Beyond teaching practice: Exploring individual determinants of student performance on a research skills module

The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which intrinsic student factors such as cognitive learning style, learning strategies, motivation and statistics anxiety, as well as certain demographic factors, predict performance on a research design and analysis course (RDAIIA) in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, with a view to developing future interventions for improving student performance. Using a sample of eighty students, it was established that the factors most predictive of RDA performance were secondary school performance (p < 0.0001) and age (p = 0.0106). Excluding demographic factors, self-efficacy (p < 0.0001), help-seeking (p = 0.0531) and a reflective learning style (p = 0.0071) were also found to be predictive. Performance also differed between students who had completed Mathematics on the higher grade in secondary school and those who had completed standard grade (p = 0.016). These findings present both possible directions and substantial challenges for future performance-intervention strategies.     

Automatic item generation of probability word problems

Mathematical word problems represent a common item format for assessing student competencies. Automatic item generation (AIG) is an effective way of constructing many items with predictable difficulties, based on a set of predefined task parameters. The current study presents a framework for the automatic generation of probability word problems based on templates that allow for the generation of word problems involving different topics from probability theory. It was tested in a pilot study with N = 146 German university students. The items show a good fit to the Rasch model. Item difficulties can be explained by the Linear Logistic Test Model (LLTM) and by the random-effects LLTM. The practical implications of these findings for future test development in the assessment of probability competencies are also discussed.     

Achievement and engagement: How student characteristics influence teacher judgments

Teachers' judgments of student characteristics are affected not only by the characteristic in question, but also by other factors. This article presents three studies examining whether students' achievement influences teachers' judgments of their engagement (as a proxy for motivation) and vice versa. First, a field study was conducted with N = 52 teachers and N = 1135 students. Structural equation modeling revealed an effect of student achievement on teacher judgments of student engagement and an effect of student engagement on teacher judgments of student achievement—above and beyond the association of each student characteristic with teacher judgments of that characteristic. These results were then replicated in two experimental studies involving a computer simulation of an instructional situation, the Simulated Classroom, with N = 40 and N = 181 teacher candidates, respectively. The psychological determinants of the effects observed are discussed, as are their practical implications.     

Situated assessment: Limitations and promise

We present some key findings of a four-year, two-phase writing assessment project at Central Michigan University: Phase One (2002), a survey of faculty members (n = 115) and subsequent focus groups (n = 14) and Phase Two (2005), an evaluation of two samples of student writing (n = 635 and 632). Major findings of Phase One reported here include the amounts and types of writing assigned by faculty members and their perceptions about the quality of their students’ writing. Phase Two revealed some surprising results about our students’ critical reading and writing abilities, confirmed the limitations of a timed-writing assessment methodology, and exposed an intriguing artifact of the data set. We reflect on the process of developing and conducting the assessment project, examine its strengths and weaknesses, and share our thoughts about the next phase of our assessment odyssey.     

Use of interactive–informal assessment practices: New Zealand secondary students' conceptions of assessment

This study aimed to investigate how students' conceptions of assessment relate to one another, how students define assessment, and how student conceptions of assessment relate to their definitions of assessment. A nationally representative sample of New Zealand secondary students (N = 705) responded to a 45-item Conceptions of Assessment inventory and a list of 12 assessment practices. Well-fitting measurement models were found. The more students agreed that assessment was to help them improve the more they associated assessment with teacher-controlled practices. Further, the more students perceived assessment as irrelevant the more they defined it as interactive–informal practices. Thus, more student-oriented practices were conceived as creating a positive social environment that was irrelevant to learning.     

The effect of blended learning on student performance at course-level in higher education: A meta-analysis

The present paper analyzes the impact of blended learning (BL) on the academic achievement of higher education students. A meta-analysis (k = 51 effect sizes) was conducted to perform a statistical synthesis of studies contrasting student performance in BL conditions with traditional classroom instruction. We include disciplines and instructors’ end-of-course evaluation method as moderating variables. The results show that BL demonstrates a small summary effect (g⁺ = 0.385, p < 0.001) compared to traditional teaching methods A significantly higher mean effect size was found in STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.496) compared to that of non-STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.210). Nevertheless, the weighted mean effect sizes reveal no significant differences regarding of end-of-course assessment methods, namely one-moment and multiple-component assessment. The finding confirms that BL is significantly associated with greater learning performance of STEM-disciplined students than with traditional classroom practice. Accordingly, discussion concerning the findings and implications for future research are elaborated.     

Peer and teacher supports in relation to motivation and effort: A multi-level study

This study examined adolescents’ perceptions of peer and teacher supports in relation to internalized values, academic self-efficacy, efforts to learn, and goal orientations at the individual and classroom level in a sample of middle school (n = 169) and high school (n = 71) students from 6 schools (15 classrooms). Novel approaches to assessing classroom-level effects included use of coefficient of variation scores to capture consensus among student reports and use of cluster-robust standard errors to account for clustering. At the individual level, significance tests for indirect pathways and formal mediation indicated that relations between perceived peer expectations for prosocial behavior and effort and mastery orientation were mediated by internalized value; and, the relation between perceived emotional support from peers and effort was mediated by self-efficacy. At the classroom level, teachers who were perceived similarly by students with respect to provisions of emotional support also tended to have students who reported high levels of internalized value, and a high degree of student consensus concerning their teacher’s value for subject matter was related positively to their internalized value and effort. Consensus of student reports concerning internalized value was a negative predictor of performance orientation.     

The merits of representational pictures in educational assessment: Evidence for cognitive and motivational effects in a time-on-task analysis

Adding representational pictures (RPs) to text-based items has been shown to improve students’ test performance. Focusing on potential explanations for this multimedia effect in testing, we propose two functions of RPs in testing, namely, (1) a cognitive facilitation function and (2) a motivational function. We found empirical support for both functions in this computer-based classroom experiment with N = 410 fifth and sixth graders. All students answered 36 manipulated science items that either contained (text-picture) or did not contain (text-only) an RP that visualized the text information in the item stem. Each student worked on both item types, following a rotated within-subject design. We measured students’ (a) solution success, (b) time on task (TOT), and identified (c) rapid-guessing behavior (RGB). We used generalized and linear mixed-effects models to investigate RPs’ impact on these outcome parameters and considered students’ level of test engagement and item positions as covariates. The results indicate that (1) RPs improved all students’ performance across item positions in a comparable manner (multimedia effect in testing). (2) RPs have the potential to accelerate item processing (cognitive facilitation function). (3) The presence of RPs reduced students’ RGB rates to a meaningful extent (motivational function). Overall, our data indicate that RPs may promote more reliable test scores, supporting a more valid interpretation of students’ achievement levels.     

Student ratings of teaching quality in primary school: Dimensions and prediction of student outcomes

The contribution examines theoretical foundations, factorial structure, and predictive power of student ratings of teaching quality. Three basic dimensions of teaching quality have previously been described: classroom management, cognitive activation, and supportive climate. However, student ratings, especially those provided by primary school students, have been criticised for being biased by factors such as teacher popularity. The present study examines ratings of teaching quality and science learning among third graders. Results of multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (N = 1556 students, 89 classes) indicate that the three-dimensional model of teaching quality can be replicated in ratings of third graders. In a longitudinal study (N = 1070 students, 54 classes), we found ratings of classroom management to predict student achievement, and ratings of cognitive activation and supportive climate to predict students' development of subject-related interest after teacher popularity is controlled for. The analyses show that student ratings can be useful measures of teaching quality in primary school.     

Influence of grade level on perceptual learning style preferences and language learning strategies of Taiwanese English as a foreign language learners

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between grade level, perceptual learning style preferences, and language learning strategies among Taiwanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in grades 7 through 9. Three hundred and ninety junior high school students participated in this study. The instruments for data collection were the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Results showed that statistically significant relationships were found to exist between grade level and kinesthetic learning style preference (p = .001), tactile learning style preference (p = .047), and individual learning style preference (p = .02). Results also showed that statistically significant relationships were found to exist between grade level and the use of memory strategies (p = .005), cognitive strategies (p = .02), metacognitive strategies (p = .000), affective strategies (p = .000) and social strategies (p = .000). Implications are that it is critical for classroom teachers to be more aware of the differences in their students and ensure that their courses present information that appeal to students in different grade levels.     

Social models in the cognitive appraisal of self-efficacy information

The purpose of this investigation was to test (a) whether students distinguished between self-efficacy sources according to social model and (b) how predictive the self-efficacy information students received from each social model was for their self-efficacy beliefs. For this purpose, new vicarious experience and social persuasion scales were developed that independently assess the respective source of self-efficacy information conveyed by three social models, family members, teachers, and peers. As revealed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multitrait-multimethod analysis, the Korean high school students in Studies 1 (N = 395) and 3 (N = 393) and the Korean college students in Study 2 (N = 220) clearly distinguished between the self-efficacy sources and the social models who delivered this information (family members, teachers, or peers). Student responses to vicarious experience fluctuated more by social model than did their responses to social persuasion. The correlations further suggest the possibility that the existing scale largely taps vicarious experience from teachers and peers rather than vicarious experience from family members. The predictive utility of vicarious experience and social persuasion for self-efficacy also varied according to the social model involved and by the academic domain. Social persuasion by teachers predicted student self-efficacy in mathematics, while vicarious experience from teachers predicted student self-efficacy in English as a foreign language, in addition to mastery experience and physiological state.     

Teacher liking as an affective filter for the association between student behavior and peer status

This study investigated how peer perceptions of teacher liking and disliking for a student shape students’ social cognitions by moderating associations between the student’s peer-perceived social behavior and peer liking and disliking status. We studied individual teacher liking and disliking as well as classroom norms as moderators of individual and classroom-level behavior-status associations. Peer nominations of (dis)liking, being (dis)liked by the teacher, and prosocial and aggressive behavior were gathered from 1454 students (M_age = 10.60) in 58 fifth-grade classes in the Netherlands. Results from multilevel analyses showed the teacher made a difference in particular for those students who were at-risk of low peer status, that is, those students who were perceived by many of their peers to show aggressive behavior and by few to show prosocial behavior. These students were disliked less and liked more when they were perceived by peers to be less disliked and more liked by the teacher. Furthermore, the amount of disliking associated with overt and relational aggression differed across classrooms, depending on norms of teacher liking. These findings may help teachers to understand and improve an individual student’s peer status, and alter the behavior–status dynamics in their class.     

Classroom assessment tools and uses: Canadian English teachers’ practices for writing

Classroom assessment of writing is considered from an anthropological perspective as practitioners’ tool use. Pan Canadian data from a 2002 English teacher questionnaire (N = 4070) about self-reported assessment practices were analyzed in terms of tool choice and use by secondary teachers of different experience and qualification levels. Four underlying variables were identified in their choice of assessment tools: whether affective traits such as attendance, effort, motivation or participation were factors; whether self-assessment and peer evaluation were considered; whether portfolios or examples of student work were variables in grading practices; and whether multiple choice or short response tasks were chosen. In terms of tool use, the three salient variables were: the nature of the feedback cycle with students; whether homework contributed to grades; and whether homework served in large group instruction. A number of significant differences by career stage and credential level were revealed in assessment instrument choice and use. Implications for teacher pre-service and in-service professional development are outlined.     

The relation between teacher-set performance goals and students’ mathematical achievement

The relation between teacher-set performance goals for 361 individual students and these students’ mathematics achievement was investigated. High performance goals were found to strongly relate to student performance, with an effect size of d = 0.80. The performance goals were set by the teachers at the end of a step-by-step procedure, consisting of initial teacher expectations, the use of data, and team input. This procedure was expected to decrease negative expectancy bias. Higher teacher performance goals than teachers’ initial expectations, so-called positive changes, were positively associated with the performance of initially low achievers. Initially high achievers, for whom the teachers made a positive change, performed worse than comparable students for whom initial expectation and final goal were the same.     

Findings on Facebook in higher education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and perceptions of social networking sites

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook are one of the latest examples of communications technologies that have been widely-adopted by students and, consequently, have the potential to become a valuable resource to support their educational communications and collaborations with faculty. However, faculty members have a track record of prohibiting classroom uses of technologies that are frequently used by students. To determine how likely higher education faculty are to use Facebook for either personal or educational purposes, higher education faculty (n = 62) and students (n = 120) at a mid-sized southern university were surveyed on their use of Facebook and email technologies. A comparison of faculty and student responses indicate that students are much more likely than faculty to use Facebook and are significantly more open to the possibility of using Facebook and similar technologies to support classroom work. Faculty members are more likely to use more “traditional” technologies such as email.     

Measuring teachers’ perceptions about differentiated instruction: The DI-Quest instrument and model

Within a democratic and multicultural society, diversity is a reality, and differences between students are a fact which teachers have to deal with on a daily basis. Differentiated instruction aims to meet these differences in learning in order to provide all students with the best possible learning opportunities. However, to date no validated instruments exist to measure teachers’ perceptions of differentiated instruction and their related classroom practices. This study, therefore, examined the factor structure and reliability of the Differentiated Instruction Questionnaire, called the DI-Quest instrument. A list of 87 items was constructed, building on existing prevalent theoretical models of Differentiated Instruction (e.g. Tomlinson, 2014; Hall, 2002). An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to investigate the factor structure of the questionnaire. As a result, five factors emerged: two factors related to the teachers’ philosophy of differentiated instruction (the teachers’ mindset and their ethical compass), two factors referred to the practical principles that teachers apply to differentiate (flexible grouping and output = input) and the last factor (differentiated instruction) covered the self-reported extent to which teachers differentiated their instruction related to three types of differences in learning (students’ interests, readiness and learning profile). As a result, the DI-Quest instrument entailed 31 items with a five-factor structure indicating a good fit (CFI = 0.919; TLI = 0.911; RMSEA = 0.041 [0.037–0.044 – 90% confidence interval, p(0.05) = 1.000]; SRMR = 0.048; χ² = 5888.338, df = 465, p = 0.000). In addition, assuming theoretical relatedness between the factors, the validation of a DI-Quest model was empirically validated. We compared the model fit for two models by investigating which model had a lower BIC and AIC value and by comparing their chi square values. The best-fitting DI-Quest model showed four factors (teachers’ mindset, ethical compass, flexible grouping and output = input as dependent variables) functioning as significant predictors of the fifth factor (the self-reported adoption of Differentiated Instruction, which served as an independent variable). Moreover, this paper also discusses the psychometric properties of the DI-Quest instrument and the implications of the model for schools, educators and researchers.     

Evidence of a continuum structure of academic self-determination: A two-study test using a bifactor-ESEM representation of academic motivation

Self-determination theory postulates various types of motivation can be placed on a continuum according to their level of relative autonomy, or self-determination. We analyze this question through the application of a bifactor-ESEM framework to the Academic Motivation Scale, completed by undergraduate (N = 547; Study 1) and graduate (N = 571; Study 2) students. In both studies, the results showed that bifactor-ESEM was well-suited to modeling the continuum of academic motivation, and provided a simultaneous assessment of the global level of self-determination and of the specific motivation factors. Global academic self-determination positively predicted satisfaction with studies and vitality. It also negatively predicted dropout intentions and ill-being. Specific motivation types additionally predicted outcomes over and above the global factor.     

Effects of instruction on changes in epistemological beliefs

In this study, we investigated the effects of teaching critical-thinking principles on university students’ epistemological beliefs, whether these effects had any relation to the teaching approaches, and whether there was any significant interaction effect between teaching approach and students’ epistemological beliefs. One hundred and eight undergraduates were randomly assigned to three different 65-min instructional interventions, namely, General, Infusion, and Immersion approaches. Statistical analyses of the data using a Repeated Measures ANOVA showed a statistically significant higher post-assessment performance, F (1, 105) = 19.769, p = .00. The main effect related to the intervention was also significant, F (2, 105) = 3.995, p = .021, but there was no significant interaction between intervention and epistemological beliefs. Post hoc comparisons revealed that students assigned to the Infusion strategy outperformed those assigned to the General approach on epistemological change.     

Measuring teacher regulating activities concerning student learning in secondary education classrooms: Reliability and validity of student perceptions

.This article describes the use and validation of the Pedagogical Practices Inventory, which uses student perceptions arranged into five subscales to measure teacher activities concerning the regulation of student learning in secondary education. To determine the reliability and validity of the instrument, an inventory study (N = 2128) and a study in which observational data (N = 11) and inventory data (N = 201) were combined, were carried out. Analysis of the inventory data showed internal subscale reliabilities between .83 and .90, indicating consistency of the PPI subscale scores. Correlations between inventory and observational data showed significant relations for three of the five subscales, indicating that the PPI is suitable to tap teacher regulating activities in classroom contexts.