We extended a series of interventions developed in modern cognitive psychology to a group of students who had been academically dismissed and were at high risk to not complete college. Students learned how to respond adaptively to academic failure, how to embrace challenge, how to set realistic goals, and how to persist until their goals are…

Academic procrastination is a problem behavior with negative consequences for students. The extent of this phenomenon among students and the negative impact on their academic achievement requires more attention and research on this issue. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating on the role of fear of failure and subscale of…

Abundant research has shown that the endorsement of performance-avoidance goals in academic contexts is associated with negative outcomes, including poor academic achievement. The present study tests students' social class as a moderator of the relationship between performance-avoidance goals and achievement. Two hundred thirty students (106…

The purpose of the current study is to determine main demotivating factors affecting Turkish EFL university students' English language learning process and to identify the ways they apply to cope with these negative experiences from their own perspectives. The participants were 469 first and second year Turkish EFL university students. Both…

It is important to understand why some students are able to bounce back following setbacks, while others become de-motivated and suffer negative consequences. This study tests a model which places students' beliefs about ability (Dweck & Leggett, 1988) as a key factor which may influence students' motivational response to setbacks and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of traditional age, nonresidential students in higher education who, in contrast with their residential peers, are rarely studied in higher education research. As the population of nonresidential students expands, it becomes important to examine nonresidential students' experiences in…

In this article, the author describes the "Learning Disposition Questionnaire" (LDQ) a tool designed to address more of the "integrity and identity" of college students as learners. Rather than using students' documented skills as a lens by which to assume or interpret learning dispositions, a direct way to evaluate and assess…

This Grounded Theory study utilized Self-determination Theory to analyze the interview results of 18 community college African American and Latino males. The goal was to learn what helped participants to succeed and persist in developmental and transfer-level writing courses despite the obstacles that they faced. Three major themes emerged: (a)…

This article describes a unique process which allows a select few students who have been dismissed for academic deficiency the opportunity to create a Plan for Academic Success (Plan), which, if accepted, reverses the academic dismissal for one semester. If the Plan is accepted, the individual student assumes responsibility for taking action to…

The focus of this study is on the role of achievement goals in students' persistence. The authors administered 5 puzzles to 96 college students: 4 unsolvable and 1 relatively easy (acting as a hope probe). They examined whether and how persistence may deteriorate as a function of failing the puzzles, as well as whether and how persistence may…

Correlates of help-seeking by college students were examined in 3 studies involving a total of 1,539 students. Evidence from all three studies supports the view that help-seeking in college is an achievement-related, rather than a dependent, behavior. Active learners were more likely to seek help when needed. (SLD)

We conducted an archival study of at-risk students who had "stopped out" of college for many reasons (academic dismissal, financial problems, personal problems, etc.) and who later were accepted to return to school. Approximately 27% of the accepted students chose not to return. Those who returned had higher grade point averages, had completed…

Many colleges continue to report high attrition rates among distance education students. This study included a survey of students at Coastline Community College to determine why they dropped or failed their distance-learning courses and to identify methods that might improve their success and retention. Questionnaires were sent to a group of…

Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure), were administered to college students. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other groups by one to two…