Transitioning to Academic Success: Textual Change and Reflexivity in the Writing of International Postgraduate Students

2018 ◽  
pp. 170-199
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Kotera ◽  
Elaina Taylor ◽  
Dean Fido ◽  
Dan Williams ◽  
Freya Tsuda-McCaie

AbstractAcademic motivation is recognised as a key factor for academic success and wellbeing. Highly motivated students actively engage with academic activities and maintain good wellbeing. Despite the importance of motivation in education, its relationship with engagement and wellbeing remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, this study explored the relationships between motivation, engagement, self-criticism and self-compassion among UK education postgraduate students. Of 120 postgraduate students approached, 109 completed three self-report scales regarding those constructs. Correlation, regression and moderation analyses were performed. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were positively associated with engagement, whereas amotivation was negatively associated with it. Engagement positively predicted intrinsic motivation. Self-criticism and self-compassion moderated the pathway from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation: higher self-criticism weakened the pathway, while higher self-compassion strengthened it. Findings suggest the importance of engagement in relation to cultivating intrinsic motivation of education students. Moreover, enhancing self-compassion and reducing self-criticism can help transfer extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-149
Author(s):  
Fatima Abrahams ◽  
Christian Friedrich ◽  
Nanette Tredoux

South African higher education institutions are experiencing challenges regarding access, redress and the successful completion of programmes in an environment where there are still imbalances in the schooling system. Tools are needed that will assist with the process of selecting students. The aim of this study is to determine whether a test battery predicts academic success for postgraduate students at a historically disadvantaged university, and whether there are differences relating to gender and racial and language groups. The test battery considered, GRT2, was designed to measure three areas of ability – verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. The sample consisted of an applicant group (774 candidates) and a student group (178 candidates). The internal consistency of the three subtests on the total applicant group was sufficiently reliable (above 0.8). Significant mean differences were found between the language groups and the race group for all three subtests, but only significant differences were found between the gender groups, with males obtaining higher scores. For the student group as a whole, correlations of all three subtests with both academic total and academic average marks were highly significant. In addition, the test exhibits predictive bias with regard to language, race and gender in the prediction of the academic total, and particularly for the numeric subtest. The results suggest that the test battery can help in identifying potentially successful students. However, cognisance must be taken of the differences between language groups and gender when interpreting test results. The paper contributes to the presently limited research on the validity of selection tools used in postgraduate programmes in African universities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-750
Author(s):  
Diana V. Pshenichnyuk

The education system and teachers are currently faced with the need to increase the interest of students not only in their chosen specialty and related training courses but in the content of the compulsory basic-level disciplines. One of the possible solutions to this problem may be filling such courses with practice-oriented and universal content, which can contribute to the formation and implementation of general cultural competences even in the learning (professional training) process. The purpose of the work is to present to the expert community the results of introducing the authors approach to the development of a set of knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies of students, as they are taught pedagogy and psychology, and to compare the process and results of face-to-face and online training conducted according to the authors program. The attention is focused on the development of practical skills and abilities within the framework of this course, in particular, the ability to conduct classes for peers with elements of training. The study used an adapted experimental curriculum of the pedagogy and psychology course, means of assessment (control works in the form of tests with open and closed questions) and self-assessment (authors questionnaire). The sample consisted of 68 undergraduate and postgraduate students of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The results of using the developed program showed high efficiency in relation to indicators of academic success of the students due to the creation of conditions for mutual learning and conducting classes by the students themselves.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1160
Author(s):  
Silvia Ana Valverde-Zavaleta ◽  
Ray Harvey Mellin Rubio ◽  
Aurea Elizabeth Rafael Sánchez ◽  
Martha Gonzales Loli ◽  
Enaidy Reynosa Navarro

Background: The study's objective was to compare whether there are differences in the perception of undergraduate and postgraduate students about the pedagogy of success.   Methods: This is non-experimental research with a comparative descriptive design, and a hypothetical deductive method was used. The perception of success pedagogy questionnaire was applied as a data collection technique with a sample of 50 university students with 23 items based on three dimensions: opportunity to learn (nine items), feedback (eight items), and consideration of the person (six items), with the following qualitative value scale, always = high, sometimes = middle, and never = low; the scale of quantitative value was from two to zero. To find the instrument's validity, it was subjected to expert judgment, calculating the content validity ratio for each item and considering the criteria of clarity and relevance. The instrument's reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha, which found a high consistency between the items. For the questionnaire application, Google Forms was used to obtain fast, timely, and reliable answers. The data were processed through the SPSS V. 25.   Results: The pedagogical support of the postgraduate teacher is more effective than that of the undergraduate. The undergraduate teacher stands out for listening and being more empathic. Didactics is crucial for students to develop their cognitive and human potential. Academic success is related to the teacher's pedagogical skills and the student's motivation. In addition, teachers and students can develop cognitive skills through effective communication and socialization. Finally, the affective dimension allows students to achieve personal and professional goals.  Conclusions: There are significant differences in the perception of the pedagogy of success among undergraduate and postgraduate university students; therefore, the application of this methodology is more promoted towards postgraduate students than to their undergraduate peers.


Author(s):  
Joy Joshua Maina ◽  
Rakiya Haruna Ibrahim

Good learning environments are often directly linked with academic success though controlling for other factors such as socioeconomic status and entry qualifications are constantly required. This study, re-examines the above premise using qualitative open-ended responses from 29 students majoring in architecture from Ahmadu Bello University as studies investigating this category of respondents are sparsely undertaken. Results from qualitative content analyses of 81 phrases reveal that although learning environment influences academic performance, a number of respondents, particularly males, categorically stated that it has no influence on their academic performance. The findings thus assert that providing conducive learning environments may not always translate into good grades to students. Socialisation and interactions between staff and students as well as student-to-student interactions emerged as mediators in the learning environment-academic performance relationship. The need for socialisation and support was pertinent for lower levels, while inadequacy of facilities notably classrooms and studio space influenced postgraduate students more. IEQ variables such as noise and thermal comfort, security as well as assessment modalities also influence academic performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Hyland

The ability to communicate in English is now essential to academic success for many students and researchers. Not only has the language established a fairly firm grip in higher education, particularly in the lives of postgraduate students, but also in academic research, where careers are increasingly tied to an ability to publish in international journals in English. Countless students and academics around the world, therefore, must now gain fluency in the conventions of relatively ‘standardized’ versions of academic writing in English to understand their disciplines, to establish their careers or to successfully navigate their learning (e.g. Hyland 2009). English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and the teaching of academic writing in particular, has emerged to support this process (Hyland & Shaw 2016; Hyland 2017a). However, EAP, and its relationship to English language education more generally, is seen from a number of different perspectives, not all of which flatter the field. Among the more critical are that it is complicit in the relentless expansion of English which threatens indigenous academic registers (e.g. Phillipson 1992; Canagarajah 1999), that it is a remedial ‘service activity’ on the periphery of university life (Spack 1988), and that it imposes an imprisoning conformity to disciplinary values and native norms on second language writers (e.g. Benesch 2001).


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1257-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Kucheria ◽  
McKay Moore Sohlberg ◽  
Jason Prideaux ◽  
Stephen Fickas

PurposeAn important predictor of postsecondary academic success is an individual's reading comprehension skills. Postsecondary readers apply a wide range of behavioral strategies to process text for learning purposes. Currently, no tools exist to detect a reader's use of strategies. The primary aim of this study was to develop Read, Understand, Learn, & Excel, an automated tool designed to detect reading strategy use and explore its accuracy in detecting strategies when students read digital, expository text.MethodAn iterative design was used to develop the computer algorithm for detecting 9 reading strategies. Twelve undergraduate students read 2 expository texts that were equated for length and complexity. A human observer documented the strategies employed by each reader, whereas the computer used digital sequences to detect the same strategies. Data were then coded and analyzed to determine agreement between the 2 sources of strategy detection (i.e., the computer and the observer).ResultsAgreement between the computer- and human-coded strategies was 75% or higher for 6 out of the 9 strategies. Only 3 out of the 9 strategies–previewing content, evaluating amount of remaining text, and periodic review and/or iterative summarizing–had less than 60% agreement.ConclusionRead, Understand, Learn, & Excel provides proof of concept that a reader's approach to engaging with academic text can be objectively and automatically captured. Clinical implications and suggestions to improve the sensitivity of the code are discussed.Supplemental Materialhttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8204786


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-513
Author(s):  
Ashley Bourque Meaux ◽  
Julie A. Wolter ◽  
Ginger G. Collins

Purpose This article introduces the Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools Forum: Morphological Awareness as a Key Factor in Language-Literacy Success for Academic Achievement. The goal of this forum is to relate the influence morphological awareness (MA) has on overall language and literacy development with morphology acting as the “binding agent” between orthography, phonology, and semantics ( Perfetti, 2007 ) in assessment and intervention for school-aged children. Method This introduction provides a foundation for MA development and explores the influence MA has over the course of school-aged language and literacy development. Through summaries of the 11 articles in this forum, school-based speech-language pathologists will be able to convey the importance of MA to promote successful educational outcomes for kindergarten to adolescent students. The forum explores researcher-developed assessments used to help identify MA skill level in first- through eighth-grade students at risk for literacy failure to support instructional needs. The forum also provides school-based speech-language pathologists with details to design and implement MA interventions to support academic success for school-aged students with varying speech-language needs (e.g., dual language emersion, vocabulary development, reading comprehension) using various service delivery models (e.g., small group, classroom-based, intensive summer camps). Conclusion MA is effective in facilitating language and literacy development and as such can be an ideally focused on using multilinguistic approaches for assessment and intervention. The articles in this issue highlight the importance in assessment measures and intervention approaches that focus on students' MA to improve overall academic success in children of all ages and abilities.


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