Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, College Adjustment, and GPA Among First- and Continuing-Generation Students: A Moderator Model of Generational Status

The role of generational status (first-generation vs. continuing-generation college students) as a moderator of the relationship between psychological factors and college outcomes was tested to determine whether generational status acts as a risk factor or as a sensitizing factor. The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students who completed online measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and academic adjustment and provided self-reports of GPA. Generational status significantly moderated the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes. Generally, it was found that the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes were strongest among first-generation students. Further, it was found that for the majority of the interactions with locus of control, first-generation status acted as a sensitizing factor that amplified both the positive and negative effects of locus of control. In contrast, for self-esteem, first generation status acted as a risk factor that only exacerbated the negative effects of low self-esteem. These results are interpreted as reflecting motivational differences between first- and continuing-generation students and are discussed with respect to the social/cultural capital hypothesis that is most frequently presented in the existing literature.     

Factors influencing the pursuit of personal learning goals in MOOCs

MOOCs are promising opportunities for lifelong learning, but as promising as these learning opportunities seem, many learners do not succeed in pursuing their personal learning goals. Barriers to learning are the main reason for not finishing the intended (parts of the) MOOCs. This study addressed the question whether the factors age, gender, educational level, and online learning experience affect barriers faced while learning in MOOCs. The results show that it is challenging to combine work and family life with lifelong (online) learning activities, especially for learners in their early adulthood and mid-life. However, more experience with online learning positively affects individuals’ ability to cope with these challenges. Also, learners with a lower educational level may experience a lack of knowledge or difficulties with the course content. These findings may serve as input to inform potentially vulnerable learners about these issues and support them in successfully achieving their personal learning goals.     

Instructor–Learner Interaction in Online Courses: The relative perceived importance of particular instructor actions on performance and satisfaction

This article examines the relative perceived importance of 19 instructor actions in online courses according to both instructors and students. The instructor actions were culled from guidelines in the online learning literature base and then reviewed and rated by 14 experts. Thirty‐two online instructors and 170 students from their classes at a large public university and a private online university were asked to review and rate these guidelines. Findings show that the instructors believe that learner performance is more likely tied to instructor actions that are focused on course content and provide both proactive (models, expectations) and reactive (feedback) information to learners about their ability to demonstrate knowledge of course material, but learner satisfaction is more likely tied to learners’ feeling that their interpersonal communication needs are met. Learners rated items focused on communication needs and being treated as individuals as most important, aligning their stated preferences with the instructors’ perceptions of what actions are most satisfying to online learners.     

An attribution-based motivation treatment to assist first-generation college students reframe academic setbacks

First-generation college students face unique obstacles that can erode their psychological well-being, academic motivation, and educational development during school-to-college transitions. Although research shows attribution-based interventions foster academic attainment among at-risk students (Hamm et al., 2020; Perry & Hamm, 2017), little is known about treatment efficacy for students with socioeconomic risk factors such as first-generation status (Gutiérrez, 2008). In a randomized treatment study, we administered attributional retraining (AR) to first- and continuing-generation college students who differed in academic control beliefs (low, high) in an online two-semester introductory psychology course. For low-control first-generation students, AR recipients outperformed their no-AR peers by a letter-grade (B vs. C+) and were 55% less likely to drop the course. AR-grade efficacy was mediated by causal attributions and control beliefs in a path sequence specified by Weiner’s (1979, 1985, 2018) attribution theory. AR decreased attributions to uncontrollable causes, which negatively predicted final course grade and increased academic control beliefs, and these positively predicted final course grade. These findings advance motivation intervention research by demonstrating that an AR treatment can have salutary benefits for first-generation students mediated by theory-derived cognitive processes.     

A Comparison of Special,General and Support Teachers’ Controllability and Stability Attributions for Children’s Difficulties in Learning

The study aimed to explore teachers’ attributions for learner difficulties in their schoolwork. In order to explore their attributions of controllability and stability, three groups of teachers, general mainstream class teachers (N = 39), mainstream learning support teachers (N = 35), and special school teachers (N = 25) were asked to rate vignettes about children’s difficulties. The results showed that the two groups of teachers working in the mainstream settings viewed learners with identified support needs as having less control over their performance than those with no specific support needs, while special school teachers viewed both learner groups similarly. Similar findings were found for teacher attributions of controllability in high‐ and low‐ability learners. Stability attributions across all conditions showed that special school teachers viewed children’s difficulties as more amenable to change than did the two groups of mainstream teachers. The implications of these findings for inclusion in mainstream schools are discussed.     

Listening for Silence in Text‐Based,Online Encounters

This article addresses the ways in which learners’ silence plays out within asynchronous and synchronous text‐based, online communication. Our study takes an ethnographic perspective in examining how learners and instructors in two online courses use and interpret silence. The ways in which those learners and instructors eventually integrated silence into their online communication were interpreted as non‐participation, confusion, marginalization, and thoughtful reflection. These findings have implications that are relevant to instructors’ efforts to create constructive online learning environments and view silence as an important aspect of social presence. We thus propose the need for the development of a deeper analysis—both empirical and theoretical—on the notions of online silence, social presence, and communication.     

Unequal origin,unequal treatment,and unequal educational attainment: Does being first generation still a disadvantage in India?

The Indian higher education system is supposed to be the source of equal opportunities to all students irrespective of their life circumstances. Does it succeed in realizing this ideal? In fact, the system of higher education inadvertently plays a critical role in constructing and recreating the inequalities between groups. The prime victims of inequality are first-generation students, whose disadvantages are unseen, their voices ignored and left on their own. In India, first-generation students are typically confronted with the dynamics of caste-based inequality in addition to their deficiency in the cultural and social capital. In this context, the purpose of this study was to examine if being a first-generation student had a significant influence on educational attainment. The field survey data of 900 senior secondary students was employed for the analysis. For the purpose of analysis, educational attainment was measured in terms of completion of higher secondary school and entry into higher education. The findings of the study confirm the difference in educational attainment between first-generation students and their counterparts. Results of logistic regression indicate that the location, category, family income, academic achievement, stream of education, and social and cultural capital are the pertinent factors which influence the educational attainment of first-generation students.     

The paradox of trust in online collaborative groups

Open and sustained discussions in heterogeneous collaborative online groups should provide opportunities for adults to reshape their thinking, deeply understand the subject content, and have their voices heard and respected. These opportunities turn on trust. The ability to trust thoughts that are different from their own is influenced by the learners’ ability to be open about their beliefs and to develop healthy self–other relationships within their small groups. These issues are examined through a qualitative phenomenographic perspective of the stories of the students enrolled in two online adult learning classes utilizing a problem‐based and collaborative pedagogy. The findings indicate that group members import trust issues into the group, which then become issues for the group‐as‐a‐whole. To resolve these issues, the groups engage in several evading behaviors to avoid the types of discussion necessary to fully deal with the difference and resolve the trust issues.     

Exploring design features to enhance computer‐based assessment: Learners' views on using a confidence‐indicator tool and computer‐based feedback

Many institutions encourage formative computer‐based assessment (CBA), yet competing priorities mean that learners are necessarily selective about what they engage in. So how can we motivate them to engage? Can we facilitate learners to take more control of shaping their learning experience? To explore this, the Learning with Interactive Assessment (LINA) project, a small‐scale study, trialed a selection of online, interactive question features designed to increase motivation, particularly of work‐based learners, and to enhance learners' ability to self‐regulate their own learning experience. We present initial findings on learner perceptions of: (1) a confidence indicator tool—for learners to indicate their confidence that their answer will be correct before answering a question; (2) a learning log—for learners to insert reflections or view system‐recorded information about their learning pathway; and (3) question feedback—for displaying a range of author comments. Themes emerged relating to motivational, behavioural and cognitive factors, including risk taking and skills in self‐assessment. A serendipitous finding highlights learners' frequently not reading onscreen feedback and presents perceptions on when feedback becomes most useful. Motivators and barriers to engagement and self‐regulation are discussed in relation to principles of best feedback practice.     

College Talk and the Rural Economy: Shaping the Educational Aspirations of Rural,First-Generation Students

The college-going rates of rural students lag behind those of more urban students, a gap likely due, in part, to rural students’ lower educational aspirations. These lower aspirations appear to be tied to the dilemma that higher education presents for many rural students: whether to remain in their rural home, working in traditional trades and industries that do not require a college degree, or to leave in pursuit of an education that is often the first step toward an adult life lived away. This study seeks to better understand this dilemma by examining the messages that rural, first-generation students receive about the value of higher education. Drawing upon interviews and observations, it shows that high school guidance counselors, college admissions officials, and the staff of community-based college aspirations organizations adopt a strikingly consistent message: they cite struggling rural economies in their argument for the necessity of a practical degree for all students, one that can be easily leveraged into a career. Despite noting broad parental support for this message, many participants also describe continued resistance from some rural families, a perception that may heighten the dilemma of rural college-going for students.     

Meaningfulness is in the eye of the reader: eye-tracking insights of L2 learners reading e-books and their pedagogical implications

This study employed eye-tracking technology to probe the online reading behavior of 52 advanced L2 English learners. These participants read an e-book containing six types of multimedia supports for either vocabulary acquisition or comprehension. The six supports consisted of three micro-level supports that provided information about specific words (glosses, vocabulary focus, and footnotes), and three macro-level supports that provided global or background information (illustrations, infographics, and photos). The participants read the ebook under two presentation modes: (1) simultaneous mode: where digital input and supports were presented at the same time; and (2) sequential mode: where the digital content and supports were incrementally presented. Analyses showed that when reading for vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary focus and glosses were significantly fixated on, and when reading for comprehension, illustrations were more intensely fixated on. Additionally, when the digital content was incrementally presented, vocabulary focus received significantly higher total fixation duration. This suggests that reading under the sequential mode has the potency to guide L2 learners’ focal attention toward micro-level supports. In contrast, under the simultaneous presentation mode, L2 learners seemed to divide their focal attention among both micro-level and macro-level supports. Pedagogical implications are discussed based on the findings of this study.     

The Different Benefits from Different Gestures in Understanding a Concept

Explanations are typically accompanied by hand gestures. While research has shown that gestures can help learners understand a particular concept, different learning effects in different types of gesture have been less understood. To address the issues above, the current study focused on whether different types of gestures lead to different levels of improvement in understanding. Two types of gestures were investigated, and thus, three instructional videos (two gesture videos plus a no gesture control) of the subject of mitosis—all identical except for the types of gesture used—were created. After watching one of the three videos, participants were tested on their level of understanding of mitosis. The results showed that (1) differences in comprehension were obtained across the three groups, and (2) representational (semantic) gestures led to a deeper level of comprehension than both beat gestures and the no gesture control. Finally, a language proficiency effect is discussed as a moderator that may affect understanding of a concept. Our findings suggest that a teacher is encouraged to use representational gestures even to adult learners, but more work is needed to prove the benefit of using gestures for adult learners in many subject areas.     

Gender differences in factors associated with how parents communicate with school in Korea

The authors explored different factors that were associated with mothers' and fathers' choice between two forms of parent–school communication: school briefing sessions and parent–teacher conferences. A total of 585 parents—295 mothers and 290 fathers from different households—who had at least one child enrolled in middle school in Korea were surveyed. Analytic results indicated that there were gender differences in how mothers and fathers were motivated to communicate with school. More educated and affluent mothers who positively assessed their child's academic achievement but were less confident in the child's ability and dissatisfied with the school-provided information were more likely to communicate with the school, whereas fathers were influenced by the employment status of their wives and communication with the child. Perception of positive child–teacher relationship predicted both mothers' and fathers' engagement in communication. Based on the findings, the authors discuss ways to promote parental involvement in communication with school.     

Teacher and learners’ belief in a just world and perspectives of discipline of Grade 4 - 8 learners in South African schools

In the present study, we examine the personal belief in a just world (PBJW) for teachers and learners in predominantly Afrikaans-speaking South African schools, and the relationship between teachers’ PBJW and their perception of problem behaviour in the classroom. The study is informed by national debates of school violence in South African schools, and international debates on zero-tolerance policies to address school violence. Our findings suggest that teachers’ PBJW predicts their perception of problem behaviour in classroom behaviour in four areas, namely challenging authority, disrespecting rules and authority and teacher negativity. Teachers with a strong PBJW were more likely to view classroom behaviours as problematic. Children generally reported that their teachers were fair and just and liked them. However, boys were more likely to have experienced trouble with their teachers and to view them as unfair and unjust. We discuss the significance of the findings in terms of school violence and also mention gendered interpretations to school violence.     

Effect of pandemic based online education on teaching and learning system

Coronavirus outbreak mediated pandemic impacted most of the sectors globally. This includes the academic world that consists of millions of enrolled learners and active teachers who previously had regular classes in their institutions, and due to the pandemic, got stuck at the home. To continue the education process, the online class was introduced in most of the countries, including India. In this mode, both teaching and learning happen through electronic devices which are relatively new to the entire teaching-learning community. This study aimed to understand how online classes had fared for the teachers and students in India. Besides, it tried to understand the users’ experience and the unique set of challenges that this mode of education brings.Four separate questionnaires were created for school students, school teachers, college students, and college professors. The questions inquired about various aspects of online classes such as setting up online education at home, knowledge transfer, comfort, evaluation, and future aspects. The questionnaires were circulated electronically as google forms. The responses were received from the teachers (school teachers and college professors considering all courses) and learners (school and college students considering all courses) of various educational institutions across the country. The data was compiled and the results were discussed in two ways, firstly, the perspectives of teaching versus the learning group and secondly, school versus college groups on online versus regular classes. Though online training/distance education is practiced for a long time, the research on the mentioned aspects was limited. This study is the first of its kind which reflects the merits and demerits of the new-normal online education from home in the compiled voice of teachers and learners group in India. The study addresses the participant’s compliments and grievances of online education compared to regular classes. This further enlightens how to improve the technologies to make them use more efficiently. Besides, this study gives a proper framework to modify or create educational policies, laws, and schemes to obtain equal access to resources for all.     

外语学习与成人语法教学

成年外语学习者不可能非常容易地习得外语,因为他们已经失去了无意识习得语言的天赋。语法教学可以作为成年外语学习者用来弥补他们对语言缺乏直觉的重要而有用的一种方式,从而使他们能成功地学习外语。     

Adult learners’ emotions in online learning

The aim of the research study reported in this article was to investigate how adult learners talk about their emotions in the context of a year‐long online course, the first online course these adults take, as part of a distance education program. The theoretical and methodological approach focused on formulating an account of how emotion discourses are used by learners, what role they play in online learning, and how they change over a one‐year period (if they do so). The findings of this study provide three insights: (1) they show how adult learners (who also happen to be novice online learners) respond emotionally and talk about their emotions in relation to online learning; (2) they call attention to the ways in which emotion talk changes from the beginning of the course to the end, always in response to specific demands and dimensions of online learning; and (3) they reveal the differential emotional responses between men and women in relation to their social and gender roles and responsibilities. Empirical and policy implications of this study are discussed at the end.     

The effects of active versus reflective learning style on the processes of critical discourse in computer-supported collaborative argumentation

This study examined how message-response exchanges produced in the interactions between active learners only, reflective learners only, active-reflective learners and reflective-active learners affected how often active versus reflective learners posted rebuttals to arguments and challenges across four types of exchanges that believed to promote critical discourse (argument–challenge, challenge–counterchallenge, challenge–explain, challenge–evidence) in computer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA). This study found that the exchanges between reflective learners produced 44% more responses than in the exchanges between active learners ( ES  = +0.17). The reflective–reflective exchanges produced 47% more responses than the active–reflective exchanges ( ES  = +0.18). These results suggest that groups with reflective learners only are likely to produce more critical discourse than groups with active learners only, and the ratio of active–reflective learners within a group can potentially influence overall group performance. These findings illustrate how specific traits of the learner can affect discourse processes in CSCA and provide insights into process-oriented strategies and tools for structuring dialogue and promoting critical inquiry in online discussions.     

Web‐based reading annotation system with an attention‐based self‐regulated learning mechanism for promoting reading performance

Due to the rapid development of information technology, web‐based learning has become a dominant trend. That is, learners can often learn anytime and anywhere without being restricted by time and space. Autonomic learning primarily occurs in web‐based learning environments, and self‐regulated learning (SRL) is key to autonomic learning performance. Moreover, sustained attention to web‐based learning activities can be challenging for students. Therefore, a web‐based reading annotation system with an attention‐based self‐regulated learning mechanism (ASRLM), which is based on brainwave detection, is designed to enhance the sustained attention of learners while reading annotated English texts online, and thereby promote online reading performance. In total, 126 Grade 7 students in four classes at a junior high school in New Taipei City, Taiwan, are the participants. Among the four classes, two classes are randomly distributed to the experimental group and the other two classes are randomly distributed to the control group. The experimental group utilizes the ASRLM to support their reading of annotated English texts online, whereas the control group is not supported by the ASRLM while reading annotated English texts online. Experimental results show that sustained attention and reading comprehension of the experimental group are better than those of the control group. Moreover, the web‐based reading system with ASRLM support promotes the sustained attention and reading comprehension of female learners more than those of male learners while reading annotated English texts online. Additionally, learners with high‐SRL ability in the experimental group have better sustained attention and reading comprehension than those learners with low‐SRL ability. Furthermore, the sustained attention and reading comprehension of the experimental group are strongly correlated, and the duration of sustained attention strongly predicts their reading comprehension performance.