Attributions and Attributional Change: Effects of a Mastery Learning Instructional Approach

The role of attributions in achievement situations is examined, as well as whether attributions can be altered by the implementation of specified instructional conditions. One hundred eighty nine students from four campuses of a city consolidated community college system were divided into two groups and taught over an 18-week semester by: (1) experienced teachers under mastery learning conditions; or (2) other techniques (controls). The Adult Achievement Responsibility (AAR) scale was used to collect attributional information and was administered in the third, tenth, and seventeenth weeks of instruction. An individual's AAR score was defined as the total number of internally oriented choices selected by the student. Student effort was assessed by observation of overt time-on-task behaviors, and by collecting data on the student's patterns of classroom absenteeism. Achievement was considered to be a cognitive measure of the student's level of performance on formative and summative examinations, as well as his or her final grade in a course. Results indicated that an individual's attributions are significantly related to measures of effort and achievement, but are manipulable only when certain learning conditions can be achieved. The 26-item AAT instrument is appended. (Author/RL)