The Role of Task Structure in Attributional Orientation and Academic Success in Mathematics

Attributional orientation is the habitual manner in which people explain the causes of events. Decades of research have supported the claim that certain types of attributional styles are correlated with academic success. This study focuses on the role that task structure plays in the relationship between attributional orientation and academic achievement in mathematics. Two types of mathematical problem solving tasks are explored: algorithmic and non-algorithmic. The participants in the study were ninth and tenth grade students (n=82) that were split into three different teachers' classrooms. They were administered a modified Academic Attributional Styles Questionnaire (AASQ) and then assessed over the course of a semester with unit tests that varied in task structure. When encountering algorithmic tasks, students' grade level and gender contributed to their academic achievement; their attributional orientation was not correlated with academic success. When the task structure was varied and students were given non-algorithmic tasks to complete, student grade level and attributional orientation affected academic achievement. More specifically, the results from this study support that when students are faced with challenging non-algorithmic tasks, they do better when they attribute failures to stable causes. If the task is algorithmic and they are given step by step instructions, their attributional orientation does not play a role in their success. One implication for pedagogy is in identifying the value of having teachers help frame student responses to setbacks depending on the type of task the students encountered. Other implications on education may focus on how to address the challenges of mixed grade level within mathematics courses. Additionally, the results of this study may help support further educational research on attributional orientation.