Module 11
Effort and Persistence
When failure is attributed to a lack of effort, then individuals are likely to try harder in the future.
When failure is attributed to a lack of ability, then individuals will not exert effort in the future.
When failure is attributed to ability, students may begin to fail at tasks they have previously performed well.
Students who consistently fail at school tasks are more likely to attribute failure to ability and to stop expending effort.
So what do we do?
There are specific learning strategies that can be employed to help shape expectancies and motivation. For example, students with high expectancy and who attribute outcome to efforts are more likely to employ successful learning strategies (following training). These same students are also more likely to seek assistance from teacher, and are more likely to approach problem solving tasks in a logical and systematic manner. Therefore it appears that helping students maintain a positive expectancy, and attributing success to effort is important in maintaining motivation.
Students who expect failure are more likely to reject effective learning strategies. These students are likely to pursue rote learning approaches which may decrease their performance in many classroom situations.
