The relationship between self-concept, intrinsic motivation, self-determination and academic achievement among chinese primary school students

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-concept, intrinsic motivation and self-determination with academic achievement among the respondents. The sample of the study was 200 students in standard 5 and standard 6 from a Chinese primary school in Johor, Malaysia. Data was collected using a self-developed set of questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha and the result was 0.941. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0. Pearson correlation at the significant level of 0.05 was used in order to determine the relationships among the measured variables. Research finding shows that correlations between independent variables (self-concept, intrinsic motivation and self-determination of the respondents) and dependent variable (academic achievement) were all significantly low. Analysis of previous research discovers several salient factors in relation to the current research findings.