Zhou Zhang

This study investigates how English majors attribute their performance on the Test for English Majors Band 8 (TEM-8) based on Weiner’s attribution theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen fourth-year English majors, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results show that students mainly attributed their performance to ability, effort, task difficulty, luck, physical and mental state, and external environment. Ability was commonly perceived as internal, stable, and uncontrollable, whereas effort was viewed as internal, unstable, and controllable. External factors such as task difficulty and luck were regarded as largely uncontrollable, while physical and mental states were considered partially manageable. These attributional patterns were closely related to students’ motivation and learning behaviors. The findings support the applicability of Weiner’s framework in high-stakes language testing and suggest pedagogical value in fostering more adaptive attributional styles.

TEM-8; attribution theory; English majors; motivation; qualitative research

[1] Duda,J.L.,&Allison,M.T.(1989).The attributional theory of achievement motivation:Cross-cultural considerations.International Journal of Intercultural Relations,13(1),37–55. [2] Forsterling,F.(1985).Attribution retraining:A review.Psychological Bulletin,98(3),495–512. [3] Graham,S.(1991).A review of attribution theory in achievement contexts.Educational Psychology Review,3(1),5–39. [4] Graham,S.,&Barker,G.(1990).The downside of help:An attributional-developmental analysis of helping behavior as a low ability cue.Journal of Educational Psychology,82(1),7–14. [5] Greene,J.C.(1985).Relationships among learning and attribution theory motivational variables.American Educational Research Journal,22(1),65–78. [6] Guest,G.,MacQueen,K.M.,&Namey,E.E.(2012).Applied thematic analysis.Sage Publications. [7] Heberle,J.(2018).Language testing and assessment:An advanced resource book.Routledge. [8] Kelley,H.H.,&Michela,J.L.(1980).Attribution theory and research.Annual Review of Psychology,31(1),457–501. [9] Mohammed,I.I.,Ibrahim,A.A.,&Alhojailan,F.N.(2018).Thematic analysis:A critical review of its process and evaluation.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,8(12),1–13. [10] Weiner,B.(1985).An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion.Psychological Review,92(4),548–573. [11] Weiner,B.(1986).An attributional theory of motivation and emotion.Springer-Verlag. [12] Weiner,B.,Frieze,I.H.,Kukla,A.,Reed,L.,Rest,S.,&Rosenbaum,R.M.(1971).Perceiving the causes of success and failure.General Learning Press. [13] Xu,Y.(2020).Attributional patterns of IELTS test-takers and their impact on learning motivation.Modern Foreign Languages,43(2),256–268.

点击下载PDF