Summary: | 碩士 === 中原大學 === 教育研究所 === 98 === A Study of the Relationship between Self-Determination Skills and Academic Achievement of
Junior High School Students with Disabilities at Resource Room
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between self-determination skills and academic achievement of junior high school students with disabilities at resource room. A survey research was conducted in this study. Subjects were 192 students with disabilities recruited from ten public high schools in Tao-yuan county, Taiwan. The Junior High School Student Self-Determination Scale (Chen, 2008) was used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using a set of statistical analyses including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, analyses of variance (ANOVA), and regression analyses. Findings showed that although junior high school students with disabilities demonstrated a medium level of self-determination skills, their academic performances were poor with one to two standard deviations below the mean score on each subject. Students’ self-determination skills were primarily influenced by the type of disability as well as teacher expectation. Specifically, students with learning disabilities outperformed students with other disabilities and students who receive a higher level of teacher expectation outperformed those receiving a lower level of teacher expectation. Overall, there was a strong correlation between students’ level of self-determination skills and their academic performance. Among the four subscales, students’ competence of self-regulation and autonomy were better predictors of student academic performance. Based on the results of this study, suggestions were further provided for policy makers, special education teachers, parents, as well as prospective researchers who intend to conduct similar research.
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