Spinath & Spinath (2005)

Spinath, B. and Spinath, F. M. (2005). Longitudinal analysis of the link between learning motivation and competence beliefs among elementary school children. Learning and Instruction, 15(2), 87-102.

Choice of Study
Learning and Instruction included several articles pertaining to effort and Spinath and Spinath have done prior work in the field. This particular article claimed to be intended for practical application by teachers, which made it seem more relevant. In fact, the practical application is not clear after reading the article, but there is significant evidence for future research.

Problem
While past research implied that learning motivation declines with age, there was little research in the area to explain this decline. Prior work looking at the relationship between competence beliefs and learning motivation was inconsistent. Some suggested that competence beliefs were related to learning motivation, and some found no relationship. The authors of this study investigated the possible causal effects of competence beliefs on learning motivation.

Methods
Measures and Procedures
Spinath and Spinath (2005) conducted a two-year longitudinal study with students from four German elementary schools (n = 789). The students were in five different cohorts, and the study covered four grades total (each cohort was in two grades total over the two- year period).

To measure competence beliefs and learning motivation Spinath and Spinath (2005) used a four-item, Likert scale assessment. Each measure yielded one factor through factor analysis and had reliabilities of α = 0.76 and α = 0.74 respectively. The measures were distributed twice each school year and by a trained administrator (not the classroom teacher). All items of the measures were read aloud to the class.

Analyses
Analyses of variance was used to look at the change in mean scores of both competence beliefs and learning motivation throughout the duration of the study. A path analysis was run to see if the relationship between learning motivation and concept beliefs impacted future learning motivation and concept beliefs. A second path analysis was run to investigate the purely correlational relationship between learning motivation and competence beliefs contemporaneously.

Results
Consistent with prior research, competence beliefs and learning motivation both declined with age with all the cohorts. Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) was used to assess which model would be a better fit for the data. The AIC was not different, indicating that prior self perception of competence beliefs and learning motivation do not aid in predicting future competence beliefs and learning motivation.

Of note, the authors observed a relationship between past competence beliefs and future competence beliefs and between past learning motivation and future learning motivation. Additionally, they noted a relationship between current competence beliefs and current learning motivation.

Discussion
This study adds to evidence suggesting that student competence beliefs and learning motivation decline with age. While these two constructs correlate highly with each other consistently in past research and in this study, the researchers found no evidence supporting a causal relationship between them. Further, it suggests that researchers investigate whether or not this decline is inevitable or if there are consistent contributing characteristics.

Critique
The methodology appears to be quite thorough as the researchers looked at the possible causal relationship in both directions. The sample while not random, was ample in size. The length of the study provided a fair amount of data with which to work. From the data and description provided, it is not clear how the researchers accounted for the known current correlation between competence beliefs and learning motivation when predicting future values of competence beliefs and learning motivation in the causal model. Due to this lack of information it is not completely clear that the causal relationship can be ruled out.

Conclusions
Spinath and Spinath (2005) acknowledge the decline in both competence beliefs and learning motivation and call for future research in understanding the cause of the decline of each with age. Competence beliefs often decline as students begin to see a more realistic view of their ability as they age. Spinath and Spinath suggest a separation of the two constructs might uncover a new characteristic that could be identified as a cause of one or both constructs. And, if so, then the decline in learning motivation may not be inevitable even though the decline in competence beliefs appears to be.

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