This is in line with Dweck and her colleagues' ..... and learning: Essays in honor of Wilben J. McKeachie (pp. 189-211). .... James Byrnes (2) ... Nancy Darling.
Journal of Educational Psychology 1998. Vol. 90. No.3. 528-535
Copyright 1998 by the American PsychologIcal Associ.non. Inc. 0022 ·0663198/5300
Why Do Some Students Avoid Asking for Help?
An Examination of the Interplay Among Students' Academic Efficacy,
Teachers' Social-Emotional Role, and the Classroom Goal Structure
Allison M. Ryan, Margaret H. Gheen, and Carol Midgley
University of Michigan
With hierarchical linear modeling, student reports of the avoidance of help seeking were related to student and classroom characteristics. Avoidance of help seeking was related negatively to students' academic efficacy. However, avoidance of help seeking was related less strongly to students' academic efficacy in classrooms in which teachers believed they should attend to their students' social and emotional needs. Average levels of avoidance of help seeking were related to students' perceptions of the classroom goal structure: A perceived emphasis on self-improvement was related to lower levels of help avoidance, whereas a perceived emphasis on relative ability was associated with higher levels. Teacher reports of their approaches to instruction (emphasizing self-improvement or emphasizing relative ability) were unrelated to students' avoidance of help seeking.
Help seeking is an important self-regulatory strategy that contributes to student learning (Karabenick & Sharma, 1994; Newman. 1994; Zimmennan & Martinez-Pons. 1988). Inevitably, students will encounter ambiguity or difficulty in their schoolwork and need assistance. In such a situation, it is adaptive for students to use others as a resource to secure the necessary help and continue the learning process (McCa slin & Good, 1996). As children develop into adolescents, their metacognitive skills improve (Keating, 1990), and they are better able to monitor and reflect on their perfonnance and to determine their need for help in academic situations (Myers & Paris. 1978; Nelson Le-Gall. 1981, 1985; New man, 1991, 1994). However, many adolescents do not actively seek help with their academic work when needed (Good, Slavings, Harel, & Emerson, 1987; Newman, 1990; Newman & Goldin. 1990; Ryan & Pintrich, 1997; van del' Meij,1990). Why do some adolescent students decide not to seek help when they know they need it? One characteristic of students that has been found to be related to help-seeking behavior is their academic self-efficacy, which refers to students' judg ments of their capabilities to complete their schoolwork su cessfully (Pintrich & Schunk. 1996; Schunk, 1991). Students with low self-efficacy are more likely to believe that others will think that their need for help indicates that Allison M. Ryan. Margaret H. Gheen. and Carol Midgley. Combined Program in Education and Psychology. University of Michigan. TItis research was supported by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundauon. We thank Valerie Lee and Julia Smith for their advice with the data analysis. We also thank Paul Pintrich and Lisa Linnenbrink for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Allison M. Ryan. who is now at the Department of Educational Psychology. University of Illinois. 230 Education Building. 1310 South Sixth Street. Champaisn, Illinois 61820-6990.
they lack ability, and, therefore. they are less likely to seek help. In contrast, when students who have high self-efficacy encounter failure or difficulty, they do not worry that others will attribute it to their lack of ability and are more likely to secure the necessary help (Newman, 1990; Ryan & Pintrich. 1997). This relation between self-efficacy and help seeking is troubling: The students who do not feel capable of doing their work are the ones most likely to avoid asking for help. The very students who need help the most seek it the least. When low-efficacy students avoid asking for help when they need it, they put themselves at a disadvantage for learning and perfonnance. What can be done in classrooms to encourage all students to seek help when they require it? A classroom in which only acadernically confident children seek help seems less than ideal. The aim of this study was to investigate how the classroom context relates to (a) the overall level of student reported avoidance of help seeking in the classroom and (b) the relation between student academic self-efficacy and the avoidance of help seeking. Teachers may create classroom environments that foster or discourage students from seek ing help, and we sought to identify variables that were associated with (a) a lower level of reported help avoidance by all students and (b) more equitable help seeking by students regardless of their academic self-efficacy. Because help seeking is a learning strategy as well as a social interaction, we investigated variables that related to the - academic goal structure as well as to the social or interper sonal realm of the classroom.
The Classroom Goal Structure Recently, researchers have been examining the relation between the pUI1Jose or meaning of achievement behavior that is communicated to and perceived by students (th~ classroom goal structure) and a variety of student beliefs an crure behaviors (e.g., Ames, 1992). The classroom goal sr:u 528
THE CLASSROOM CONTEXT AND S1lJDEJ'I,'TS' HELP SEEKlNG
is communicated to students in many ways. including the types of academic tasks they are given, how they are recognized and evaluated, and how they are encouraged to do their work (Ames, 1992; Midgley, 1993). A task-f;cused goal structure communicates to students that understanding, Improvement, and the intrinsic value of learning are the pnmary reasons for involvement in schoolwork. A relative ability goal structure communicates to students that demon strating ability relative to others is of primary importance in the classroom. Most studies investigating classroom goal Structure have used students' perceptions, theorizing that individuals' per ceptIOns affect their cognitions, affect, and behavior (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988). Some have suggested that other sources of information about the classroom goal structure should also be examined (e.g .. Blumenfeld, 1992). Observ ers or teachers may be able to provide additional information about the goal structure in the classroom (Meece, 1991). Teachers~ approaches to learning in the classroom may communicate goal emphases and be related to student outcomes. In this study we examined both students' percep !.lons of the goal structure in the classroom and teachers' reports of their approaches to instruction. Students' percep tIons of an emphasis on task-focused goals in the classroom and teachers' reports of task-focused approaches to learning are expected to be associated with lower levels of avoidance of help seeking in the classroom. In contrast, students' perceptions of an emphasis on relative-ability goals in the classroom and teachers' reports of relative-ability ap proaches to learning are expected to be associated with greater levels of avoidance of help seeking. In classrooms where the focus is on effort and understanding, students should be more inclined to a k questions to gain mastery. In contrast, m classrooms where the focus is on demonstrating abl1lty,students are more likely to view the need for help as mdlcatIve of low ability and thus would be less likely to ask for help (Ames, 1983; Newman, 1991; Ryan & Pintrich, 1998). The classroom goal structure (students' perceptions and teachers' approaches to instruction) is also expected to influence the relation between students' academic self efficacy and the avoidance of help seeking. In classrooms where the emphasis is on effort and understanding. students should feel that they can seek help, regardless of their level of efficacy. In contrast, in classrooms in which the emphasis is on "being the best," students' feelings of efficacv mav play an important role in whether or not they perc~ive ~ threat from asking for help. Thus, it is hypothesized that there will be no relation between efficacy and help avoid ance in classrooms with an emphasis on task-focused goals, whereas an emphasis on relative-ability goals in a classroom will be associated with a relation between efficacy and reported help avoidance. Specifically, it is expected that the lower a s~udent's efficacy the higher the student's reported help aVOidance. This is in line with Dweck and her colleagues' (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliot & Dweck, 1988) findings that when students are concerned with demonstrating ability but do not believe in their own ability. they are less likely to persist in the face of challenge.
529
The Classroom Social Climate Help seeking combines aspects of cognitive and social engagement, in and a social . . . that it is both a learnino c strategv ~. Interactlon With others. \\'hen presented with vignenes of both academic and nonacademic problems, students re ported familiarity and friendship were important factors in whom they would ask for help (Nelson Le-Gall & Gumer man, 1984; Wmtre, Hicks. McVey. & Fox, 1988). It has also been found that when students perceived mutual affection With the teacher, they were more likely to report that they asked for help in the classroom (Newman & Schwager,·' 1993). In addItlon. students who endorse social goals. such as gettmg to know their classmates well. are less Iikelv to report they avoid help seeking (Ryan, Hicks. & Midgley, 1997). Thus, at the individual level. social relationships see~ to be Important to students' help seeking. Therefore. it IS likely that the social climate of the classroom influences students' help-s~eking behavior (Newman & Schwager, 1992; Ryan & Plntnch, 1998). Classrooms characterized as caring, supportive, and friendly are likely to make students feel more comfortable interacting with the teacher and other students. In an environment in which students feel that others know and relate to them beyond their academic abilities, they may be less likely to feel that asking for help Will Incur negative Judgments. Therefore, we hypothesize that in classrooms where teachers believe that anending to the social-emotional needs of their students is important, adolescents will feel more comfortable interacting with the teacher and will be less likely to avoid asking for help. Further, if low-efficacy students feel that the teacher cares about them beyond just their academic abilities, they may be less concerned that seeking help will incur negative judg ments from the teacher and thus be less likely to report they avoid seeking help. In summary. we explored individual and classroom influ ences on adolescents' reported avoidance of help seeking. The research questions investigated in this study were (a) How does the classroom goal structure and social climate relate to the overall level of student reported avoidance of help seeking in the classroom? (b) Do the classroom goal structure and social climate play a role in the relation between students' academic efficacy and .their reported aVOidance of help seeking? Additionally, the role of gender in the relationships among students' reported avoidance of help seeking, academic efficacy beliefs, and the classroom context is explored.
Method Participants and Procedure The students in this study are participating in a large-scale longitudinal study examining the relation between the learning envIronment and adolescent development. Srudents were recruited in fifth grade, and 83% were given permission by their parents to partICIpate. The current study was conducted when students were in sixth grade in 10 middle schools in three school distrim. Twenty" five (82o/c) sixth-grade math teachers filled out a survey. Students whose math teacher did nor fill out a survey were dropped from the
530
RYAN, GHEEN, AND MIDGLEY
study. This resulted in a sample of 5 16 students situated in 63 math classrooms. Of all students, 48% were White, 44% African American, 7% Hispanic, and 1% Asian American. Fifty-rwo percent were female. The number of panicipating students in each math class ranged from 4to 21, with an average of 8.\ Surveys were administered to students in their math classrooms by trained research assistants. Students were informed that panicipating in the study was voluntary and that the information would be kept confidential. There was not a particular reason for studying math classes instead of another domain. However, given that in middle school students have different teachers for different subjects we thought it important to ask them about one class, and we chose math.
Measures The format for all items in the survey was a 5-point scale, rangIng from I = not at all true through 5 = very true. Principal-components analyses guided the construction of all scales. Avoidance of help seeking (6 items, a = .80). Items developed by Arbreton (\ 993) and Ryan and Pintrich (1997) were used to assess avoidance of help seeking. These items refer to instances when a student needs help but does not seek it (e.g., "If my math work is too hard for me, I just don't do it rather than ask for help" and "I don't ask questions in math class, even when I don't understand the lesson"). All help-seeking items were worded in the conditional sense (e.g., "If I need help with my math work") to control for students' need for help (Arbreton. 1993: Karabenick & Knapp, 1991: Newman, 1990). Academic self-efficacy (7 items. a = .82). The measure of srudents' academic self-efficacy was from the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS; Midgley et aI., 1996). Academic self efficacy refers to students' judgments of their capability to com plete their schoolwork successfully. Examples of items include ''I'm certain I can master the skills taught in school this year" and "No matter how hard I try, there is some schoolwork I'll never understand" (reverse coded). Classroom goal structure. We used teacher and student reports of the goals emphasized in the classroom. Teachers completed two scales from PALS (Midgley et at. 1996): task-focused approaches to instruction (six items. ex =78) and relative ability approaches to instruction (five items, ex = .72). Examples of items assessing task-focused approaches to instruction include "I stress to students that 1 want them to understand the work, not just memorize it" and "I recognize students for trying hard." Examples of items assessing relative-ability approaches to instruction include "I display the work of the highest achieving students as an example" and "I help students understand how their performance compares to others." Students completed two scales from PALS (Midgley et al .. (996): task-focused classroom goal structure (five items, ex = .79) and relative ability classroom goal structure (six items. ex = .71). Examples of items assessing students' perceptions of a task focused classroom goal structure include "My math teacher recognizes us for trying hard" and "My math teacher thinks mistakes are okay as long as we are learning." Examples of items assessing students' perceptions of a relative-ability classroom goal structure include "My math teacher points out those students who get good grades as an example to all of us" and "My math teacher tells us how we compare to other students." Students' reports of the classroom task-focused and relative-ability goal structure were averaged within each classroom to provide contextual measures. Several analyses support our use of aggregates as measures of context. The average standard deviations of student reports of
classroom task-focused and relative-ability goals within class rooms were 0.35 and 0.38, respectively, compared with overall standard deviations of 1.04 and 0.98. respectively The fact that the within-class variance is smaller indIcates some degree of consensus among students within classrooms, and thus it makes sense to average respondents' reports about their classroom. Also. a one way random effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated thal the intraclass correlations for the student reports of task-focused and relative-ability goal structure were 23% and 22'7c. respectivel\'. indicating sufficient berween-groups variation to use aggregates as predictors (Raudenbush. Rowan. & Kang. 1997) Teacher's role is social-emotional as ....·ell as academic. The scale (five items, ex = .69) assessing teachers' perceptions of their role in students' social-emotional well-being included items such as "I cannot teach students effectively unless 1 also consider their social and emotional needs" and "My primary role is to teach students, not to anend to their feelings and emotions" (reverse coded). Because this measure was skew-ed. we transformed it into a dichotomous variable. Teachers who responded on average "strongly agree" or "agree" were coded as high (I). and all other teachers were coded as low (0). This resulted in 42 out of 63 classrooms being coded as high.
Analysis We used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine our research questions (Bryk & Raudenbush. t 992). Our questions were hierarchical. in that we were interested in both student-level characteristics and classroom-level characteristics that were related to avoidance of help seeking. I-il..M is a regression-based techmque that has advantages over ordinary least squares regression in that it partitions the variance into within-class and between-class compo nents and computes the explanatory power of predictors at both levels simultaneously (Bryk & Raudenbush. 1992). HLM allows direct representation of the influence of classroom factors on relations within classrooms. By using HLM we were able to represent a set of regression coefficients as multivariate outcomes to be simultaneously explained as a function of measured differ ences between classrooms. The variation among classrooms in regression intercepts (the average level of student help seeking), and slopes (the relation between students' academic self-efficacy and students' help seeking) were dependent measures to be explained by classroom-level characteristics (Bryk & Raudenbush. 1992).
Results Table I presents means and standard deviations for all variables. The correlation between gender and academic self-efficacy was -.13 (p < .05). indicating that girls felt less efficacious than boys about their academic work. Table 2 presents the correlations among classroom-level variables. The multilevel analyses proceeded in three steps: partition ing the variance, estimating the within-class model. and
I Classes were not independent because most math teachers taught math several periods a day. On average. teachers taught math 2,5 times per day. All analyses presented in this article were replicated with teacher as the group-level unit of analysis. The same pattern of results emerged.
THE CLASSROOM CONTEXT AND STUDENTS' HELP SEEKlNG
531
Table I
Table 3
Descriplil'e S[Qlislics for Srudenl-Level and Classroom-Level Variables
Hierarchical Linear Within-Class Model for the Effecis of
Gender and Efficac\' all Avoidance of Help Seekin'g .
Variable
SD
M
Student level Avoidance of help seeking Academic self-efficacv Gender" Classroom level Teacher reports Task-focused classroom goal structure Relative-ability classroom goal Structure Student reports Task-focused classroom goal structure Relotive-ability classroom goal structure Teacher's role social-emotional b
2.45 4.13 50
0.96 0.95
4.22 2.43
0.49 0.72 0.66 0.62
3.63 288 .66
All variables were coded I = nor al all lrue through 5 =
\'en (rue except as noted.
'Gender is coded 0 = male and 1 = female.
bTeacher' role social-emotional is coded 0 = low and I = high.
/I.'Ole.
estimating the between-class model. Results are organized accordingly.
Panirioning rhe Variance in Avoidance of Help Seeking The HLM program CBryk, Raudenbush, & Congdon,
1988) was used to partition the total variance in avoidance of help seeking into its within-class and between-class compo nents. These were estimated by running a fully uncondi tional model. which is equivalent to what one would find using an unbalanced one-way random-effects ANOYA, in which class is a random factor with varying numbers of students per class. The adjusted intraclass correlation for students' reponed avoidance of help seeking was 19.53%. This was the ratio of between-class variance and the total variance (within- and between-class variance) and indicated that 19.53 'Ie of the variance in avoidance of help seeking was between classrooms. Approximately 20% of the vari ance in student-reponed help seeking was due to classroom effects Table 2
Zero-Order Correlalions Among Classroom-Level Variables Variable
2
3
4
Teo her reports I. Task-focused classroom
eoaJ structure
') Relative-ability class room goal structure .06
3 Teacher's role social-
emotional' .56* -.24* Student reports 4. Task-focused classroom
goal structure .24* .37**
03 5. Relative-ability class room goal structure -.20 .04 -.28* -.33** ~Teacher's role social-emOlional is coded
"p::S .05.
**p::S .01.
0
= low and I = high.
5
Effect Fixed Avoidance mean. 'roo Efficacy-avoidance slope mean. "(10 Gender-avoidance slope mean. "(20 Random Avoidance mean. lloj Efficacy-avoidance slope. u I
Coefficient
Variance
2.451 -0.283**" -0.227**
j
0069*** 0.037t
NOle. Y,j = i30j -;- i3lj(efficacy) -;- i32,(gender) + error. i301 = "(00 + uo)' i3I' = 'rIO + UI)' i32j = "(20· Avoidance of help seeking was centered at the class-level means and gender was centered at the grand mean. All effects are presented in their originaJ melJic. tp < .10. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Within-Class Hierarchical Linear Models Next, a within-class hierarchical linear model was run to examine the effects of student characteristics on reported avoidance of help seeking. A preliminary analysis showed that the relation between gender and reponed avoidance of help seeking did not vary between classrooms (parameter variance = .036, p > .50). Thus, gender was not allowed to vary and centered on its grand mean. Avoidance of help seeking was centered on its class-level mean. Thus, the results reflect relationships between variables in classrooms with an average percentage of girls. Further, parameter estimates of reponed help avoidance reflect average levels across classrooms. The results of the within-class model are shown in Table 3. Students' academic self-efficacy ('y = -.283, p < .001) and gender ("I = - .227, p < .0 I) were significant predictors of reponed avoidance of help seeking in math class. Controlling for self-efficacy, we found that boys were more likely than girls to repon avoiding seeking help when needed. Controlling for gender, we found that students who felt less efficacious regarding their SChoolwork were more likely to repon avoiding seeking help when needed. Also, in the student-level model. the average level of avoidance of help seeking varied across classrooms (parameter vari ance = .069, p < .00 I). The partial regression slopes relat ing avoidance of help seeking and efficacy varied across classrooms (parameter variance = .037 p < .10).2
2 In this HLM model. the chi square statistic is a conservative estimate of parameter variance. and it depends on the sample size of students within classrooms and on the variance in students' responses within classrooms. Given the context of underestimation of variance. in addition to the reliability of the slope parameter to the intercept. it is more common to use an alpha set at .10 to test for berween-unit vanability predictors. Within this context a berween unit characteristic that significantly predicts variance in the slope must be taken as a real finding rather than an anifaCl because of the lowered signal-to-noise ratio (Bryk & Raudenbush, 1992; Cohen & Cohen. 1983)
532
RYAN. GHEEN. AND MIDGLEY
Between-Class Hierarchical Linear Models The within-class model showed that both the level of reported avoidance of help seeking and the relation between students' academic self-efficacy and avoidance of help seeking varied across classrooms. We sought to explain this variance. Two separate, between-class hierarchical linear models were run to examine the effects of both student- and classroom-level variables. The first between-class hierarchi cal model examined teacher reports of task-focused ap proaches to instruction, relati ve-ability approaches to instruc tion and their role in students' sociat~motionalwell-being. Tea~hers' approaches to instruction were not significant predictors of average level of reported avoidance of help seeking or the relation between academic self-efficacy and avoidance of help seeking. The second between-class hierarchical linear model exam ined the teachers' role in students' social~motional well being wir.h the student reports of the classroom task and relative-ability goal structure. The model was rerun without nonsignificant predictors to reduce error (see Table 4). With the addition of classroom-level predictors in the model, students' academic efficacy (-y = - 489. p < .00 I) and gender (-y = -.208, p < .01) continued to be related to reported avoidance of help seeking. Students' reports of classroom task-focused goal structure (-y = -.26I.p < .01) were associated with a-decrease in the level of reported avoidance of help seeking, whereas classroom relative ability goal structure f-y = .245, p < .05) was associated with an increase in the level of reported help avoidance in classrooms. Teachers' view of their role in sociaI~motional
Table 4 Hierarchical Linear Beflveen-Class Modelfor rhe Effecrs of Classroom Coal SrruclLlre and Teacher's Social-Emorional Role on Avoidance of Help Seeking and the EfficaCY-Avoidance ()f Help-Seeking Relarion Effect
Coefficient
Variance
Fix.ed Avoidance mean. 'I Task-focused classroom goal structure: student repons. '101 Relative ability classroom goal structure: student repons. 'Yu, Efficacy-avoidance slope mean. '110 Teacher's role social~mo tiona!. 'I II Gender-avoidance slope mean. '1,0 Random Avoidance mean. un) Efficacy-avoidance slope. 1111
2.701 -0.261** 0.245* -0.489"'*'" 0331 ** -0.208** 0.037* 0.003
NOie. r30} = '100 - )'lI1(task-iocused goals) + .'I01(r,el~tive abili~
goals) T uo)' r3lj = '1[0 -,- 'I1[fhlgh socl~motlonal) , u[1' r31}
'1,0' Avoidance of help seeking was centered at the c1as -level
mans. and gender was centered at the grand mean. All effects are
presented in-their original metric.
¥p < .05 *"'p < .01. ***p < .001
nurturing was not related to the average level of reported help avoidance in the classroom. Students' reportS of classroom task-focused and relative ability goal structure did not influence the relation between academic self-efficacy and avoidance of help seeking. Teachers' view of their role in social~motional nurturinG e did ameliorate the relation between academic self-efficacv and reported help avoidance (-y = .331. p < .01). In class rooms high in teacher's concern about social~motional nurturinG - academic self-efficacv... mattered less in who sought help. ~,
Variance Explained With nonsignificant classroom-level \'ariables removed. our between-class model accounted for 479c of the variance between classrooms in average help avoidance and over 92% of the variance between classrooms in the efficacy avoidance slope. These values reflect the proportional de crease of estimates of parameter variance in the between class model as compared with the within-class model. Differences between classrooms in mean avoidance re mained even after accounting for task-focused and rdative ability aspects of the classroom, X' (60) = 82.75. p < .05. No significanr differences between classrooms in the effica cy-avoidance slopes were found after accounting for the teachers' view of their role as involving the social emotional needs of students, XC(61) = 67.25,p = .271. Discussion There is an increasing literature in the last decade suggesting that help seeking is an important strategy for learning and success in school (Arbreton, 1993; Karabenick & Knapp. 1991: McCaslin & Good. 1996; Nelson Le-Gall, 1981.1985; Newman. 1991. 1994). The ability to use others as a resource to cope with ambiguity and difficulty in the learning process can be an important self-regulatory strategy in the classroom. If students need help with their schoolwork but do not seek it, then their performance surely will suffer. This study extended previous examinations of help seeking bv_ includinGe individual- and classroom-level predictors. By . using multilevel analysis techniques. we found that aVOId ance of help seeking is related to both individual characteris tics of students and characteristics of the classroom. At the individual level. a student's decision to avoid seeking help was related to the student's sense of academic efficacy and to gender. As expected. students who felt less efficacious regarding their school work were more likely to report avoidance of seeking help when they needed it. Boys were more likely to avoid seeking help when they needed It than were girls. This finding seems contrary to theories that suggest girls lose their "voice" during adolescence andare not comfortable expressing their opinions. However, GI1lt gan (1982: 1993) has argued that it is the desire for girls to ~onform to the "good woman" stereotype (nice, polite, pleasing others. unassertive. and quiet) that leads to loss of voice. Perhaps help seeking is not percei ved by girls as asserti\e and therefore not threatening to thi:; role. P sibly,
THE CLASSROOM CONTEXT A.."ID STUDEl'frs' HELP SEEKING
as Johnson (1985) has suggested. help seeking is viewed as dependent and therefore fits into the traditional, stereotypi cal female role. This might explain why girls report avoiding help seeking in the classroom less than do boys. However, recent work by Harter and her colleagues (Harter, Waters, & Whitesells, 1997) has found that it is not gender per se, but gender orienlation that influences adolescents' expression of voice. Thus, future investigations might add to our under standing regarding gender and help seeking by examining (a) students' perceptions of help seeking as masculine or feminine and (b) students' gender orientation. Students' reported levels of avoidance of help seeking varied across classrooms. Students' perceptions of a task focused classroom goal structure was associated with a lower level of help avoidance, whereas their perceptions of a relative-ability classroom goal structure was associated with a .higher level of help avoidance. In classrooms where students perceived that the focus was on understanding, mastery, and the intrinsic value of learning, rather than on competition and proving one's ability, students were less likely La avoid seeking help with their work when they needed il. This finding is in line with previous studies that have found that students' personal goals are related La their help-seeking behavior (e.g., Ryan & Pinlrich, 1997). How ever, this study provides evidence for contextual effects on help seeking that previous studies have not addressed. The relation between students' academic efficacy and avoidance of help seeking varied across classrooms. In some classrooms there was a more equitable distribution of help seeking by students with varying levels of efficacy. Neither student nor teacher perceptions of the classroom goal structure influenced this relation. Thus, although we found that student perceptions of task-focused instructional prac tices had a positive impact on level of help seeking, low-efficacy students still were seeking less help in these classrooms. However, the teacher's concern about social emotional nurturing lessened the relation between efficacy and help avoidance. Thus, the distressing situation where low-efficacy adolescents avoid seeking help more than do their high-efficacy peers is ameliorated when teachers are concerned with their students' social-emotional needs. This suggests that warm, supportive relationships empower low efficacy students to risk asking for help. In the present study we used infonnation from multiple sources to assess the context of the classroom. We measured classroom goals by aggregating student perceptions of the goal tructure in their math classrooms. We also asked math teachers about their approaches to instruction and their view of their role as encompassing the social as well as academic needs of their students. Whereas student reports of the classroom goal structure were significant predictors of students' avoidance of help seeking, teacher reports were not. These findings raise interesting questions about the conceptualization and measurement of the classroom goal structure. Such questions are particularly pertinent gi ven the emphasis in educational and developmental psychology on the role of goal structure in the learning environment in influencing achievement beliefs and behaviors (e.g., Ames, 1992; Blumenfeld, 1992; Covington, 1992; Dweck, 1986;
533
Midgley, 1993; Nicholls, 1989). Underlying our investiga tion of contextual influences on student help seeking is 7he premise that classrooms are settings with qualities that transcend the personal qualities of individuals in them. Students will have differing histories and characteristics. but at some level there is a "treatment" that all students experience. How to best lap into the treatment provided by a particular classroom setting is an important question. Differ ent reporters will provide different infonnation. Teachers' reports of their approaches to instruction may not always match their actions. Teachers may answer questions in socially desirable ways. or. perhaps. in the daily flow of events, they may not always enact their espoused belief or preferred manner for handling a situation. Indeed, it has been suggested that infonnational cues emphasizing goals are mixed and inconsistent in the classroom setting. and therefore student perceptions of classroom goals are critical in understanding how classroom goals influence student beliefs and behaviors (Ames & Archer, 1988). Taking this approach. what matters are the messages that the students perceive, regardless of the messages that the teacher is trying to convey. There are, however, unresolved questIOns regarding the use of aggregates of student reports to measure the class room contexl. Students in the same classroom will differ in their focus on, and interpretation of, infonnational cues provided by the teacher. Given the variability of student perceptions in the classroom setting, when is it appropriate to aggregate student reports? How much agreement among students about what their classroom is like is necessary before aggregate scores are meaningful? In the present study we decided that it was appropriate La use student aggregates because the average standard deviation of student reports of classroom goals was much smaller within classrooms than the standard deviation across-classrooms. In addition, there was sufficient between-group variation La use aggregates as predictors. Both teacher and student reports of classroom context are infonnative but may not provide the complete picture. Classroom observations may help to clarify these issues (Blumenfeld, 1992; Meece. 1991). The present findings provide a basis for future investiga tions of contextual influences on students' help seeking. Our understanding could be enhanced by investigations of do mains other than math and other aspects of the classroom such as use of cooperative learning. The present study examined reported avoidance of help seeking. However, it is also important to consider the type of help that students request because not all instances of help seeking are adaptive (Nelson Le-Gall, 1981, 1985; Newman 1994; Ryan & Pintrich. 1997). Previous work has distinguished between requests for help that foster independence and requests that foster dependence. Thus. future work could add to our understanding by examining contextual influences on differ ent types of help seeking. In summary, the results of the present research provide new insights into how the classroom context is related to tudent. ' decisions La avoid asking for help when they need il. In classes that emphasize competition and nonnative evaluation. students are more unwilling La solicit the help
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help seeking to the use of learning strategies and other achieve ment behavior in college students. Journal of Educazional Psychology. 83, 221-230. Karabenick, S. A., & Sharma. R. (1994). Seeking academic assistance as a strategic learning resource. In P. R. Pinnich. D. R Brown, C. E. Weinstein (Eds.), Student motivation, cognizion and learning: Essays in honor of Wilben J. McKeachie (pp. 189-211). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Keating, D. P. (1990). Adolescent thinking. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliot (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 54-89). Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press. McCaslin. M.. & Good, T. L. (1996). The informal curriculum. In D. Berliner & R. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 622--670). New York: Macmillan. Meece, J. L. (1991). The classroom context and students' motiva tional goals. In M. L. Maehr & P. R. Pinnich (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement: Goals and self-regulatory pro cesses (Vol. 7, pp. 261-285). Greenwich. CT: JAI Press. Midgley. C. (1993). Motivation and middle level schools. In M. L. Maehr & P. R. Pinnich (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement: Motivation and cuiolescent development (Vol. 8. pp. 217-274). Greenwich, CT: JAl Press. Midgley, c., Maehr, M. L., Hicks, L.. Roeser. R.. Urdan. T., Anderman, E. M., & Kaplan, A. (1996). Panerns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) manual. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan. Myers. M.. & Paris, S. G. (1978). Children's metacognitive knowledge about reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 680-690. Nelson Le-Gall, S. (1981). Help seeking: An understudied problem solving skill in children. Developmental Review, 1, 224-246. Nelson Le-Gall, S. (1985). Help-seeking behavior in learning. Review of Research in Education, 12, 55-90. Nelson Le-Gall, S., & Gumerman. R. A. (1984). Children's perceptions of helpers and helper motivation. Journal ofApplied Developmental Psychology, 5, 1-12. Newman, R. S. (1990). Children's help seeking in the classroom: The role of motivational factors and attitudes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 71-80. Newman. R. S. (1991). Goals and self-regulated learning: What motivates children to seek academic help? In M. L. Maehr & P. R. Pintrich (Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement: Goals and self-regulatory processes (Vol. 7, pp. 151-184). Greenwich. CT: JAI Press. Newman, R. S. (1994). Adaptive help seeking: A strategy of self-regulated learning. In D. Schunk & B. Zimmerman (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and perfonnance: Issues and educa tiollal applications (pp. 283-301). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Newman, R. S.. & Goldin. L. (1990). Children's reluctance to seek help with schoolwork. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 92-100 Newman, R. S., & Schwager, M. T. (1992). Student perceptions and academic help seeking. In D. H. Schunk & J. L. Meece (Eds.), Student perceptions in the classroom: Causes and consequences (pp. 149-183). Hillsdale. NJ: Erlbaum. Newman, R. S., & Schwager. M. T (1993). Student perceptions of the teacher and classmates in relation to reponed help seeking in math class. Elementary School Journal. 94, 3-17. Nicholl, J. (1989). The competitive ethos and democratic educa non. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pinnich, P. L.. & Schunk, D. H. (1996). Motivation in education: Theorv, research, and applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Raudenbush. S. w., Rowan, B., & Kang, S. J. (1997). A multilevel multivariate model for srudying school climate with estimation
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Recei ved March 2, 1997 Revision received November 15, 1997 Accepted November 17, 1997 •
Acknowledgment of Ad Hoc Reviewers
The Journal wishes to thank persons who have reviewed manuscripts for this issue. (Numbers in
parentheses indicate assistance with more than one manuscript.) Karen Ablard Eric Andennan Elisha Babad Murray Barrick Kristine Brady Brent Bridgeman Ruth Butler James Byrnes (2) Bill Carroll Ruth Chao Todd Chmielewski Marvin Daehler Hsiao D' Ailly Nancy Darling Frank Dempster Richard Fabes Barbara Foorman
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Doug Fuchs Irene Gaskins Margaret Gredler Anthony G. Greenwald Wendy Grolnick Barbara Guzzetti Kass Hogan Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey Cynthia A. Hudley Marie Iding Daniel W. Kee Carolyn M. Keeler Elizabeth Lemerise (2) Christopher Lanigan Wilbert J. McKeachie Michael J. Middleton Nancy Myers
MichaelO'Boyle Camilo Ortiz David Perkins David B. Pillemer Peter Renshaw Sherrie Reynolds Tanya Schmidt Martin F. Sherman Carol K. Sigelman Catherine Sophian Loel Tronsky Connie K. Varnhagen Frank Vellutino Patrick D. Walton Christopher A. Wolters Karen Wyche
