Adjusting to academic life and managing to perform well at university is challenging for any first-year student. One of the keys to study success is motivation. In line with the social cognitive approach, two motivational constructs are considered: self-efficacy and attribution. Previous studies predominantly took a 'snapshot' of first year…

Using data from 4047 adolescents in three countries, this study was designed to investigate the associations between two important components of the learning process: academic motivation and student engagement. To increase the precision and accuracy of these analyses, preliminary analyses were conducted to identify the optimal measurement…

This study used a longitudinal person-oriented approach to examine whether two distinct developmental pathways of maladaptive motivation could be distinguished among high-ability students (intelligence quotient [IQ] [greater than or equal to] 120, N = 403, M[subscript age] = 12.2 years, 60.5% males), as proposed by the Pathways to Underachievement…

How does students' academic commitment develop over the course of their first term? Process research on students' early academic experiences has been scarce due to a lack of appropriate high-density-high-frequency research designs. We thus have very limited knowledge on how students become academically committed over time. Drawing on the analogue…

The current study focusses on the level of statistics anxiety and the motivation to learn statistics in Flanders (Belgium) and determined to what degree these factors and their interaction relates to statistical performance. For this purpose, the Statistics Anxiety Scale and the Statistics Motivation Scale were translated, validated, and…

This longitudinal study assessed the relative importance of second language exposure, motivational and attitudinal factors, and executive functions in predicting receptive vocabulary acquisition in children and adolescents after controlling for background characteristics (socio-economic status, non-verbal intelligence) and prior knowledge. The…

Several factors seem important to understand the nature of mathematical learning. Byrnes and Miller combined these factors into the Opportunity-Propensity model. In this study the model was used to predict the number-processing factor and the arithmetic fluency in grade 4 (n = 195) and grade 5 (n = 213). Gender, intelligence and affect (positive…

Despite the growing body of studies on collocation learning in SLA research, there are hardly any studies taking the perspective of the individual learner or studies that have examined the effect of individual differences. This study--a qualitative component of a mixed-methods longitudinal project--presents an in-depth exploration of the intro-…

Besides being promoted as a way to improve target language proficiency, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is also believed to positively impact socio-affective variables such as language attitudes and motivation. Yet, few extensive empirical studies exist on these aspects in CLIL. The present contribution aims to address this gap in…

The role of metacognitive postdiction accuracy and autonomous and controlled motivation in mathematics was explored in elementary school children (n = 208) within two perspectives, related to sample characteristics. A first study was set up in a population-based cohort. A second study was set up with children with and without a documented…

In the digital wilds, thriving storytelling practices (often in transcultural and multilingual contexts) share with Maker culture a belief in learning through doing, bricolage, collaboration, and playfulness. Key examples are fanfiction, a form of creative writing that transforms popular media in some way, and interactive fiction, a form of…

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of digital competence and technology expectancy and how they interact with cultural differences on digital informal learning (DIL) of university students have different cultural backgrounds. Empirical data collected from a survey conducted both in China and Belgium, the total sample…

Online interaction has been associated with positive outcomes, academically and psychologically. Regarding the latter, social connectedness has been recognised as an important outcome on the basis of its link to subjective well-being and course satisfaction. In adult educational settings, how online interaction can foster social connectedness has…

Although teachers are recommended to create a stimulating learning environment in which children can use, perfect, and extend their skills, this is far from easy. In many cases, identifying the optimal difficulty level of learning tasks involves a trial-and-error process during which teachers offer children too difficult tasks, with negative…

This study focuses on prisoners' motivation for participation in educational programs within a remand prison in Flanders (Belgium), using a standardized questionnaire (N = 486). Descriptive, bivariate, and logistic regression analyses are used to map differences in educational motives. The results show that 29% of the respondents participated in…