Academic Resilience as a Predictor of Academic Motivation

and Academic Confidence of Secondary School Students

Hadiya Habib

Research Scholar, Department of Education University of Kashmir

Hadiya.scholar@kashmiruniversity.net

Abstract
This paper examined the influence of academic resilience on academic motivation and
academic confidence of secondary school students. The sample consisted of 150
students randomly selected from 10 higher secondary schools of District Ganderbal, J
&K, India. Three instruments were used for data collection. They are (1) Bharatiyar
University Resilience Scale (BURS) developed by Dr. Annalakshmi Narayanan
(2009) (2) Academic Motivation Scale-High School Version (AMS; Vallerand et
al.,1992) (3) Academic Confidence Scale by Sanders and Sanders (2003). Both
descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Data was analysed using Pearson
Correlation Moment Coefficient. Results revealed a positive statistical correlation
between academic resilience and academic motivation and between academic
resilience and academic confidence of secondary school students. These findings have
implications for teachers and school administrators in enhancing and enforcing
programs that train students on resilience skills, academic motivation and academic
confidence.

Key Words: Academic Resilience; Academic Confidence ;Academic Motivation;

Secondary School Students

Introduction
Education is a major tool for economic and social development. Investment in
education is considered as investment in human capital and this increases labour
productivity. Success at the collegiate level may be expressed in a variety of ways
depending upon the individual‟s self-perception. However, commonly held
description of academic success may include: attainment of a degree, acceptable grade
point average and low retention of career and life skill sets necessary for
employability and professional development. A students‟ success at the collegiate
level demonstrates their ability to gain information and skills necessary to increase
their chances of meeting long term personal and career goals (Eunhee, Newton,
Downey ,and Benton, 2010) .Maintaining an acceptable grade point average and
completing courses designed for their career goal demonstrates that the student is
meeting the expectations set by the college or university.

On the other hand, as student is characterized with high academic confidence braces
and meets the academic rigour and excels in school essay writing because he or she
perceives himself as being capable of doing well in school; conversely, a learner

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noted for having low academic confidence inhibits good academic performance
because of the tendency to see himself or herself as being unable to cope with the
academic challenge. Koura and Hebaishi (2014) submit that high or low academic
confidence is all about thoughts that the students hold about themselves which affect
their academic performance directly or otherwise. These thoughtful feelings either aid
or hinder their academic progress.

Academic confidence is believed to effect performance through the influence on task

perception. For example, research studies suggest that high academic confidence
creates a feeling of calmness when approaching a difficult task. Conversely low
academic confidence may result in an individual perceiving a task as more difficult
than it really is, which leads to stress and a narrowness of ideas when tackling the
solution of the problem Cole (2008), Eccles and Wigfied (2002), Stevens (2005).

Student academic achievement confidence can change if the student enters into the
academic environment where the form and processes of education itself are
demystified. This involves giving learning opportunities to refine the students‟
academic skills (Tett,2000). Academic confidence can be developed from the mastery
of skills , various experience and social and emotional support (Sander and Sander
,2005) .Academic confidence is an imperative part of preparation and performance .It
involves a generative capability in which component cognitive ,social and behavioural
skills must be organized into integrated courses of action to serve innumerable
purposes .Adeyemi and Agokei (2010) describe the construct as belief about one‟s
ability to perform successfully in a given course. Fakeye (2010) also view academic
confidence as learner‟s beliefs about their own ability to accomplish a task. According
to Bandura (1997), academic confidence can be categorized as high and low. Ofole
and Okopi (2012) opine that students with low self-efficacy are academically at risk.

Academic confidence could be seen as one of the fundamental internal motivators that
propel any students to endure school challenges and attain academic success. Brausch
(2011) affirm that when universities produce successful students, they stand to be
rewarded in return as they attract additional revenue through alumni contribution. He
went further saying that “universities who invest in their students‟ academic success
often reap the rewards of alumni donations from former students who recognize the
importance of their college education in regards to their financial success”. According
to Pintrich and Zusho (2002) “academic motivation refers to internal processes that
instigate and sustain activities aimed at achieving specific academic goals”. Ahmad
and Rana (2012) found out that motivation influences academic performance of
college students. Akinsola ,Tella and Tella (2007) reported that students who had
higher achievement motivation scored significantly high scores on a mathematics
achievement test. Compared to their counterpart students with lower achievement
motivation.

The capacity of resilience is one of the most essential personal factors influencing
academic achievement. Resilience is a multidimensional construct (Cicchatte,2013)
and it is the ability to pass the hardest problems and overcome the most complex
situations (Jackson ,2008). It represents someone‟s capacity for tolerating disastrous

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events. Academic resilience means students achieving good educational outcomes

despite adversity. Academic resilience is a concept that focuses on strengths and
optimal functioning of learners. Jensen, Trollope, Waters and Everson (2008) defined
resilience as appositive attitude and effective strategy that one employs in response to
stressors. Although learners experience the same challenging threatening
circumstances, academically resilient learners are able to turn stressful events into
opportunities for personal growth and benefit (Santoosh and James, 2013),
Accordingly, they possess the capacity for successful adaptation, and their responses
to the demands do not impair their abilities, instead they bounce back with enhanced
competencies (Santosh and James, 2013). This implies that academically resilient
students are likely to sustain high level of academic motivation and performance in
spite of the challenging conditions that put them at risk of doing poorly in academics.
Empirical research has also shown that academic reliance plays a moderating role in
students‟ academic achievement (Abolmaali and Mahmudi,2013).

Although academic motivation and academic confidence , are well -documented

phenomenon ,there have been few attempts to examine academic resilience as their
predictor among secondary school students .Few educational researchers have
investigated the relationship between academic resilience, academic motivation and
academic achievement (Mwangi et al 2015; Mutweleli,2014)/ However, these studies
were conducted in different geographical regions and these studies did not include the
variable academic confidence. Winga et al (2010) for instance, explored academic
burnout in relation to gender and academic achievement, but the study did not focus
on academic resilience as an antecedent of academic motivation and academic
confidence.

Statement of the Problem

Poor performance of students in any educational endeavour is a matter of concern.
This is because success in education is the springboard to the attainment of
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as social mobility. Local studies have
explored various factors that affect learner‟s academic motivation and confidence.
However, little attention has been paid to other factors such as academic resilience
that may also influence academic motivation and confidence of students. The central
problem of the study was to explore academic resilience as a predictor of academic
motivation and confidence of secondary school students. Although extant literature
has revealed a relationship between academic resilience and academic motivation and
confidence. The extent to which such results can be generalized considering the
differences in cultural settings cannot be ascertained without conducting proper
investigations. Little attention has been paid to how academic resilience predicts
academic motivation and confidence. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap.

Objectives of the Study

The following objectives were set for the study:

1. To study the relationship between academic resilience and academic

motivation of secondary school students.

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2. To study the relationship between academic resilience and academic

confidence of secondary school students.

Hypotheses of the Study

1. There is no significant relationship between academic resilience and academic
motivation of secondary school students.
2. There is no significant relationship between academic resilience and academic
confidence of secondary school students.

Research Design and Methodology

Research Design: The study adopted the descriptive survey research design.

Sample and Sampling technique: A sample of 150 secondary school students was
randomly selected from 10 secondary schools of District Ganderbal by using
purposive sampling technique.

Tools Used

1. Bharatiyar University Resilience Scale (BURS) developed by Dr.

Annalakshmi Narayanan (2009): This scale comprises of 30 questions. The
Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of scale is 0.876.
2. Academic Motivation Scale-High School Version: The AMS is the English
translation of the Echelle de Motivation en Education (Vallerland et al.,
1992,1993). Based on SDT, this 28-item instrument is divided into seven
subscales, reflecting one subscale of amotivation, three subscales of extrinsic
motivation and three distinct subscales of intrinsic motivation.
3. Academic Confidence Scale by Sanders and Sanders (2003): To measure
academic confidence, a 5-point Likert type scale developed by Sanders and
Sanders (2003) was used, the scale ranging from „strongly agree‟ (5) to
„strongly disagree‟ (1). The overall Cronbach‟s Alpha reliability of this scale
is given as 0.89.
Data Analysis
The data analysis through the questionnaires were analysed by using Pearson‟s
Coefficient of Correlation.
Results and Discussion
Objective No. 1: To study the relationship between the academic resilience
and academic motivation of secondary school students
Hypothesis H0 1: There is no significant relationship between academic
resilience and academic motivation of secondary school students.

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Table 1: Showing the correlation between academic resilience and academic

motivation

Variables Size of Pearson’s Correlation Level of

Sample Coefficient (r) Significance
Academic Resilience
Vs 150 .34** .01
Academic
Motivation

df = 148 Value of significant at .05 level

=.109
Value of significant at .01 level =
.208
It may be revealed from the Table 1 that value of coefficient of correlation between
academic resilience and academic motivation of secondary school students is .34. It
represents a significant relationship between two variables. The obtained coefficient
of correlation is found to be significant at .01 level of significance. Thus, the null
hypothesis “there is no significant relationship between academic resilience and
academic motivation of secondary school students” is rejected.

Objective No.2: To study the relationship between academic resilience and academic
confidence of secondary school students.
Hypothesis H0 2: There is no significant relationship between academic resilience and
academic confidence of secondary school students.

Table 2: Showing the correlation between academic resilience and academic

confidence

Variables Size of Pearson’s Correlation Level of

Sample Coefficient (r) Significance
Academic Resilience
Vs 150 .25** .01
Academic
Confidence

df = 148 Value of significant at .05 level

=.109
Value of significant at .01 level =
.208
It may be revealed from the Table 2 that value of coefficient of correlation between
academic resilience and academic confidence of secondary school students is .25. It
represents a significant relationship between two variables. The obtained coefficient
of correlation is found to be significant at .01 level of significance. Thus, the null

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hypothesis “there is no significant relationship between academic resilience and

academic confidence of secondary school students” is rejected.

Discussion
The results indicated that there was a positive significant relationship between
academic resilience and academic motivation and between academic resilience and
academic confidence. These results suggested that students with high academic
reliance skills tend to have high academic motivation and academic confidence. The
study of Akinsola, Tella and Tella (2007) and Akinlana (2013) lend credence to this
finding that students who had higher academic motivation will be able to solve most
academic problems in order to succeed .The findings of the study are also supported
by the study of Kayode, Kolawale and Comfort (2016) who found that 51.8% of the
total variance in the students‟ academic confidence was accounted for by the
combination of academic motivation ,academic satisfaction and academic resilience
.They also found that academic resilience accounted for 11.8% of the variance in
students‟ academic confidence.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Based on the results of present study, a conclusion may be made that academic
resilience is at the background of every academic activity that students undertake. The
findings of the study show strong evidence that students are more confident with the
academic work and more interested in academic activities if they feel motivated and
overcome most complex academic and school situations. It is equally hoped that the
findings of this study would help students understand their personal characteristics
such as academic motivation and confidence; and the significant roles they could play
in building their confidence academically, as well as boosting their academic success.
Based on these results, it is recommended that teachers and school administrators put
in place certain programs that may train students in resilience skills. It is further
recommended that other studies be one in the same area to examine other internal
factors other than academic resilience that predicts academic motivation and academic
confidence.

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