Investigating the relationships between approaches to learning, learner identities and academic achievement in higher education

This paper considers relationships between approaches to learning, learner identities, self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement in higher education. In addition to already established survey instruments, a new scale, subject area affinity, was developed. The scale explores the extent to which students identify with their area of study and imagine being part of it in future. The new scale showed strong psychometric properties when it was tested on a sample of 4377 students at a research-intensive university. The new scale correlated positively with both the deep approach and self-efficacy scales. The new scale also correlated negatively with the surface approach scale. K-means cluster analysis identified seven distinct groups of students who espoused interpretable combinations of approaches, self-efficacy and subject area affinity. Cluster membership was associated with differences in academic achievement. Implications are discussed.

[1]  Velda McCune,et al.  Investigating ways of enhancing university teaching-learning environments: Measuring students' approaches to studying and perceptions of teaching , 2003 .

[2]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Digital Habitats : Stewarding technology for communities , 2009 .

[3]  Barbara T. Bontempo.  Will to Learn , 1995 .

[4]  Vincent Tinto.  Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research , 1975 .

[5]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  Predicting Freshman Persistence and Voluntary Dropout Decisions from a Theoretical Model , 1980 .

[6]  J. Biggs.  Student Approaches to Learning and Studying , 1987 .

[7]  Joanna Saad-Sulonen,et al.  Digital Habitats - stewarding technology for communities , 2013, J. Community Informatics.

[8]  Noel Entwistle,et al.  Teaching for Understanding at University , 2009 .

[9]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[10]  T INGLES,et al.  An Experience in Learning , 1957, Nursing research.

[11]  F. Marton,et al.  ON QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING: I—OUTCOME AND PROCESS* , 1976 .

[12]  S. Volet.  Understanding learning and motivation in context: A Multi-dimensional and Multi-level Cognitive-Situative perspective , 2001 .

[13]  S. Wilson.  What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy , 2006 .

[14]  D. Watkins.  Correlates of approaches to learning: A cross-cultural meta-analysis. , 2001 .

[15]  S. Lindblom-Ylänne,et al.  Using a research instrument for developing quality at the university , 2012 .

[16]  Charles Anderson,et al.  Fostering meaning: fostering community , 2013 .

[17]  C. Abraham,et al.  Psychological correlates of university students' academic performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. , 2012, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[19]  D. Hounsell,et al.  The development of students’ ways of thinking and practising in three final-year biology courses , 2005 .

[20]  P. Pintrich.  The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. , 2000 .

[21]  Noel Entwistle,et al.  Universities into the 21st Century: Teaching for Understanding at University: Deep Approaches and Distinctive Ways of Thinking , 2009 .

[22]  Vincent Tinto,et al.  Classrooms as Communities: Exploring the Educational Character of Student Persistence. , 1997 .

[23]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[24]  Denise Chalmers,et al.  Review of Biggs, J. & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university. Maidenhead: Society for research into Higher Education , 2012 .

[25]  S. Lindblom-Ylänne,et al.  Explaining university students' strong commitment to understand through individual and contextual elements , 2014 .

[26]  D. Hounsell,et al.  Knowledge practices: ‘doing the subject’ in undergraduate courses , 2007 .

[27]  Velda McCune,et al.  Final year biosciences students’ willingness to engage: teaching–learning environments, authentic learning experiences and identities , 2009 .

[28]  G. Boulton‐Lewis.  Teaching for quality learning at university , 2008 .

[29]  Paul Ramsden,et al.  Improving teaching and learning in higher education: The case for a relational perspective , 1987 .

[30]  F. Marton,et al.  Approaches to learning , 2003 .

[31]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Understanding Student Learning , 1983 .

[32]  Charles Anderson,et al.  Facing an uncertain future: curricula of dualities , 2013 .

[33]  Alfred Joseph Lizzio,et al.  University Students' Perceptions of the Learning Environment and Academic Outcomes: Implications for theory and practice , 2002 .

[34]  Velda McCune,et al.  Cultivating the Disposition to Understand in 21st Century University Education. , 2011 .

[35]  J. Biggs,et al.  Teaching For Quality Learning At University , 1999 .

[36]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Approaches to Learning and Levels of , 1979 .

[37]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using multivariate statistics, 5th ed. , 2007 .

[38]  J. Biggs,et al.  Examining the multidimensionality of approaches to learning through the development of a revised version of the Learning Process Questionnaire. , 2004, The British journal of educational psychology.

[39]  N. Entwistle,et al.  The disposition to understand for oneself at university: integrating learning processes with motivation and metacognition. , 2013, The British journal of educational psychology.

[40]  Kristina L. Hauschildt,et al.  Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe , 2015 .

[41]  Velda McCune,et al.  The Conceptual Bases of Study Strategy Inventories , 2004 .

[42]  P. Pintrich.  A Manual for the Use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). , 1991 .