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SELF-EFFICACY, NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS GENDER DIFFERENCES
Abstract
Self-efficacy is a motivational variable associated with increased school achievement. It can be related with nonverbal communication consisting in gestures that accompany or replace verbal communication. This study explored gender differences in the relationships between the gestures expressed during Romanian lessons, the level of self-efficacy and school achievement in primary school students. In this study participated 161 students enrolled in first, second, third and fourth grade (aged between 7 and 11 years, 49,1% males). Students responded to ten scale items on school self-efficacy. In each classroom group, a ten minutes sequence of one Romanian language lesson was video recorded and then students gestures (large and narrow, centrifugal and centripetal) were counted. Students grades in Romanian were collected from school registers. The number of large and narrow, centrifugal and centripetal gestures during the Romanian lesson was correlated with self-efficacy level and with school achievement in Romanian language. Results indicated weak but statistically significant positive relationships between the number of large and centrifugal gestures and the level of self-efficacy; a powerful positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and school achievement. Gender differences were found. Girls obtained better grades in Romanian, higher scores in self-efficacy, and expressed more large and centrifugal gestures than boys. No gender differences were found in narrow and centripetal gestures. In girls, but not in boys sample, centrifugal gestures positively correlated with self-efficacy. Educational implications of the results concerning the didactic communication and school evaluation are discussed.
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