, or a neutral reason after success. No group differences were found on achievement goals, responses after failure, or failure attribution. Ability praise neither caused negative impact on performance nor decreased task-enjoyment and task-persistence more than effort praise among Chinese children. In addition to the findings of praises, Study 1 and Study 2 also revealed that traditional achievement goal classification of learning and performance goals could not predict differential behavioral and motivational patterns. Thus, Study 3 was performed aiming to explore Chinese students’ achievement goal structure. Two hundred and sixty-eight college students were recruited in Study 3. Factor analysis revealed that Chinese students have three different achievement goals, including learning goal, outcome goal, and ability goal. The regression analyses showed that learning goal predicted mastery orientation, and ability goal was highly related with maladaptive learning pattern, while outcome goal was helpful to learning behavior but harmful to intrinsic motivation. The result of Study 3 indicated that traditional goal structure is not suited for Chinese learners. Thought ability goal and outcome goal are both performance goals, only ability goal predict learned helplessness. With the findings from the previous three experiments, Study 4 was conducted aiming to replicate the findings of Study 1 and Study 2 while subjects’ sensitivity to ability praise were induced. Forty-five students were included in Study 4, all of the subjects received ability goal manipulation before they were praised. The results were consistent with Study 1 and Study 2. To sum, the present research found ability and effort praises do not cause different effects on Chinese students among three experiments. Possible Culture explanations are discussed.