Enhancing Self-efficacy: Pathway to Improve Academic Achievement Motivation

The present research aimed to study the effect of self-efficacy and gender patterns on intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation-motivational orientations of academic achievement motivation among adolescents. A sample of 102 students (51 males & 51 females), in the age range of 14-17 years, was selected randomly from various educational institutions of tri-city (Chandigarh, Mohali, & Panchkula). The measures used were Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Children (Muris, 2001) and Academic Motivation Scale-High School Version (Vallerand et al., 1992). A 2X2 factorial design was used to analyze the data. The analysis indicated that highly efficacious students were intrinsically motivated than did their counterparts. However, students who have no faith in their capabilities were extrinsically motivated and amotivated. Furthermore, gender differentiation and interaction effect did not make any contribution to the motivational orientations of academic motivation. Low self-efficacy is a driving component of feeling disinterested in academic activities. Amotvation reflects a strong feeling of incompetence and expectancies of uncontrollability is highly detrimental for school achievement. These findings can support the development of practical guidelines for designing interventions to enhance self-efficacy and academic motivation to achieve.