Academic self‐beliefs and prior knowledge as predictors of student achievement in Mathematics: a structural model

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between prior knowledge, academic self‐beliefs, and previous study success in predicting the achievement of 139 students on a university mathematics course. Structural equation modelling was used to explore the interplay of these variables in predicting student achievement. The results revealed that domain‐specific prior knowledge was the strongest predictor of student achievement over and above other variables included in the model and, together with previous study success, explained 55% of the variance. Academic self‐beliefs strongly correlated with previous study success and had a strong direct influence on prior knowledge test performance. However, self‐beliefs predicted student achievement only indirectly via prior knowledge. The results imply that both prior knowledge and self‐beliefs should be taken into account when considering instructional support issues, because they can provide valuable insights about the future performance of the students.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank Professor Sari Lindblom‐Ylänne for her valuable comments.