Actitud y Percepción de Autoeficacia sobre la Escritura en Estudiantes Chilenos de 3º Básico a 3º Medio

Abstract

Though evidence is not conclusive, motivation to write tends to decline throughout schooling in international research. The role of sex in this tendency is unclear. To identify and compare the motivation for writing of Chilean students from different grade levels and the role of sex, questionnaires addressing two relevant variables of motivation –attitude and self-efficacy perceptions– were applied to a convenience sample of 2160 students from 3rd grade to 11th grade from 5 schools in the Metropolitan region in Chile. Sample means were obtained for each scale, distinguishing the results according to school level and sex. Tests of mean differences, analysis of variance and Tukey test were performed. Pearson correlations between the averages of both scales for each school level were also calculated. Results confirm the international trend, since motivation levels are lower in the higher grades and, comparatively, 3rd and 4th grade show higher averages than the rest of the grades up to 11th grade in the Attitude scale and up to 10th grade in the Selfefficacy scale. On average, females showed better motivation to write than their male peers, with significant differences in grades 3rd and 8th, and grades 9th and 10th on the Attitude scale, and grades 8th and 9th on the Self-efficacy scale. Positive correlations were found between the two variables across all grades.