Motivation and learning preferences of information technology learners in South African secondary schools

The Information Technology (IT) subject presented in South African secondary schools is considered to be a difficult subject. The programming component of IT is believed to be the main cause of this difficulty. Learners who struggle with programming are unable to obtain above average marks in IT, as the programming component has the largest weighting in the IT subject framework. The aim of the research upon which this paper is based is to identify factors related to learner achievement in programming and the IT subject. The two areas that this paper investigates are learner motivation towards programming and the learning preferences of IT learners. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) is used to determine learner motivation and the Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic (VARK) Questionnaire is used to determine the learning preferences of IT learners. Both questionnaires provide interesting results and observations. The self-efficacy for learning and performance and control of learning beliefs motivational subscales seem to influence the performance of learners at the different schools. The VARK questionnaire results for this study indicate that the learning preferences of IT learners may influence understanding of programming concepts and also that it is best to present content to IT learners using a balance between all four modal groups (visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic) to ensure that the learning preferences of all learners are met. The findings of this research indicate the impact that motivation and learning preferences possibly have on the understanding of programming concepts and overall achievement in programming and the IT subject. The contribution of this paper is the identification of the MSLQ and VARK questionnaires as methods that can be used to improve teaching strategies in South African secondary schools.