On Reasons Of Academic Help-seeking Avoidance In Senior Students

An important way students regulate their own learning and intellectual development is by obtaining assistance from others at times of need. At school, children who engage in adaptive help seeking monitor their academic performance, show awareness of difficulty they cannot overcome independently, and remedy that difficulty by requesting assistance from teachers and classmates. However, a common complaint among school teachers is that many of students do not take an active role in their own learning, in particular, when they were faced with challenge and difficulty. Despite awareness of academic problems they may have and despite availability of assistance, many tend to avoid seeking help.The purposes of this essay are to explore reasons of senior students'academic help-seeking avoidance in the eyes of students themselves, as well as the differences between students'perception. Based on the existing research, with methods of open-ended survey, questionnaire, factor analysis, and variance analysis, conclusions are drawn: (1)By exploratory factor analysis, three factors perceived as contained to academic help-seeking were found: perceived teacher's help, cost perceived of help-seeking, and perceived role of teacher. (2)Objectively, students of different schools, sex, and grades attribute help-seeking avoidance differently. Students in township were easily perceived teacher's help and the costs of help-seeking as inhabitant factors to help-seeking; Comparatively speaking, male students were escaping seeking help more for the costs; Different from Grade three in senior school, the first and second grade thought the costs of help-seeking were higher; and the second thought teacher-help handicapped their help-seeking more than the first did. (3)Subjectively, students of different goals, achievement, efficiency, and self-esteem attribute help-seeking avoidance differently. Students of relative ability goals believed that perceived teacher's help and costs of help-seeking would induced their avoidant behavior, this was not true to those of task goals; Those who satisfied with their achievements thought it were the perceived teacher's help and costs of help-seeking that aroused their avoidance of help-seeking; The costs of help-seeking were also perceived by low efficiency; Students of low self-esteem were sensitive about teacher help and the cost of help-seeking, also the role of teacher.Some remain to be studied, such as the mental mechanism of academic help-seeking avoidance,for what one avoid seeking help in special subjects,and the social factors that may inhabit seeking help. Also signal detection theory can be used as a guide for future research.