Towards understanding academic ability: A socio -cultural approach to the development of the concept of academic ability.
Item
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Title
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Towards understanding academic ability: A socio -cultural approach to the development of the concept of academic ability.
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Identifier
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AAI3325469
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identifier
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3325469
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Creator
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Rawlins, Caren.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Colette Daiute
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Date
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2008
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The socio-cultural perspective is employed in this study as a different theoretical perspective to investigate children's understanding of academic ability where the focus was on the social context of cognitive development. This study describes social interactions that mediate the development of the concept of academic ability and explains how these social interactions lend themselves to a developing concept of academic ability.;Observations were conducted in a 5th grade classroom of whole class interactions. There were 9 open-ended interviews which involved questions of what it means to do well in three distinct ways, referred to as contexts. Analyses revealed that children defined academic ability in complex ways using categories of behavior, grades or scores and achievement. Children's understandings of academic ability were shown to be context sensitive and socio-culturally rooted. In the three different contexts, classroom, imagination and personal students used the categories in varying degrees. Behavior was the dominant category used in the classroom context, while grades or scores was used in the imagination and personal contexts in different degrees.;Results indicated several social interactions posited to mediate students' thoughts resulting in specific definitions of academic ability. That is, the interactions of public critique, moments for social comparison and the valuing of individualism were identified as helping to construct students' thoughts of academic ability. Analyses further identified discourses of evaluation and motivation and an organizational arrangement practice that might be considered psychological tools mediating ability concept development. Students' understandings were explained in the context of the increased testing mandated by The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and the period of testing in which they were engaged.;This study highlights that students' concepts of ability are socially constructed. It shows the importance of using the socio-cultural perspective to investigate processes involved in academic ability concept development. The use of the socio-cultural perspective highlights that students' understanding of academic ability is inextricably linked to their cultural context occurring first on the social level before being internalized.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
