International Journal of Behavioral Sciences

International Journal of Behavioral Sciences

Unlocking Classroom Learning: The Mediating Power of Task-Specific Perception and Organizing in Bridging Students and Contextual Dynamics

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Department pf Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran
Abstract
 

Introduction: This study investigates how classroom dynamics are shaped by context characteristics (task norms, content difficulty) and student attributes (meta-cognition, self-efficacy) through mediating processes of task-specific perception and organization, based on Eynde and Turner's multidimensional model. The goal is to validate a structural model linking these factors to learning outcomes, offering actionable insights for educators.
Method: A correlational study of 404 Iranian ninth-graders (180 boys, 224 girls) employed multi-stage random sampling. Participants completed Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Self-regulation questionnaire, Effort scale, Rating of perceived exertion, Self-efficacy questionnaire, Academic control scale, Self-concept questionnaire, Meta-Emotion and Meta-Cognition questionnaire, a teacher-made mathematics test, The Personal Belief Assessment Questionnaire, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, Classroom structure scale, Semnan Value-Expectancy Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyzed pathways between variables. Mediation analysis using bootstrap methods with 1000 samples and 95% confidence interval revealed significant indirect effects.
Results: Context characteristics influenced organization through task-specific perception (β=0.131, p<.05), explaining 13.1% of the total effect. Student characteristics affected organization via task-specific perception (β=0.228, p<.05), accounting for 22.8% of the total effect. Additionally, student characteristics impacted classroom learning through organization (β=0.428, p<.05), explaining 42.8% of the total effect. Task-specific perception also influenced classroom learning through organization (β=0.182, p<.05), mediating 18.2% of the total effect. The strongest indirect effect is the path of student characteristics on organization and ultimately on classroom learning.
Discussion: Task-specific perception and organizational strategies critically bridge student-context interactions. Educators should prioritize emotionally supportive environments and meta-cognitive skill development. Future research should explore cross-cultural applications and additional mediators (e.g., teacher rapport) to enhance predictive power. 
Keywords

1.   Bandura A. Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1986;1986(23-28):2.
2.   Guthrie JT, Wigfield A, Humenick NM, Perencevich KC, Taboada A, Barbosa P. Influences of Stimulating Tasks on Reading Motivation and Comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research. 2006;99(4):232-46. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.99.4.232-246
3.   Eynde PO, Turner JE. Focusing on the complexity of emotion issues in academic learning: A dynamical component systems approach. Educational Psychology Review. 2006;18(4):361-76.
4.   Yamamoto Y. Young children’s beliefs about school learning in Japan and the United States: Cultural and socioeconomic comparisons. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 2020;50:28-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.06.013
5.   Moreira PAS, Inman RA, Rosa I, Cloninger K, Duarte A, Robert Cloninger C. The Psychobiological Model of Personality and its Association with Student Approaches to Learning: Integrating Temperament and Character. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 2020;65(4):693-709. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1739137
6.   Reschly AL, Christenson SL. Jingle, jangle, and conceptual haziness: Evolution and future directions of the engagement construct.  Handbook of research on student engagement. Boston, MA: Springer US; 2012. p. 3-19.
7.   Chase PA, Hilliard LJ, Geldhof GJ, Warren DJ, Lerner RM. Academic achievement in the high school years: the changing role of school engagement. J Youth Adolesc. 2014 Jun;43(6):884-96. PubMed PMID: 24477498.
8.   Wang MT, Eccles JS. Adolescent Behavioral, Emotional, and Cognitive Engagement Trajectories in School and Their Differential Relations to Educational Success. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 2011;22(1):31-9.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00753.x
9.   Palos R, Maricutoiu LP, Costea I. The mediating role of academic engagement in the relationship between personality and academic outcomes. Psihol Resur Um. 2019;17(1):45-60.
10. Wang M-T, Chow A, Hofkens T, Salmela-Aro K. The trajectories of student emotional engagement and school burnout with academic and psychological development: Findings from Finnish adolescents. Learning and Instruction. 2015;36:57-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2014.11.004
11. Wang MT, Fredricks JA. The reciprocal links between school engagement, youth problem behaviors, and school dropout during adolescence. Child Dev. 2014 Mar-Apr;85(2):722-37. PubMed PMID: 23895361. Pubmed Central PMCID: 3815520. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12138
12. Migliorini L, Rania N, Cardinali P. La funzione scaffolding di routine e rituali familiari durante l'età prescolare dei figli. Psicologia clinica dello sviluppo. 2015;19(1):155-64.  https://doi: 10.1449/79744
13. Huang C. Self-concept and academic achievement: a meta-analysis of longitudinal relations. J Sch Psychol. 2011 Oct;49(5):505-28. PubMed PMID: 21930007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2011.07.001
14. Marsh HW, Martin AJ. Academic self-concept and academic achievement: relations and causal ordering. The British journal of educational psychology. 2011 Mar;81(Pt 1):59-77. PubMed PMID: 21391964.  https://doi.org/10.1348/000709910X503501
15. Nagengast B, Marsh HW, Scalas LF, Xu MK, Hau KT, Trautwein U. Who took the "x" out of expectancy-value theory? A psychological mystery, a substantive-methodological synergy, and a cross-national generalization. Psychol Sci. 2011 Aug;22(8):1058-66. PubMed PMID: 21750248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611415540
16. Swann WB, Jr., Chang-Schneider C, Larsen McClarty K. Do people's self-views matter? Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life. The American psychologist. 2007 Feb-Mar;62(2):84-94. PubMed PMID: 17324034. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.2.84
17. Trautwein U, Lüdtke O, Schnyder I, Niggli A. Predicting homework effort: support for a domain-specific, multilevel homework model. Journal of educational psychology. 2006;98(2):438.
18. Valentine JC, DuBois DL, Cooper H. The Relation Between Self-Beliefs and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review. Educational Psychologist. 2004;39(2):111-33. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3902_3
19. Freiberger V, Steinmayr R, Spinath B. Competence beliefs and perceived ability evaluations: How do they contribute to intrinsic motivation and achievement? Learning and Individual Differences. 2012;22(4):518-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.02.004
20. Trautwein U. The homework–achievement relation reconsidered: Differentiating homework time, homework frequency, and homework effort. Learning and Instruction. 2007;17(3):372-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.02.009
21. Corno L, Xu J. Homework as the Job of Childhood. Theory Into Practice. 2004;43(3):227-33. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4303_9
22. Op't Eynde P, De Corte E, Verschaffel L. Students' emotions: A key component of self-regulated learning?  Emotion in education: Academic Press; 2007. p. 185-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012372545-5/50012-5
23. Pekrun R, Goetz T, Titz W, Perry RP. Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research. Educational Psychologist. 2010;37(2):91-105. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3702_4
24. Warton PM. The Forgotten Voices in Homework: Views of Students. Educational Psychologist. 2010;36(3):155-65. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3603_2
25. Chen CS, Stevenson HW. Homework: a cross-cultural examination. Child Dev. 1989 Jun;60(3):551-61. PubMed PMID: 2737007.
26. Verma S, Sharma D, Larson RW. School stress in India: Effects on time and daily emotions. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 2002;26(6):500-8.
27. Leone CM, Richards H. Classwork and homework in early adolescence: The ecology of achievement. J Youth Adolesc. 1989 Dec;18(6):531-48. PubMed PMID: 24272124.
28. Trautwein U, Niggli A, Schnyder I, Lüdtke O. Between-teacher differences in homework assignments and the development of students' homework effort, homework emotions, and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology. 2009;101(1):176-89.  https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.101.1.176
29. Wigfield A, Eccles JS. Expectancy-Value Theory of Achievement Motivation. Contemp Educ Psychol. 2000 Jan;25(1):68-81. PubMed PMID: 10620382. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1015
30. Fulmer SM, Frijters JC. Motivation During an Excessively Challenging Reading Task: The Buffering Role of Relative Topic Interest. The Journal of Experimental Education. 2011;79(2):185-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2010.481503
31. Renninger KA, Hidi S, Krapp A, Renninger A. The role of interest in learning and development: Psychology Press; 2014.
32. Battle ES. Motivational determinants of academic competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1966;4(6):634-42.  https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024028
33. Meece JL, Wigfield A, Eccles JS. Predictors of math anxiety and its influence on young adolescents' course enrollment intentions and performance in mathematics. Journal of educational psychology. 1990;82(1):60.
34. Lazarus RS. Emotion and Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press; 1991.
35. Forgas JP. Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM). Psychol Bull. 1995 Jan;117(1):39-66. PubMed PMID: 7870863. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.39
36. Day EA, Espejo J, Kowollik V, Boatman PR, McEntire LE. Modeling the links between need for cognition and the acquisition of a complex skill. Personality and Individual Differences. 2007;42(2):201-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.06.012
37. Heijne-Penninga M, Kuks JBM, Hofman WHA. Influence of deep learning, need for cognition and preparation time on open- and closed-book test performance. Med Educ. 2010;44:884-91.
38. Garcia T, McCann EJ, Turner JE, Roska L. Modeling the Mediating Role of Volition in the Learning Process. Contemp Educ Psychol. 1998 Oct;23(4):392-418. PubMed PMID: 9769184. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1998.0982
39. Rimm-Kaufman SE, Baroody AE, Larsen RA, Curby TW, Abry T. To what extent do teacher–student interaction quality and student gender contribute to fifth graders’ engagement in mathematics learning? Journal of educational psychology. 2015;107(1):170.
40. Ketonen EE, Hotulainen R. Development of low-stakes mathematics and literacy test scores during lower secondary school – A multilevel pattern-centered analysis of student and classroom differences. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 2019;59:101793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101793
41. Mueller RO. Structural equation modeling: Back to basics. Talepasand S, editor: Semnan University Press; 2011. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519709540081
42. Watson D, Clark LA, Carey G. Positive and negative affectivity and their relation to anxiety and depressive disorders. Journal of abnormal psychology. 1988;97(3):346.
43. Bakhshipour R, Dezhkam M. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS). Journal of Psychology. 2006;9(4):351-65.
44. Bouffard T, Boisvert J, Vezeau C, Larouche C. The impact of goal orientation on self‐regulation and performance among college students. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 2011;65(3):317-29.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1995.tb01152.x
45. Kadivar P. The role of self-efficacy, self-management and intelligence beliefs in the academic progress of high school students. Educ Sci. 2003;68(10):47-60.
46. Atarodi M, Kareshki H. The Role of Components of Perfectionism and Goal Orientations in Prediction of Self-Regulation in Students. Knowledge & Research in Applied Psychology. 2013;14(2 (52)):100-8.
47. Maralani FM, Lavasani MG, Hejazi E. Structural modeling on the relationship between basic psychological needs, academic engagement, and test anxiety. Journal of Education and Learning. 2016;5(4):44-52.
48. Borg GA. Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1982;14(5):377-81. PubMed PMID: 7154893. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-198205000-00012
49. Jerusalem M, Schwarzer R. Self-efficacy as a resource factor in stress appraisal processes.  Self-efficacy: Taylor & Francis; 2014. p. 195-214.
50. Perry RP, Hladkyj S, Pekrun RH, Pelletier ST. Academic control and action control in the achievement of college students: A longitudinal field study. Journal of educational psychology. 2001;93(4):776.
51. Hosseini F, Khair M. The role of cognitive evaluation in explaining the relationship between parenting dimensions and mathematical academic emotions and emotional regulation. Journal of Teaching and Learning Studies. 2011;3(1):17-46.
52. Beck AT, Steer RA, Epstein N, Brown G. Beck Self-Concept Test. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1990;2(2):191-7.  https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.2.2.191
53. Beer N, Moneta GB. Construct and concurrent validity of the Positive Metacognitions and Positive Meta-Emotions Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences. 2010;49(8):977-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.08.008
54. Rahmanian Z, VaezMousavi SM. Psychometric Properties of the Positive Meta-Cognitions and Meta-Emotions Questionnaire in athletes. Shenakht Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry. 2015;1(3):44-62.
55. John L. Personality Tests: 24 Tests for Recognizing Personality Problems and How to Cope with Them. Tehran: Ayiz Publishing; 2009.
56. Pintrich PR, De Groot EV. Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of educational psychology. 1990;82(1):33.
57. afsharian n, dortaj f. Evaluation of the Factor Structure of “Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire”forIranian students. Quarterly of Educational Measurement. 2016;7(23):23-43.
58. Blackburn MA. Cheating and motivation: An examination of the relationships among cheating behaviors, motivational goals, cognitive engagement, and perceptions of classroom goal structures: The University of Oklahoma; 1998.
59. Hejazi E, Shahraray M, Farsinejad M, Asgary A. Identity styles and academic achievement: Mediating role of academic self-efficacy. Social Psychology of Education. 2009;12(1):123-35.