ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846

Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 10(14), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2017/v10i14/107586, April 2017 ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645

Self-perception and Academic Achievement

Jolly S. Mathew*
SRM School of Teacher Education and Research, SRM University, Kattankalathur, Kanchipuram - 603203,
Tamil Nadu, India; [email protected]

Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical and practical implication of academic self-
perception and various other school related variables in the field of educational psychology research. Methods/
Statistical Analysis: The literature review was done keeping in view the different perspectives of recommendations
made in the field of self-perception and academic achievement. The search attempts to understand various research
studies against self-perception and academic achievement. Findings: The literature review process delivers a detailed
discussion on a set of subject matter specific self-concepts. This self-perception explains how better the students
perform in their various school subjects offered to them like mathematics, science, language arts, social studies etc.
It also explores whether self-perception is one-dimensional or multidimensional. The gap analysis conducted during
literature review focuses on the need to study the subject-specific academic self-perception and its association with
to academic performance. Application/Improvements: Self-awareness is a basic human condition. Self-perception
emerges in the early period of life and the significant others set the platform for it. Many studies show that academic
self-perception is related to wide variety of school-related variables. The related variables are found to be subject
specific school achievement, perceived social status among peers, participation in the class room dialogue, perception
of peers and teachers, classroom behavior.

Keywords: Achievement, School, Self-concept, Self-perception, Students

1. Introduction Human beings though similar otherwise, feel in dif-

ferent ways about themselves. They make choices in
Humankind is creative beings and tries to understand the diverse directions, which mostly depends on the way they
outside world in their individual ways. They are not just understand themselves - “what qualities they think they
mechanical and passive beneficiaries of impetuses from hold, what roles they assume they are expected to play,
the outside world. The perceptual experiences of human what they believe they are capable of, how they view they
beings are not only the matter of varying complexities fare in comparison with others, and how they judge they
within the stimulus field and have only neural basis, but are viewed by others” stated1.
are also a matter of perceiver’s individuality or personal Modern educational theorist and practitioners con-
characteristics. These include the factors of motivations, sider it as foundational the need to develop positive
expectations, values, attitudes, meanings, beliefs etc. self-perception among students. Student’s various school
These play an important role in giving meaning to the experiences and understanding of the school environ-
external world. ment1 contributes in the formation of self-concept, which

*Author for correspondence

 Self-perception and Academic Achievement

is evaluative in nature. Self-system processes are one of 2.2 Academic Achievement

the important predictors of school success. 6
Defined academic achievement as “a specific level of
attainment or proficiency in academic work as evaluated
2. Literature Review by the learners by standardized test or by a combina-
tion of both.” (p.3) In India, the school education system
2.1 Academic Self-perception measures Academic Achievement of students through
tests and examination. It decides: pass and fail, rank and
According to researchers2, an academic self-perception is
grades which assist the student in their future education.
the awareness and perceptions about oneself in achieve-
Scholastic performance plays a vital role in the deter-
ment situations. Positive self-perceptions about one’s own
mination of future success. English and English in the
academic capabilities form a significant part in adolescent
dictionary of psychology defined academic achievement
students’ to their adjustment in school. 1Defined aca-
as an attained ability to perform school tasks.
demic self-concept as students’ “overall feelings of doing
Customarily, school examination marks are taken as
well or poorly in a given subject area” (p. 17). In scholarly
a measure of achievement for social research purposes.
work self-perception and self-concept have been used
It is considered as benchmark for selection, promotion
interchangeably.
or appreciation in various walks of life and important
Academic self-concept is further classified into aca-
goal in this highly competitive world. It is one of the pri-
demic areas such as Mathematics, Language Art, Science,
mary goals across all cultures, which every individual
Social Science and other subjects3. Academic self-per-
is expected to accomplish. Academic achievement is a
ception items normally refer to specific subjects offered
significant process through which an individual student
in schools as a part of school curriculum. The academic
learns about one’s own talents, skill and capabilities which
self-perceptions demonstrate an important role in guid-
plays a significant part in developing aspirations and goals
ing students’ enterprise towards their academic effort.
in career7. Past research shows that students who perceive
Adolescents become confident to take challenges when
themselves as very proficient are likely to attempt new
they have a healthy perception of themselves.
methods and approaches to a given tasks. Hence perhaps
Previous research has suggested that a strong rela-
they are more productive compared to peers8. Problems
tionship exists between self-perception and academic
related to academic achievement that arise in early school
achievement. Students who have positive self-per-
days also predict drop-out.
ception had higher academic achievement. Earlier
studies have consistently reported that self-concept
changes with various stages of growth and develop-
2.3 Relation between Self-perception,
ment and gender among students 4found that though
the student’s perceptions of their mathematics abilities
Academic Achievement and other
and verbal skills have diminished gradually, but their Related Variables
enjoyment of and fondness for these subjects did not The ability to think about one’s thinking allows the ado-
decline with perceptions. lescent to develop concepts about the internal workings
The Academic self-concept has a bearing on improved of the self-system. For example, to create an understand-
performances of students in various scholastic areas in ing of how the relationship between the importance of
school or how well they gain knowledge and understand- success and perceived adequacy impacts the overall eval-
ing. Academic self-concept has two levels. A generic uation of one’s worth as a person. According to9-11, school
academic self-concept of how exceptional students are performance, self-perceptions of competence, and moti-
in their overall performance in school. A specific sub- vation all tend to be inter-correlated among school going
ject-matter self-concepts that portray how well students children. Although the direction of its effect is unsettled,
perform in various subject areas like mathematics, sci- students who feel positive about themselves are likely to
ence, language arts, social science, etc. According to5 be intrinsically motivated and tend to be academically
children make clear cut distinctions between their com- competent. This dynamic network of self-related cogni-
petencies in specific domains. Self-concept is not a static, tions, motivation, and academic performance is referred
trait-like construct. to as the self-system.

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 Jolly S. Mathew

Student’s self-perception of his ability seems to be a of academic self-concept hierarchy was to some degree
definite indication of the centrality of education for ado- distinct from what the researchers formerly anticipated1.
lescents. Some year later, the lives of these youngsters Scholarly work suggests two perspectives of aca-
may bring about very different self-portrayals. Perhaps it demic self-concept18. The first perspective as pointed
is in the realm of such non-intellectual variables that one’s by the researchers14, affirms that similar to generic self-
insights into the nature of other persons must become concept, academic self-concept is also hierarchical and
most meaningful. multi-dimensional. The academic self-concept is based
In an interesting study, 12studied the correlation on specific subjects. For example, the self-concept of lan-
between academic self-concept and academic perfor- guage arts, science, mathematics and social studies. This
mance. From the research conclusions, it was verified perspective is given compelling support in Educational
in the study that academic self-concept strongly and psychology19. Researchers recommend such viewpoint
positively predicts overall performance in literature and because, important learning outcomes are largely associ-
mathematics.13reported that students who perceived ated to academic self-concept but are comparatively not
themselves as academically competent also scored higher associated to self-esteem and non-scholastic component
marks. This is due to the fact that they were self -moti- of self-concept20,19.
vated14. The second perspective of the researchers consid-
The study done among adolescent students by 15found ers academic self-concept as one-dimensional, academic
that there is no significant effect on mean performance achievement is influenced further by a wider concept
of academic achievement of creativity, achievement moti- idea of academic self-concept. It is usually measured by
vation, self-concept, index of Brightness and adjustment. percentage of scores21. Experimenters with similar per-
But self-perception and academic achievement are posi- spective, measure academic self-concept mostly using
tively correlated to each other. It has been observed that comprehensive academic achievement. They do not
students who have scored higher and have greater self-per- examine subject specific academic self-perception.
ception reflect confidence. They have higher expectation Both perspectives are constructive. It is beneficial to
of their test scores and have opted to undertake a degree generally understand what it means for the students or
programme wherein the return of investment is higher. their impression, specifically about their academic capa-
They expect even higher salaries16. bilities as suggested by various authors. Previous studies
In terms of gender differences, findings according to17 have pointed out that there is an association between
show that “self-concept followed stereotypical models, generic academic self-perception and overall academic
with boys having higher self-concepts regarding physical performance.
ability and mathematics while girls held higher reading,
school and parent self-concepts”. Another study shows
that the students from urban areas have better self-per- 3.1 Conceptual Framework
ceptions than rural students. The fundamental role played in conceptualization of self-
perception is perceptions of self-competence. According
3. Dimensionality to22, “Perceived competence in defined domains or activi-
ties comprises the single most critical element in both
Self-perception, according to2, is a multidimensional self-beliefs” as cited in1 p.10.Self-concept is a multidi-
construct. Self-concept is differentiated over its various mensional construct. A construct with general facet and
spheres of operation. The self-perception has hierar- several specific facets. One of the constructs is Academic
chical structure and are based on the specific domain. Self Concept. Further contribution was made in this
The generic perceptions are at the topmost level in the construct when Burnett developed a scale to measure
hierarchy. In relation to the academic field, the authors student’s self-perception among the elementary school
hypothesized that a generic academic self-concept would setting. It was reported that positive relationship exists
include more area-specific self-concepts. Although the between reading and mathematics self-perceptions. This
authors continue to hold on to the position of multidi- investigation also highlighted evidences that learner
mensionality and hierarchy of self-concept, researchers self-concept of both reading and mathematics may be
subsequently explored and identified that the basic nature a higher order factor. Hence, these subject-area were

Vol 10 (14) | April 2017 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
 Self-perception and Academic Achievement

predictors of student’s self-perception. It has been also the relation between (a) prior self-concept and subse-
found that students distinguish self-concepts in different quent academic achievement and (b) prior academic
school academic subjects. Comparatively such distinction achievement and subsequent self-concept. As high
is of much greater extent than it has been previously rec- self-concept is related to high academic performance
ognized. and vice versa, intervention programs that combine
Studies were conducted to find out the direction of self-enhancement and skill development should be
the causal relationship between academic self-concept integrated.”(p.505)
and academic achievement. In an attempt to determine A third model emerged as a settlement between
the direction of the causal relationship, research shows the model of self-enhancement and skill development.
that three models are useful. They are: the model of According to the reciprocal effects model, academic
self enhancement, skill development and the reciprocal self-concept and academic achievement are mutually
effects23. connected and jointly strengthening. Therefore, previ-
The model of self-enhancement hypothesizes that ous academic self-perception affects successive academic
self-concept variables are mainly causes of academic achievement and prior academic attainment affects con-
achievement. It has been suggested that in case the path secutive academic self-concept as cited in29.
of causality is pointing from academic self-perception to Furthermore, research shows that academic com-
academic achievement, then self-perception interven- petence was the only variable that was significantly
tions would be acceptable in devoting effort to enhancing correlated with self-perception. Researchers30 were of the
students’ self-system rather than the development of opinion that students with higher academic self-concept
academic achievement. The various programs for self- may have an edge on surpassing their colleagues aca-
concept enhancement depend on this supposition as the demically. They also opined that this direction predicts
explanation for such mediations. a positive direction between academic self-perception
Contrary to what has been stated, in case the path and students’ mastery in their school related activities.
of causality is pointing from academic achievement to Besides, the favourable effects formed by a good level of
academic self-concept, then an intervention of skill devel- self-concept have been validated. 31In their study indicate
opment model may be a more acceptable. This model that students with a high self-concept were associated
suggests that academic self-concept arises principally with students with low self-concept. The reports given by
as a consequence of academic achievement. The skill the teachers show that teachers regard students with high
development model assumes that the most effective way self-perception as more accepted, accommodating and
to improve academic self-concept is to develop stronger tenacious in classroom activities. These students also have
academic skills as suggested by24-26. lesser anxiety levels, more accommodative family mem-
Studies based on experimental manipulation do not bers and are ambitious of future accomplishment. Based
provide support to these competing models for the mea- on the discussion above, the model for self-perception is
surement of self-concept and academic achievement. But shown in Figure 1.
longitudinal studies on two occasions prove that both the
methods that is self-enhancement and self-development
are the most popular and effective method. Researchers27,
have suggested the need to improve students’ academic
achievement and academic self-perception in respective
academic domains. Absence of enhancing students’ self-
concept in the respective academic domains may possibly
lead to only interim achievement. The authors use lon-
gitudinal data to support their viewpoint. Students who
are better at evaluating themselves assign their time of
learning more efficiently. Thus such students have better
academic outcomes.
According to28, “the self-concept’s globality/speci-
ficity was the only significant moderating factor in Figure 1. Academic Self-perception Model.

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 Jolly S. Mathew

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