This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the motivation and self-efficacy beliefs of students in elementary school. A sample was composed of 141 children between 8 to 11 years, students from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades of public schools in São Paulo State/Brazil. The students completed a motivation scale containing 20 questions and three possibilities of responses: always, sometimes and never, and a range of academic self-efficacy also composed of 20 questions arranged in a likert scale of 4 points ranging from very able to not able. The instrument was applied collectively, in the student’s classrooms, and only those who had a previous parental consent were allowed to participate. The results showed a positive and significant correlation between the self-efficacy to study and general self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. The results also had a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy to study and extrinsic motivation. The data analysis revealed that there were statistically significant differences on intrinsic motivation only among groups with higher and lower self-efficacy perception. The analysis of these differences indicates that the group with better perception of self-efficacy also had higher scores on the scale of intrinsic motivation.
Student-motivation; Self-efficacy; Self-regulation; Sociocognitive theory
