Verification of internal variables affecting Korean community college students'academic achievement

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of Korean community college students' self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and flow on academic achievement through a structural model in order to verify the relationships among the internal variables that affect academic achievement. Data surveyed from 352 students at a large community college in South Korea were used to investigate the integrated relationships between these three internal variables and academic achievement. The results showed that both self-efficacy and intrinsic value directly affected flow. The effect size of self-efficacy was stronger than that of intrinsic value. Secondly, both self-efficacy and intrinsic value did not exert any direct effect on academic achievement. Finally, flow had a mediator effect on the relationship between intrinsic value and academic achievement. The main findings from this study suggest that all of the three internal variables, self-efficacy, intrinsic value and flow, should be synthetically considered to design effective instructional strategies for improving academic achievement of community college students.