Self-Esteem and Motivation for Learning in Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Reasoning and Verbal Fluidity
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting paper on predictors of academic performance in elementary education. The study is based on the relevant theory and the paper has a sound literature study introduction. The results of this study confirm that academic performance depends on cognitive factors as well as on non cognitive factors, such as motivation and self/esteem. The cognitive abilities such as reasoning and verbal fluency in specific subjects, Language and Literature and Mathematics were studied.This is conceptually not completely new but it is a confirmation based on the measurements obtained using validated instruments and gives valuable insights. The paper is well written, the style is fine.
In this paper there are several literature references in Spanish and are as such not accessible for the readers who don't speak Spanish.
Author Response
REVIEWER 1
We are grateful for the comments that our article has received from Reviewer 1. We also welcome the opportunity to resubmit the paper in order to take her/his comments into account.
Feedback 1. R: This is an interesting paper on predictors of academic performance in elementary education. The study is based on the relevant theory and the paper has a sound literature study introduction. The results of this study confirm that academic performance depends on cognitive factors as well as on non cognitive factors, such as motivation and self/esteem. The cognitive abilities such as reasoning and verbal fluency in specific subjects, Language and Literature and Mathematics were studied. This is conceptually not completely new but it is a confirmation based on the measurements obtained using validated instruments and gives valuable insights. The paper is well written, the style is fine.
In this paper there are several literature references in Spanish and are as such not accessible for the readers who don't speak Spanish.
Authors
Response: Thank you very much for your review. We have made several changes following the recommendation of other reviewers. We hope those changes better fit to your suggestion. Concerning the references in Spanish, although we agree that non-Spanish speakers may have had troubles to access their reading, we have been cautious in order to discard them. The reason is that they all provide a robust framework to better contextualize our study, which has been conducted in Spain. Therefore, we have considered that some specific framework focusing on the Spanish educational system was needed. These references represent 16% of the total amount of references, which we consider could be appropriate in this case.
Reviewer 2 Report
This manuscript Self-Esteem and Motivation for Learning in Academic Achievement: theMediating Role of Reasoning and Verbal Fluidity
by authors Nieves Moyano, Alberto Quílez-Robres , Alejandra Cortés Pascual outlines the first detailed study of a subset of primary education students in Spain (?). The Authors analyzed the joint role of non cognitive and cognitive as play as factors on academic achievement both as a global score and in relation to specific subjects like Language and Literature, and Mathematics.
I found the manuscript well written and interesting to read. Minor points below.
Minor Points:
Line 31: Define and reference PISA
Lines 97-99: Include age range for girls and boys
Line 124: Is it “performance in Language and Literature and Mathematics.” Or do the authors mean performance in Language and Literature, and Mathematics? If the latter, please update throughout the manuscript.
Line 134: “of a medium-sized city. Include the country. This is also relevant for the mentioned “familie’s socio-economic level of was medium-high.” Include how that was. Determined and/or give range of household income to quantify this statement.
Line 182 Update to: “Guidance Team participated, as well as the tutors of the involved courses.”
Lines 231-232 Need to be updated. What does predictive here mean as a single word sentence?
Line 233: “Together they explained 23% of variance” – please add a bit more here, for example: 23 of variance of….
Line 350: “explainpart” – update to explain part
Tables 1+ 2:
CI or IC for Conditional Index?
I am missing an explanation what the # 1-7 represent in the captions. Many readers will jump directly to figures and having all the information in one place would greatly aid the readability of this manuscript.
This is a richly and properly referenced manuscript. I do however suggest to add the following references around language and performance, if appropriate.
Nalini Ambady et al., 2001 https://ambadylab.stanford.edu/pubs/2001Ambady.pdf
Discussion and Conclusion:
What kind of recommendations can you draw from the paper that would help an interested science educator to put something from your paper in
Author Response
REVIEWER 2
We are grateful for the comments that our article has received from Reviewer 2. We also welcome the opportunity to resubmit the paper in order to take her/his comments into account. We find the comments of Reviewer 2 very constructive.
Feedback 1. R: Line 31: Define and reference PISA
Authors
Response: Thank you for your appreciation. We've made his change.
Line 31: Learning and, consequently, its measurement in the educational field through academic success, which is commonly evaluated by academic performance, is a topic of interest for public institutions. An example of this is the annual Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) [1] reports used as an indicator of students’ general knowledge in different countries.
The following reference has been added:
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD (2019). PISA 2018 Results: What Students Know and Can Do (Vol. 1). Paris: PISA, OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en
The numbering of references has been changed in both, text and references.
Feedback 2. R: Lines 97-99: Include age range for girls and boys
Authors
Response: Thanks for the suggestion. We have added age for both boys and girls.
Lines 97-99: On the one hand, girls (10-18 years old) present lower extrinsic motivation levels and better perceive failure. In turn, they obtain better marks in Language and Literature and approach learning in a more adaptive way [45]. On the contrary for self-esteem, boys (10-18 years old) show higher levels than girls, which is related to their better performance in Mathematics [46].
Feedback 3. R: Line 124: Is it “performance in Language and Literature and Mathematics.” Or do the authors mean performance in Language and Literature, and Mathematics? If the latter, please update throughout the manuscript.
Authors
Response: Sorry. You're right. It's the second option. It has been changed on line 124 and reviewed throughout the text.
With a sample of Elementary Education schoolchildren, our objective was to focus on: analyzing the relation between non cognitive factors (motivation, self-esteem) and a possible mediation of cognitive abilities (reasoning, verbal fluency) and gender for global academic performance by considering the average mark obtained by averaging all the subjects taken; specific academic performance in Language and Literature, and Mathematics
Feedback 4. R: Line 134: “of a medium-sized city. Include the country. This is also relevant for the mentioned “family’s socio-economic level of was medium-high.” Include how that was. Determined and/or give range of household income to quantify this statement.
Authors
Response: Lines 131-134: The sample was made up of 133 Primary students, who were distributed into courses as follows: 35.3% in year 1; 31.6% in year 2; 33.1% in year 3. They all attended a state-assisted school in the center of a medium-sized city of Spain. Family’s socio-economic level of was medium-high (30.000-45.000 net euros per year).
Feedback 5. R: Line 182 Update to: “Guidance Team participated, as well as the tutors of the involved courses.”
Authors
Response: Thank you for your correction. This change has been applied in the text.
Line 182: Guidance Team participated, as well as the tutors of the involved courses The center’s School Guidance Team participated, as did as the tutors of the involved courses.
Feedback 6. R: Lines 231-232 Need to be updated. What does predictive here mean as a single word sentence?
Authors
Response: These two lines have been reformulated. We hope this change will improve understanding.
Line 229-234: To examine the predictive power of motivation and self-esteem in academic performance, a multiple linear regression was performed in which the criterion variable was academic performance. Variables that were significant in correlation analysis were used in the regression model, specifically motivation for learning, fear of failure, and self-esteem. Predictive variables were established as those that were previously significant with the correlation analysis, specifically motivation for learning, fear of failure and self-esteem
Feedback 7. R: Line 233: “Together they explained 23% of variance” – please add a bit more here, for example: 23 of variance of….
Authors
Response: Thank you for your recommendation. We've added an explanation to specify that 23%.
Line: 237-239. Together they explained 23% of variance. In other words, 23% of academic performance values would be explained by the values obtained in self-esteem and motivation for learning.
Feedback 8. R: Line 350: “explainpart” – update to explain part
Authors
Response: I'm sorry about the mistake. It's already changed.
Line 356: that could explain part explainpart of the variance in academic performance.
Feedback 9. R: Tables 1+ 2:
CI or IC for Conditional Index?
I am missing an explanation what the # 1-7 represent in the captions. Many readers will jump directly to figures and having all the information in one place would greatly aid the readability of this manuscript.
Authors
Response: Thanks for this appreciation. Definitely, the correct way is "CI". It is changed in the two tables (1 and 2).
I am missing an explanation what the # 1-7 represent in the captions. Many readers will jump directly to figures and having all the information in one place would greatly aid the readability of this manuscript.
Authors
Response:Table 1 and 2 (#1-7) Sorry. There was an error in the table. It is already corrected and each variable corresponds vertically to its corresponding horizontal number.
Feedback 10. R: This is a richly and properly referenced manuscript. I do however suggest to add the following references around language and performance, if appropriate. Nalini Ambady et al., 2001 https://ambadylab.stanford.edu/pubs/2001Ambady.pdf
Authors
Response: Thank you. This recommendation is very good for this study. This reference has been added.
Ambady, N., Shih, M., Kim, A., Pittinsky, T. L. (2001). Stereotype susceptibility in children: effects of identity activation on quantitative performance. Psychol Sci. 12(5), 385-390. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00371
Feedback 11. R: Discussion and Conclusion:
¿Qué tipo de recomendaciones puede extraer del documento que ayudaría a un educador de ciencias interesado a poner algo de su artículo en.
Autores
Respuesta: Se ha añadido la recomendación. Muchas gracias.
Líneas 360- 362: Además, nuestros hallazgos nos llevarían a recomendar el desarrollo de programas educativos que integren la motivación y la autoestima como algunos de los principales objetivos entre los niños de 6 a 9 años. Esto mejoraría significativamente su capacidad cognitiva y su éxito en el rendimiento académico.
*Para la traducción del texto, un profesional nativo de traducción e idiomas ha estado disponible.
