High school students' attitudes and actions toward "slow learners"

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Attitude-behavior consistency theories guide predictions of student involvement in peer-tutoring programs.
• Understanding factors influencing peer-tutoring engagement is crucial for supporting slow learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between high school students' attitudes and their behavior in a peer-tutoring program for slow learners.
• To test predictions derived from attitude-behavior consistency theories.

Main Methods:

• Survey methodology assessing student attitudes toward tutees and tutoring behavior.
• Analysis of the predictive power of attitudes and intentions on peer-tutoring involvement.

Main Results:

• Student attitudes toward tutees showed a trend in predicting meeting behavior.
• Attitudes toward the general group of tutees did not predict peer-tutoring behavior.
• Student intentions to tutor were the strongest predictor of actual tutoring behavior.
• Both intentions and behavior were correlated with attitudes toward the tutoring behavior itself.

Conclusions:

• Intentions, rather than general attitudes, are key predictors of peer-tutoring behavior.
• An empirically validated theoretical approach effectively predicts behavior toward slow learners.
• Findings highlight the importance of intention in understanding and promoting participation in educational support programs.