Academic achievement and personality traits of faculty members of Indian agricultural universities: their effect on teaching and research performance

Purpose: The present study was undertaken to assess academic achievement, teaching aptitude and research attitude of Indian agricultural universities’ faculty, to predict indicators for successful teachers and researchers, and thereby enhancing the quality of higher agricultural education. Methodology: Five hundred faculty members were selected to elicit information on academic, teaching and research achievements. Teaching aptitude and attitude of faculty towards research were measured through standard psychometric tests. Correlation and regression analysis was carried out to establish the relationship among selected variables. Findings: Combination of academic achievement and teaching aptitude was a superior predictor for the teaching achievement compared to either of them alone. Similarly, research achievement of faculty was predicted better by the combination of academic achievement and research attitude. Practical Implications: The study showed the need for training faculty members in interpersonal relationships for effective teaching, and in research methodology and research processes for improving research attitude of faculty. Theoretical Implications: The expectancy-value model provides a useful framework to understand the role of attitude/aptitude in better prediction of research and teaching behavior. Originality/Value: The present study showed that teaching aptitude and research attitude be considered along with academic achievements for promoting quality teaching and research and hence the educational programmes.     

The relationship among college science student achievement,engaged time,and personal characteristics

The relationships among college student science achievement, engaged time (observed and perceived), and personal characteristics of academic aptitude, reasoning ability, attitude toward science, and locus of control were investigated. Measures of personal characteristics were obtained from the subjects (N= 76) of a private, liberal arts junior college before observations began in the lecture classes for the quarter. Instruments used to measure personal characteristics were Scholastic Aptitude Test, Test of Logical Thinking, Test of Scientific Attitude, and Leven-son's Multidimensional View of Locus of Control. Based on a random selection procedure, student engaged time was observed at least ten times for 11 lectures. Achievement tests were constructed and validated for the biology classes. Data were analyzed by multiple regression procedures. The average achievement scores were positively related to academic aptitude and reasoning ability. Positive relationships were found between observed engaged time and academic aptitude and a negative relationship was found between observed engaged time and reasoning ability. Also a positive relationship was found between perceived engaged time and achievement. Pearson product-moment correlations between achievement and observed engaged time were significant as were the correlations between perceived engaged time and achievement. Measure of engaged time (observed and perceived) were also related to each other. The study's data indicate that students who were observed to be engaged were low in reasoning ability or high in academic aptitude. Those who perceived themselves as being engaged achieved more. College instructors who have knowledge of student academic aptitude and reasoning ability may use this knowledge to improve achievement. Engaged time measures were significantly related to achievement, which indicates an instructor should endeavor to keep the students as engaged as possible to enhance achievement. Students who are engaged or pay attention or perceived they are engaged or paying attention during lecture classes achieve more than students who are observed as nonengaged or perceive themselves as nonengaged.     

Scholastic Aptitude,the National Teacher Examinations,and Teaching Success

Abstract

This study tests the hypotheses that (1) grades in high school and college as well as scores on nationally-standardised tests of scholastic aptitude and professional knowledge (National Teacher Examinations, NTE) do not predict rated success in teaching, but that (2) scholastic aptitude and achievement do predict scores on the NTE. In a sample of 280 student teachers, evidence was found to support both of these hypotheses     

Educational Assessment as a Promising Area for Psychometric Research

Tests of educational achievement typically present items in the multiple-choice format. Some achievement test items may be so "saturated with aptitude" (Willingham, 1980) as to be insensitive to skills acquired through education. Multiple-choice tests are ill-suited for assessing productive thinking and problem-solving skills, skills that often constitute important objectives of education. Viewed as incentives for learning, multiple-choice tests may impede student progress toward these objectives. There is need for accelerated research to develop alternatives to multiple-choice achievement tests, with content selected to match the specified educational objectives.     

Learning from physics instruction

Forty high school students participated in a study to investigate learning and remembering from physics instruction. At pretest, students received aptitude tests, an alternate form of achievement test (counterbalanced) and a word association (WA) test. Then the 40 students were divided into instruction (N = 28) and control (N = 12) groups. The control group received all subsequent tests but no instruction. The instruction group received physics instruction over five 2-hour sessions. At the end of each session, the WA test was administered; the alternate form of the achievement test was administered at the end of the last session. The instruction and control groups did not differ significantly in achievement at pretest. The instruction group showed a significant gain from pre- to posttest; no such gain was found for the control group. The instruction and control groups did not differ on the number of responses generated on the WA test at pretesting. The number of responses given by students in the instruction group increased significantly from test 1 (pretest) to test 6 (posttest). For the control group, the number of responses increased initially and then leveled out well below the instruction group data. When WA test responses were tallied for “constrained” responses (i.e., tallying only those concepts found in equations defining the stimulus word), the number of constrained responses increased consistently for the instruction group. For the control group, constrained responses showed an initial increase and then leveled out well below instruction group data. Finally, the aptitude, achievement, and WA data were intercorrelated. This analysis suggests that for students who perform well in solving problems at the end of instruction, the physics concepts became meaningful soon after they were introduced. Subsequently, these students were able to consolidate, in memory, the meaning of the concepts and the interrelations among these concepts in the form of equations. Students not able to solve problems at the end of instruction seemed to be completing the process of acquiring the meaning of the concepts.     

Asian Mathematics Superiority: A Search for Explanations

The Asian-Western discrepancy in mathematics achievement is a phenomenon that raises interests and concerns among many educators and psychologists. This article explores possible explanations for Asian mathematics superiority. The studies reviewed are mostly conducted on elementary school children. Possible explanations discussed include both aptitude and environmental variables, such as IQ, home, school, and some culture-specific influences. Arguments on whether certain factors should be included as an explanation are presented. Suggestions are made for further research on some psychological issues. Moreover, the educational implications of the findings from various studies are discussed. It is concluded that comparative studies provide a rich source of valuable information for improvement in education.     

Relationships among L1 print exposure and early L1 literacy skills, L2 aptitude, and L2 proficiency

Authors examined the relationship between individual differences in L1 print exposure and differences in early L1 skills and later L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 classroom achievement. Participants were administered measures of L1 word decoding, spelling, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary, and listening comprehension in 1?C5th grades, and then followed into 9?C10th grades where measures of L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L1 print exposure were administered. Students?? responses on the L1 print exposure measure were used to divide them into High, Average, and Low Print groups. Findings showed significant differences between the High versus Low Print groups on all L1 skill measures, L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency tests, and L2 classroom achievement after controlling for IQ. L1 skill differences between the groups emerged as early as 1st grade. L1 phonemic awareness, L1 word decoding, and L1 spelling measures were the best discriminators of L1 print exposure among the three groups. Results suggest that early success in L1 reading and reading volume prior to L2 study may be related to differences in L2 aptitude, L2 proficiency, and L2 achievement several years later.     

论高校英语测试改革与题库建设

学业成绩测试是评价学生学习和发展水平的重要手段，多年来这类考试在命题、考试实施和评分等方面存在着许多问题，给英语教学和评估带来一定的负面影响。     

语言测试调适的策略

根据语言教学和测试的相互关系,语言测试包括五方面的基本类型:水平测试、能力倾向测试、技巧测试、判断测试、综合性测试.如果能正确地使用这五种不同形式的语言测试,就能够提高外语学习水平,最后能达到语言交际的目的.     

Investigating Reading Achievement Using a Causal Model

The causes of high and low reading achievement were investigated using a causal model that involves 4 echelons of proximal and distal causes. In Study 1, 55 elementary students were individually administered a battery of tests in 2 sessions-around 2 hr each session on Saturdays. In Study 2, 83 students in Grades 4 and 5 were tested in their classrooms. There were 1 or more tests that were designed to measure almost all of the constructs in the causal model, plus 2 tests from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests (Woodcock, 1973) and the Reading Comprehension test from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (H. D. Hoover, Hieronymus, Frisbie, & Dunbar, 1993). The results generally were consistent with the causal model because (a) the fit of structural equations to the first 3 echelons of the model was. 89 or higher in 8 analyses, and (b) when the best measures of each construct were used, the normed-fit-index (Bentler & Bonett, 1980) was. 98 in Study 1 and. 95 in Study 2. There was considerable correlational support for the first 3 echelons of the causal model of reading achievement, that is (a) the 2 proximal causes of reading achievement are reading level and rate level, (b) the 2 proximal causes of reading level are verbal knowledge level and word identification knowledge level, and (c) the 2 proximal causes of rate level are word identification knowledge level and naming speed level. However, the 2 measures that were developed to measure verbal aptitude and pronunciation aptitude, at Echelon 4 of the model, were not highly consistent with the hypothesized causal connections. An implication of the model is that teaching and learning relevant to improving listening comprehension (meaning emphasis) and word identification (code emphasis) proximally affect verbal knowledge and pronunciation knowledge, and distally affect reading level, reading rate, and reading achievement.     

ACHIEVEMENT TEST RELIABILITY AS A FUNCTION OF PUPIL-RESPONSE PROCEDURES

Muller, Calhoun, and Orling (1972) conclude that test reliability is dependent on the type of answer document used by elementary pupils. The present study was designed in part to assess the differential effect of two pupil response procedures (answering directly in the test booklet versus on a separate answer folder) on Metropolitan Achievement Tests scores of grades 3 and 4 pupils.
Over 4000 pupils from nine school systems took the Metropolitan , half responding in their booklets and half using answer folders. The two groups were matched by grade in general scholastic aptitude.
Although the separate answer folder group received lower scores than did the group responding in the test booklets, the score reliabilities did not differ significantly for any test. Additionally, these reliabilities did not differ significantly from comparable Metropolitan normative reliabilities. For survey achievement tests such as Metropolitan , test reliability would not appear to depend on pupil response mode.     

因子分析法在高职医学生成绩评价中的应用

文章通过运用因子分析法,对某班两学年的考试课成绩进行了实证分析,并科学地给出了排名。该项应用研究解决了传统评价方式过于简单和笼统的弊病,并客观地分析了学生在各学科间的优势和劣势,为因材施教、分层施教提供了依据。     

我国教育硕士专业学位标准研究

教育硕士专业学位教育在我国基础教育教学改革与发展过程中发挥着重要的推动作用,然而教育硕士专业学位标准的现实“缺位”影响其功能的发挥,制约其进一步发展。在简要分析学位标准重要性的基础上,笔者提出构建教育硕士专业学位标准必须坚持实践性与学术性相结合等三大基本原则,并以此为逻辑起点初步构建了教育硕士专业学位标准的课程学习考核、学术水平考核和职业道德考核相结合的三维宏观指标系统。     

The relationship among teacher classroom management behavior,student engagement,and student achievement of middle and high school science students of varying aptitude

This study was designed to determine the relationship among teacher classroom management behavior, student engagement, and student achievement of middle and high school science students. These variables were investigated across varying levels of academic aptitude. Two week long units were taught by 30 experienced science teachers. During this period of time teacher classroom management behavior, student achievement (n = 570), student engagement (n = 269), and student academic aptitude (n = 649) were measured. Twelve selected management indicators from Georgia Teachers Performance Assessment Indicators (TPAI) were used to measure teacher classroom management behaviors. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the variables, and appropriate post hoc procedures were used. Analyses showed that there was a significant relationship among all variables. Post hoc analysis showed that these results were consistent across levels of aptitude. Other relationships found were between student engagement and achievement, student aptitude and achievement, and student aptitude and engagement. Correlation coefficients were obtained for each individual management indicators. Those particular management behaviors which were correlated with achievement and engagement are: identifies students who do not understand directions and helps them individually, maintains learner involvement in lessons, reinforces and encourages the efforts of learners to maintain involvement, attends to routine tasks, uses instructional time efficiently, provides feedback to learners about their behavior, manages disruptive behavior among learners.     

Aptitude, instruction, and individual development

Education is viewed as an aptitude development program. Common vs. individual goals with respect to aptitude and achievement are contrasted and some educational myths about aptitude are rejected. The concept of aptitude is revised to represent individual differences in personsituation interaction in learning and development. Research on cognitive and motivational aptitudes in relation to instruction is then briefly reviewed, and suggestions for a unified developmental differential approach to educational research are offered.     

An Experimental Study of the Effect on High School Sophomores of Teaching English with Emphasis on Guidance

Principal components factor analysis and Kaiser Varimax rotation was conducted on a correlation matrix of twenty-two subtests of a scholastic achievement test, a scholastic aptitude test, two critical thinking tests, a logical reasoning test, and a problem solving test. The subjects were “disadvantaged” Negroes, “disadvantaged” integrated Negroes and whites, and “non-disadvantaged” whites. Four factors were rotated. The largest rotated factor accounting for 50 percent of the variance was a scholastic achievement test and aptitude test factor. The second factor accounting for 21 percent of the variance was a Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal factor. The third factor accounting for 20 percent of the variance was primarily a Cornell Critical Thinking Test factor.     

A meta-analysis of outcome studies of visual-based instruction

This article describes a statistical integration of findings from 74 studies of visualbased college teaching. In the typical study, students learned slightly more from visual-based instruction than from conventional teaching. In the typical study, visual-based instruction had no special effect on course completion, student attitudes, or the correlation between aptitude and achievement. Students were equally likely to complete visual-based and conventional classes; their attitudes toward the two kinds of classes were very similar; and aptitude played a strong role in determining student achievement in each kind of class. This study was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SED 77-18566.     

POSTDICTION STUDY OF THE GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATION AND EIGHT SEMESTERS OF COLLEGE GRADES1

Data from a postdictive study of the tests of the Graduate Record Examination and the eight semesters of undergraduate grade averages, each semester's average being computed independently of the rest, are presented. Postdictive validities of the aptitude portions of the GRE are essentially similar to predictive validities obtained earlier by the senior author. Both predictive and postdictive validity gradients over the eight semesters are relatively steep, with freshman grades having the highest correlations with the tests. The validity gradient for all advanced tests combined does not follow the pattern for the aptitude tests, but neither does it show the opposite gradient. Advanced test results are most highly correlated with sophomore grades, but the validity gradient over the eight semesters is relatively flat. A small scale extension of this research into post baccalaureate training indicated that senior grades were most predictive of graduate criteria, but a larger scale study is clearly called for. Possible implications for ability theory and for selection of graduate students are discussed.     

Native language predictors of foreign language proficiency and foreign language aptitude

Fifty-four students were tested at specific time intervals over 10 years to determine best native language (NL) predictors of oral and written foreign language (FL) proficiency and FL aptitude. All participants completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Each was administered measures of NL literacy, oral language, and cognitive ability in elementary school. A measure of FL aptitude was administered at the beginning of ninth grade and FL proficiency was evaluated at the end of the 10th grade. Among the variables, NL literacy measures were the best predictors of FL proficiency, and NL achievement and general (verbal) intelligence were strong predictors of FL aptitude. Results suggest that indices of NL literacy as early as first grade are related to FL proficiency and FL aptitude nine and 10 years later. Findings provide strong support for connections between L1 and L2 skills, and for speculation that “lower level” skills in phonological processing are important for written language development and oral proficiency in a FL.     

Relating Learning Style,Reading Vocabulary,Reading Comprehension,and Aptitude for Learning to Achievement in the Self-Paced and Computer-Assisted Instructional Modes

Achievement differences shown by teaching clerical skills through use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and traditional self-paced instruction were investigated. Differentials in correlations of achievement with aptitude and learning style measures for students taught by the two methods were determined. A randomized pretest-posttest design with analysis of covariance was used to compare achievement differences. Group differences in relationships between learning-related variables and achievement were compared through Fisher r to z transformations. The CAI group achieved significantly higher than did the traditional group. Arithmetic aptitude and learning styles associated with sociability traits correlated higher with achievement in the CAI group than in the traditional group. Different aptitude-learning style patterns were associated with higher achievement in the two groups.