The Role of Belief Sources in Promoting Goal Orientation Beliefs, Self‑Efcacy, and Beliefs About the Role of Teachers in Mathematics Learning

Goal orientation beliefs, self-efficacy, and beliefs
about the role of the teacher in mathematics learning have
been known as important factors in promoting students’ suc
cess in mathematics. Beliefs can be shaped through four
principles: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social
persuasion, and physiological state. This study examined the
structural relationship between belief sources, goal orienta
tion beliefs, self-efficacy, and beliefs about the role of math
ematics teachers. Seventeen classes were selected randomly
within 35 classes from fifth and sixth grade, four private
schools in Surabaya, Indonesia. Five hundred-five students
participated in the present study. Partial Least Square struc
tural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data.
The result showed that mastery experience and vicarious
experience positively predicted students’ goal orientation
beliefs, self-efficacy, and beliefs about the role of the teachers. Social persuasion significantly influenced self-efficacy and beliefs about the role of mathematics teachers but not goal orientation beliefs. Among the belief sources, social persuasion is the strongest predictor for self-efficacy. Vicarious experience is the most powerful predicator for goal orientation beliefs and beliefs about the role of mathematics teachers. Meanwhile, the physiological state only negatively predicted goal orientation beliefs. The contribution of the findings of our study for mathematical teaching practices in Surabaya-Indonesia was discussed.
Keywords Goal orientation beliefs · Belief sources ·
Self-efficacy · Beliefs about the teacher