Motivational Profiles in High School Students: Generation and Use of Volitional Strategies

This research had as its main purpose to analyze the generation and use of volitional strategies - motivational and emotional control -, based on the motivational profile of the students, through a mixed methodology. Two standardized instruments (CMA and AVSI) were applied to 204 Mexican high school students, between 16 and 18, to identify their motivational profile. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to understand how they generate the volitional strategies they use. Results show that most students adopted a profile oriented to multiple goals, characterized by more volitional strategies use. They also stated that they used volitional strategies to concentrate on studying and have time to perform other tasks. It is considered necessary to design programs that promote volitional strategies, strengthening the commitment and sustained effort required to achieve academic goals in high school.

EXPLORING VOLITION IN PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS AMONG THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS IN SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

Public speaking is frequently referred to as an anxiety-provoking activity. Volition is linked to individuals' willpower and persistence to face distraction in achieving particular goals. The aim of this study is exploring the volitional strategies used by English speaking class students and the factors that particularly influenced the students in dealing with the anxiety in public speaking. The participants are the 30 public speaking class students. This study used a questionnaire and interview as the instruments for data collection. The volitional strategies found in this study are split into two kinds: action control and emotion control strategies. The factors influencing students in learning public speaking revealed are inferiority or lack of self-esteem, audience pressures, the absence of preparation, references, vocabulary; and unpredictable examination. The researcher concluded that the students show high volitional stage with their own strategies to overcome anxiety and distractions in public speaking class. This research is undertaken to encourage EFL students to overcome their anxiety and fear in speaking English.

Accounting for health literacy and intervention preferences when reducing unhealthy snacking: protocol for an online randomised controlled trial

IntroductionHealth literacy describes the cognitive and social skills that individuals use to access, understand and act on health information. Health literacy interventions typically take the ‘universal precautions approach’ where all consumers are presented with simplified materials. Although this approach can improve knowledge and comprehension, its impact on complex behaviours is less clear. Systematic reviews also suggest that health literacy interventions underuse volitional strategies (such as planning) that play an important role in behaviour change. A recent study found volitional strategies may need to be tailored to the participant’s health literacy. The current study aims to replicate these findings in a sample of people who have diabetes and/or are overweight or obese as measured by body mass index, and to investigate the most effective method of allocating an action plan to a participant to reduce unhealthy snacking.Methods and analysisWe plan to recruit approximately 2400 participants at baseline. Participants will receive one of two alternative online action plans intended to reduce unhealthy snacking (‘standard’ action plan or ‘literacy-sensitive’ action plan). Participants will be randomised to a method of allocation to an action plan: (1) random allocation; (2) allocation by health literacy screening tool or (3) allocation by participant selection. Primary outcome is self-reported serves of unhealthy snacks during the previous month. Multiple linear regression will evaluate the impact of health literacy on intervention effectiveness. The analysis will also identify independent contributions of each action plan, method of allocation, health literacy and participant selections on unhealthy snacking at 4-week follow-up.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (2017/793). Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed international journals, conferences and updates with collaborating public health bodies (Diabetes New South Wales (NSW) & Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and Western Sydney Local Health District).Trial registration numberACTRN12618001409268; Pre-results.

VOLITIONAL STRATEGIES THROUGH METACOGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN FOSTERING READING MOTIVATION

Student’s reading skill is deemed vitally important to attain high academic achievements. The results of the previous studies, however, show that Indonesian students' reading skill is still unsatisfying due to their low motivation. The purpose of this study is to address this problem of students’ motivation by examining the effectiveness of a volitional strategy through metacognitive development to students of Islamic Junior High School [Madrasah Tsanawiyah] in Indonesia. A quasi-experimental method with a factorial design is used in this research. Indicators for increasing students’ reading motivation come from Cambria and Guthrie (2010). Measures of increased motivation to read with the volitional strategy were done through metacognitive development which is based on self-monitoring and awareness of reading skills mastery. This study concludes that the volitional strategy through metacognitive development is proved effective in increasing students’ motivation for reading, students with both low and high reading skills. This has implications for the efforts to foster motivation for reading by intensively using the strategy for Madrasah Tsanawiyah education contexts.