Tongan students’ attitudes towards their subjects in New Zealand relative to their academic achievement - Research paper

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Grenda

The study investigates how self-efficacy and liking of subjects relate to academic performance in mathematics, writing, and reading among students in New Zealand, analyzed by self-reported ethnicity. Results show Tongan and Pasifika students hold positive subject attitudes but display lower overall achievement than majority and Asian immigrant students across all three subjects. Correlations between liking and self-efficacy are near zero for Pasifika and Tongan students, suggesting “school effects” rather than attachment deficits as likely explanations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Immigrant academic performance and educational gaps

The study focus

Self-efficacy and liking as predictors

Findings and implications

Attitudes versus achievement for Tongan and Pasifika students

Asia Pacific Education Review Copyright 2007 by Education Research Institute 2007, Vol. 8, No. 1, 117-128. Tongan students’ attitudes towards their subjects in New Zealand relative to their academic achievement Mo’ale Otunuku Gavin T. L. Brown University of Auckland New Zealand Research indicates that affective attitudes such as liking of a subject and confidence in one’s ability within a subject predict academic performance. Generally, immigrant minority students have positive attitudes and often have low academic performance. This study examines the self-efficacy and liking of subjects of New Zealand students and analyses the relationship of those attitudes towards academic performance in mathematics, writing, and reading by self-reported ethnicity. Data were obtained from the norming samples from the Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning project in New Zealand. Of special interest are the relationships between attitude and performance for Pasifika and Tongan students in New Zealand. Tongan and Pasifika students had positive attitudes, but their mean scores were not significantly different to other ethnic groups except in writing for Tongan students. Tongan and Pasifika students did have lower academic performance than majority and Asian immigrant students in all three subjects. The correlation between liking and self-efficacy was fundamentally zero for Tongan and Pasifika students, while it was weakly positive for majority and Asian immigrant students. Together these results question the power of self-efficacy and liking attitudes to predict academic performance for immigrant students from agrarian or traditional societies. Further, the data suggest that ‘school effects’ are most likely explanations for this relationship, rather than lack of attachment, opposition, or deficiency theories. Key words: Pasifika, attitudes, self-efficacy, achievement, secondary students The academic performance of immigrant minority students is a matter of real concern in most societies. Immigrants often come to a new country expecting improved economic, social, and educational opportunities for their Mo’ale Otunuku, University of Auckland, School of Teaching, Learning & Development; Gavin T. L. Brown, University of Auckland. Professor John Hattie, University of Auckland, and the New Zealand Ministry of Education are thanked for providing access to the asTTle database. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mo’ale Otunuku, University of Auckland, School of Teaching, Learning & Development, Faculty of Education, Epsom Campus, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. e-mail: m.otunuku@ [auckland.ac.nz](auckland.ac.nz) children, but experience has shown that immigrant minorities rarely experience large-scale academic success. In New Zealand, Pasifika refers to migrants from the countries of the South Pacific like Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and Fiji. Most Pasifika immigrants came to New Zealand after World War Two from countries that were either former colonies, or mandate territories of New Zealand. Thus, some Pasifika immigrants, like Cook Islanders, have special legal rights as New Zealand citizens. Pasifika nations are largely traditional, agrarian, and in many ways, still feudal societies in nature. Most Pasifika immigrants came to New Zealand as cheap labourers and consequently, most have low socioeconomic status. Furthermore, Pasifika peoples are racially visible as they are Polynesian or Melanesian, in contrast to the dominant Mo’ale Otunuku, Gavin T. L. Brown Caucasian group of New Zealand Europeans (known as Pakeha), but visibly similar to the indigenous Polynesian Māori peoples. Thus, Pasifika peoples differ from the majority Pakeha groups of New Zealand in terms of race, culture, language, education, and occupation. The level of academic performance of Pasifika students can be seen in the New Zealand qualifications systems and in standardized measures of learn

FAQs

What does the study examine about Tongan and Pasifika students in New Zealand?

The study examines self-efficacy and liking toward subjects and analyzes how these attitudes relate to academic performance in mathematics, writing, and reading by self-reported ethnicity.

How do Tongan and Pasifika students perform academically compared with other groups?

Tongan and Pasifika students have lower academic performance than majority and Asian immigrant students in all three subjects, even though their mean attitude scores are positive.

What is the relationship between liking and self-efficacy for different ethnic groups?

For Tongan and Pasifika students, the correlation between liking and self-efficacy is fundamentally zero, while it is weakly positive for majority and Asian immigrant students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Grenda