Effects of learning approaches,locus of control,socio-economic status and self-efficacy on academic achievement: a Turkish perspective

In this study the effects of learning approaches, locus of control (LOC), socio-economic status and self-efficacy on undergraduate students in North Cyprus was investigated. Four questionnaires were administered on 99 students in order to collect data regarding the learning approaches, LOC, self-efficacy and demographic factors. High cumulative grade point average and self-efficacy were shown to be an indicator of academic achievement and high self-efficacy was related to the use of deep approach (DA). Students, whose mothers had lower levels of education, were found to also predict academic success. No direct significant relationship between DA and academic achievement was found.     

Recalled test anxiety in relation to achievement,in the context of general academic self-concept,study habits,parental involvement and socio-economic status among Grade 6 Ethiopian students

The study investigated the predictive nature of test anxiety on achievement in the presence of perceived general academic self-concept, study habits, parental involvement in children's learning and socio-economic status. From a population of 2482 Grade 6 students from seven government primary schools of a sub-city in Addis Ababa, 497 participants were randomly selected, namely 248 boys and 249 girls. The mean age of the participants was 12.98 years. An adapted version of Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale (28 items), plus the General Academic Self-Concept Scale (18 items), and Parental Involvement (10 items), Study Habits (10 items) and Socio-Economic Status (10 items) scales developed by the authors were the instruments of the study. The findings of the study indicated: (a) test anxiety correlated with achievement with a weak correlation of ?0.186; and (b) perceived general academic self-concept and study habits were positively and significantly related to achievement. Stepwise multiple regression on achievement resulted in the selection of general academic self-concept, study habits and parental involvement as significant contributors to achievement in that order. Test anxiety was found to be a non-predictor of achievement in the presence of other variables.     

Parent involvement and academic outcomes among urban adolescents: examining the role of school engagement

The present study examined the extent to which parent involvement in education was directly and indirectly (via school engagement) related to academic outcomes in an effort to more fully understand the school experiences of urban adolescents. Participants (80% racial/ethnic minority; n = 108) were in grades 6, 7 or 8. In the Fall and subsequent Spring youth completed in-school surveys with items on parental involvement in education, school engagement (affective, behavioural, cognitive engagement) and perceived academic competence. Grades were obtained from official school records. Findings showed that parental involved was positively associated with behavioural and cognitive engagement, which in turn contributed to academic competence and achievement. Results underscore the importance of parental involvement in adolescents’ engagement and academic success and highlight the importance of examining the multiple components of school engagement simultaneously, as we found differential effects for affective, behavioural, and cognitive engagement on academic competence and achievement.     

Studying for the sake of others: the role of social goals on academic engagement

Much of the research on achievement goal theory has focused on the roles of mastery and performance goals in academic engagement, thus the role of other goals such as social goals has mostly been neglected. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of different kinds of social goals (affiliation, approval, concern, responsibility and status goals) on the different facets of academic engagement. A total of 1147 Filipino secondary school students answered questionnaires assessing their social goals, achievement goals and academic engagement. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed to investigate the effects of social goals on academic engagement after controlling the effects of mastery and performance goals. Results indicate that certain kinds of social goals are also important predictors of academic engagement. We recommend that researchers consider investigating social goals that might be more salient in cross-cultural settings instead of focusing exclusively on mastery and performance goals.     

Passion and motivation for studying: predicting academic engagement and burnout in university students

Research on the dualistic model of passion has investigated harmonious and obsessive passion in many domains. However, few studies have investigated passion for studying and the role passion for studying plays in student engagement and well‐being. The present study investigated the relationships between harmonious and obsessive passion for studying and academic engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) and burnout (exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy) in 105 university students, controlling for the effects of autonomous and controlled motivation. Both harmonious and obsessive passion explained variance in academic engagement and burnout beyond autonomous and controlled motivation: harmonious passion predicted higher dedication and lower cynicism, obsessive passion predicted higher absorption, and both harmonious and obsessive passion predicted higher vigour and lower inefficacy. The findings suggest that passion for studying explains individual differences in students’ academic engagement and burnout beyond autonomous and controlled motivation and thus deserves more attention from educational psychology.     

Transformational instructor-leadership and academic performance: a moderated mediation model of student engagement and structural distance

Abstract

Researchers are becoming increasingly interested in the use of transformational leadership theory in higher education teaching (often referred to as transformational instructor-leadership). Much of this body of research investigates a direct association between transformational instructor-leadership and student outcomes. In the present study, we take a step further by investigating (a) student engagement as a mechanism in the relationship between transformational instructor-leadership and students’ academic performance and (b) structural distance as a moderator of the relationship between transformational instructor-leadership and student engagement. Using a sample of 183 students across the UK, the findings supported student engagement as a full mediator, but did not support structural distance as a moderator. This study contributes to theory by (a) showing a key underlying process through which transformational instructor-leadership is related to students’ academic performance and (b) empirically examining all three dimensions of student engagement. Limitations, suggestions for future research and practical implications are discussed.     

Examining the engagement of career academy and comprehensive high school students in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of student engagement of career academy students to those at a traditional comprehensive high school using propensity score matching and structural equation modeling. We found that academy students had significantly higher levels of emotional engagement and significantly lower levels of behavioral engagement than those at comprehensive schools. We also found no statistically significant differences in the levels of cognitive engagement of academy students compared to comprehensive school students. We believe the academy model has the promise of transforming the high school experience for students as it relates to their attachment to the school, their relationships with peers and teachers, and their sense of belonging and safety. However, academies need to work with students to create and develop co-curricular and extracurricular activities of interest to engage students in their schools at a higher level.     

A path analysis of basic need support,self-efficacy,achievement goals,life satisfaction and academic achievement level among secondary school students

Teachers’ support of basic psychological needs, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level was measured in a sample of 240 secondary school students (8th and 10th grades). Correlation analysis showed significant positive relations between all of the variables, except for the relation between need support of competence and performance goals. A subsequent path analysis showed that these variables could be accounted for by a structural model that described basic need support as predictors of self-efficacy and achievement goals, which in turn predicted academic achievement level and perceived life satisfaction. Analysis of intra-class correlation and design effect showed that need support of relatedness also was accounted for by class level responses. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed in terms of the importance of basic need support as a predictor of personal motives in educational settings as well as the students adjustment to school and life.     

The effect of being graded on later achievement: evidence from 13-year olds in Swedish compulsory school

The purpose of the study was to investigate how grading of students in primary school affected achievement measured by grades one year later, and how the effect varied as a function of cognitive ability, gender and socio-economic status. The data derive from The Evaluation Through Follow Up longitudinal project. Through a national curriculum change one group of students received grades and one group of students did not receive grades in the 6th Grade, while both groups of students received grades in the 7th Grade. A quasi-experimental design was thus created, with two comparable groups of students. The subjects were 8558 students born in 1967. Several multiple regression models were fitted to the data. The results showed no main effects of grading on subsequent achievement, but there were important differential effects: graded students with low cognitive ability received lower subsequent grades. The results also showed interaction effects between gender and grading and between gender and cognitive ability.     

Academic hardiness as a mediator for the relationship between school belonging and academic stress

Academic stress is a commonly reported affective state by high school students that can be accompanied by unwanted and unhelpful short- and long-term implications including a low sense of school belonging. Understanding how academic stress may be alleviated or managed by students is an essential consideration for all schools concerned with student well-being. This study aimed to examine the relationship between academic stress and sense of school belonging, as well as the mediation effect of academic hardiness. Four hundred and five high school students from six schools in Tehran (Iran) were recruited in the study. Data analyses with Structural Equation Modeling revealed that a sense of belonging to school (β = −.38, p < .01) and academic hardiness (β = −.40, p < .01) were significant predictors of academic stress. Bootstrapping analysis showed that academic hardiness acted as a mediator between a sense of belonging to school and academic stress. The findings elucidate the underlying mechanism in how low school belonging may lead to academic stress in high school students. Creating a culture of school belonging and teaching and supporting skills related to academic hardiness should be key considerations for all schools seeking to reduce academic stress experienced by their students.     

Student engagement as a function of environmental complexity in high school classrooms

The purpose of this study was to investigate the linkage between the quality of the learning environment and the quality of students' experience in seven high school classrooms in six different subject areas. The quality of the learning environment was conceptualized in terms of environmental complexity, or the simultaneous presence of environmental challenge and environmental support. The students (N = 108) in each class participated in the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) measuring their engagement and related experiential variables. Concurrently, environmental complexity and its subdimensions were observed and rated from video with a new observational instrument, The Optimal Learning Environments – Observational Log and Assessment (OLE-OLA). Using two-level HLM regression models, ratings from the OLE-OLA were utilized to predict student engagement and experiential variables as measured by the ESM. Results showed that environmental complexity predicted student engagement and sense of classroom self-esteem. Implications for research, theory and practice are discussed.     

Joint trajectories of behavioral,affective, and cognitive engagement in elementary school

The aim of the present study was to model student trajectories of behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement from Grade 3 to Grade 6. The authors also examined whether teachers perceptions could predict student trajectory membership. The authors collected data from a sample of 831 students and 152 teachers. Using multiple-process growth mixture modeling, they identified 5 distinct trajectories of student engagement. Although a large majority of children presented a stable and high level of engagement on the three dimensions over time, more than one third of them showed a lower or changing level of engagement as the years progressed. These students were more likely to be boys and to be perceived by teachers as being less engaged. They also present more learning or behavioral problems and share less positive relationships with teachers. The results support the need to consider group-based differences when designing and adapting prevention and intervention strategies to favor student engagement.     

The effects of individual characteristics,socioeconomic status,and political engagement on the attainment of student leadership roles in Chinese university students

This study analyzes the effects of individual characteristics, socioeconomic status, and political engagement among Chinese university students with respect to their attainment of student leadership roles. The study investigated 10,930 students from elite Chinese universities. The results showed that female and only-child students were more likely to become student leaders than male students and students with siblings. Students from local Hukou (household registration) were less likely than students from nonlocal Hukou, to become student leaders. Each upgrade of one level in the membership of the Chinese Communist Party doubled the students’ odds for attaining student leadership roles.     

Access to academic curriculum in Australian secondary schools: a case study of a highly marketised education system

This study examines how access to academic curriculum differs between secondary schools in Australia, a country whose education system is marked by high levels of choice, privatisation and competition. Equitable access to academic curriculum is important for both individual students and their families as well as the larger society. Previous research has shown that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to study academic curriculum than their more advantaged peers. Less is known, however, about the extent to which this pattern is related to differential provision of curriculum between schools. We found that low socio-economic schools offer students less access to the core academic curriculum subjects that are important for university entry. We also found that the breadth and depth of courses offered is related to school sector (private or public) and socio-economic context. Previous research has shown that choice and competition are inequitable because they frequently increase school social segregation and ‘cream-skimming’. Our findings show another inequitable consequence, namely that choice and competition limit access to high-status academic curriculum in working-class communities.     

Student performativity in higher education: converting learning as a private space into a public performance

The paper sets out a conceptual analysis of student performativity in higher education as a mirror image of teacher performativity. The latter is well known and refers to targets, evaluations and performance indicators connected with the measurement of the teaching and research quality of university academics. The former is defined as the way that students are evaluated on the basis of how they perform at university in bodily, dispositional and emotional terms. Specifically, this includes rules on class attendance and assessment (‘presenteeism’), an increasing emphasis on participation in class and in groups as part of learning and assessment regimes (‘learnerism’) and the surveillance of students’ emotional development and values (‘soulcraft’). Student performativity is symbolic of the ‘performing self’ in wider society and is transforming learning at university from a private space into a public performance. This negatively impacts student rights to be free to learn as autonomous adults.     

初中生学业求助特点及对策研究

采用《学业求助量表》对633名初中学生进行了调查,结果表明：1.初二、初三年级学生的执行性求助极显著高于初一学生,初二、初三年级间差异不显著;2.重点学校学生的工具性求助极显著高于普通学校学生,而普通学校学生的执行性求助、回避求助却极显著高于重点学校;3.女生的工具性求助极显著高于男生,男生的回避求助显著高于女生。     

Student perceptions of their learning and engagement in response to the use of a continuous e-assessment in an undergraduate module

Student engagement is an important issue in higher education, and is related to the quality of the student experience. Increasing student engagement is one way of enhancing quality at a higher education institution. An institution is able to influence student engagement in a number of ways, one being through curriculum design. The use of a low-stakes continuous weekly summative e-assessment had a positive influence on student engagement in an optional level 5 (second year) undergraduate geography module. Students considered their increased engagement was a direct consequence of this assessment method. It was also found that students thought they improved their learning, particularly their understanding, as a result of the continuous assessment. This study suggests that carefully designed assessments can be used to increase student engagement and learning, and, as a result, contribute to improving the quality of the overall student experience.     

Student engagement in the educational interface: understanding the mechanisms of student success

Student success and retention continue to be of concern for higher education institutions. Wider participation, combined with lower completion rates for non-traditional students, highlights the need for new ways of understanding the student experience to ground policy and practice. This article provides this insight by drawing together a number of key constructs to refine a recent framework of student engagement. We argue that the transition metaphor, focusing on the first year, is limited because it depicts differences between students and institutions as both transient and temporal. Instead, we use a cultural lens to introduce the educational interface as a metaphor for the individual psychosocial space within which institutional and student factors combine and student engagement in learning occurs. Incorporating the interface into the existing framework of student engagement makes three contributions to our understanding of the student experience. First, the educational interface is a tangible way of representing the complex interactions between students and institutions, and how those interactions influence engagement. Second, the refined framework highlights four specific psychosocial constructs: self-efficacy, emotions, belonging and well-being, which, we contend, are critical mechanisms for mediating the interactions between student and institutional characteristics and student engagement and success. Finally, the refined framework helps to explain why some students with demographic characteristics associated with lower completion rates are retained and do go on to successfully complete their studies, while similar others do not. These three contributions, the interface, the key constructs within it being mediating mechanisms and their explanatory utility, provide focus for the design and implementation of curricula and co-curricular initiatives aimed at enhancing student success and retention, and importantly to evaluate the impact of these interventions.     

Exploring coping and optimism as predictors of academic burnout and performance among university students

This study examined the relationship between coping strategies, dispositional optimism, academic burnout and academic performance using structural equation modelling. Data were collected from a sample of 532 Spanish undergraduate students. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including the LOT-R to assess optimism, CSI for the measurement of coping (adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies), and MBI-SS to evaluate academic burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy). Academic performance was evaluated by the grade point average (GPA). The results showed that academic burnout was directly and positively associated with maladaptive coping but directly and negatively explained by adaptive coping. In addition, emotional exhaustion was significantly and negatively predicted by optimism. Finally, academic performance was significantly predicted by academic burnout. In conclusion, the findings suggest that both adaptive coping and optimism help to prevent academic burnout and, therefore, positively affect academic performance. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

The influence of emotional intelligence on academic progress and achievement in UK university students

Previous research has found relationships between higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI) and academic success in both adolescents and adults. This study examines the relationship between overall EI and specific EI competencies in 135 undergraduate psychology students in the UK. EI was measured at the start of a psychology degree course using the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U II). Performance was assessed using retention statistics and students’ final average percentage mark (APM) at the end of their degree course. Results showed that there were no differences in overall EI or specific EI competencies in those students who graduated compared to those who failed to graduate. Whilst global EI did not significantly predict final APM, specific EI competencies (conscientiousness, adaptability, empathy, organisational awareness, and building bonds) significantly predicted APM after controlling for gender. Recommendations for the implementation of EI training in higher education institutions are considered.