Students' Academic Achievement

SUBMITTED BY:

SUBMITTED BY:

Ahmed Ibraheem Omotayo 1000477

Ahmed Ibraheem Omotayo 1000477

Supervised by: Dr. Sreethi Nair

Course Code: PSY201
Section 1
Group 8
Spring 2011/2012 semester

Supervised by: Dr. Sreethi Nair

Course Code: PSY201
Section 1
Group 8
Spring 2011/2012 semester

Students’ Academic Achievement

Students’ Academic Achievement

ACHIEVEMENT ACHIEVEMENT

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 Methodology: 4 Hypothesis: 4 Review of literature: 5 Evaluation of the result: 7 Conclusion: 16 Proposal for the future research: 17 Questionnaire 18 Works Cited 20

INTRODUCTION

Every person sets up a goal or a target in his/her life. It might be what he/she would want to be when he/she would come to a certain age. It might also be a milestone that one would have set that would encourage and motivate him/her everyday to move towards it. It is this motivation that keeps everyone alive, moving and living the life devoid of its struggles. We all set goals in our life be it long time or short time. Short term goals could be setting a target of scoring 100% in an upcoming quiz or test while a long term target could be reaching to a Manager’s position right from a trainee in a time span of 5 years. Whether they are short term or long term, their fulfillment or what we call, their ‘achievement’ makes us extremely happy and motivates us to move even further. It helps us improve our self-confidence and builds in us a sense of self-trust. Every project, every chore requires motivation because without that nothing can be accomplished. And once this motivation leads to successful completion, the fruit that this success bears to us is immensely sweet.

It is generally noticed by us that those who hold a very high degree of motivation and hold a thirst in heart of achieving high usually turn to produce outstanding results. This shows how high level of motivation and associated achievement go hand in hand. There is something more that needs to be introduced in this context and that would be a need or a requirement. To say this better, it would be more organized to begin with the contribution given by McClelland and his associates who proposed the theory of three basic and most fundamental needs. These three needs were the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power. What we would require here is to understand the need for achievement which in other words could be described as the struggle for succeeding.

People with high level of motivation who have high need for achievement tend to perform tasks that would be graded and would prefer to compete against those who would be worth of competing against. It is this high motivation in them that makes them fearless to compete in an environment where both success and failure would exist because they know that they need to work hard way out in order to accomplish a long term success and happiness. Trying to work easy way out always tends to create a fear in oneself that instills into a person to avoid failures and take less challenging tasks. When less challenging tasks are accomplished, happiness is felt but that sense of pleasure isn’t received because deep inside you know that winning was known. Hence, we would like to draw another important note at this point that motivation and achievement go best when one wishes to handle them well, that is, by working hard towards achieving his/her goal. Just completing a target isn’t enough to feel the sense of achievement, it is also important to understand the strength of the task’s difficulty and how challenging it is.

Those who achieve the tough way out tend to exist longer in a given field, whether it is in a university or in any other profession because they know what is required of them and they are the ones who are knowledgeable. As our project aims mainly at focusing the achievement by students, we will discuss a lot more than what is given in our introduction; however, it is worthy to know that students who have high motivation and a strong struggle to achieve are those who will succeed in their student life and will be the ones who would be valuable assets not only of their university but also of their future employer. Those students who have low level of motivation and hold a low strength of need for achievement seem to be less successful in their college life and are usually those who appear to be ‘college drop outs’. We sketch this statement out because the shift from a school to a college is very different and a bit tough. Not everyone can survive this successfully. A lot of determination and lots of hard work and high motivation is required in order to cope up with this change and come out with success. Thus in this project, we would be strictly focusing on the academic achievements by the student as well as the previous studies made in this same field.

Methodology:
This is a quantitative research using the descriptive method. We are going to be testing our hypothesis by digging out some archives, and we also conducted some interview and made some surveys on college students. The sample size of this project is 50 students from both genders mainly from Abu Dhabi University.

Hypothesis:
Teachers have a very notable significance influence either positively or negatively on their respective students. Dr. Steven Cornish, a Sociologist and the Associate Dean of University College in Abu Dhabi University said, “Students are not in the university to only learn new things literally but also to discover what they actually know and never realized.” As a result, going by our title “Students’ Academic Achievement”, we predict that qualified and experienced teacher influence the academic achievement of university students in an unrelenting educational system.
Review of literature: 1. In a study made by three researchers with the names: Jamaludin Ahmad, Mazila Ghazali, and Aminuddin Hassan termed The Relationship between Self Concept and Response towards Student 's Academic Achievement among Students Leaders in University Putra Malaysia. This is a quantitative research using correlational method. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between self concept and ability to handle stress on academic achievement of student leaders in University Putra Malaysia. The sample size consists of 106 respondents who are the Student Supreme Council and Student Representative Committee. Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) was used to evaluate respondents ' self concept and for respondents ' responses strategy the Response Strategy Questionnaire were used. The respondents ' CGPA is used to evaluate their academic achievements. The findings illustrate that there is no significant relationship between self concept and academic achievement. (Ahmad, Ghazali, & Hassan, 2011).

2. In another research made by Search Institute in Minneapolis city, USA titled: Boosting Student Achievement, it was said in the bottom line of the research that new studies have suggested that developmental assets play an important role in students’ academic achievement across a wide range of students. In fact, developmental assets appear to have as much or more influence on student achievement as other demographic factors and school reform plans. Thus, building developmental assets has great promise as a strategy for increasing student achievement. Also, using comprehensive, asset-based approaches to education and youth development have tremendous potential to contribute to the academic success of students from all backgrounds and in a wide range of communities (Evidence, 2003).

3. In Elizabeth A. Spavins’ Friendship Quality and Peer Attachment as Predictors of Adolescents ' Subsequent Academic Achievement, she made a study that investigated the hypothesis that peer influences in adolescence, specifically friendship quality and peer attachment, predict improved academic achievement over time. Participants included a diverse sample of 145 adolescents (M age = 13.3 years). In support of the hypothesis, participants who reported greater levels of peer attachment at age 13 displayed improved academic achievement at age 17, controlling for academic achievement at age 13. Greater levels of certain aspects of friendship quality, such as validation and caring, as reported by participants at age 13, also predicted greater academic achievement for participants at age 17 (Spavins, 2007).

4. In the current context of the “No Child Left Behind Act,” schools nationwide are facing an increased level of accountability for their students’ academic performance. Our research focused on exploring methods of improving the academic motivation of adolescent middle school students and relating academic motivation to actual school performance. After studying existing literature on academic motivation and middle school education, our team designed and implemented a 4-month participant-based study at a local Title I middle school with a sample of 8th graders. During this period, they established and directed an after-school program for students in which they used an interactive discussion and contemporary issues-based approach as a way to introduce students to various academic areas not necessarily covered in class. The relationship between academic motivation and academic performance is still unclear at this point and can only be determined with continued observation of the students that were monitored. Nevertheless, the team stresses the importance of implementing more interactive discussions and activities in middle school classrooms, many of which are facing increasing pressure to design their curricula around standardized tests (Francis, et al., 2004).

5. Based on a model of human capital accumulation, a study was made on the convergence in academic achievement of native-born and immigrant students. The model captures the idea that human capital accumulation is a dynamic process depending on cognitive achievement accumulated at previous stages of a student 's academic life. This theoretical formalization provides a framework for the empirical analysis of dynamic trajectories of academic performance. It was discovered that foreign-born students start at lower levels of performance in reading and higher levels of performance in math. Foreign-born students catch up in reading and converge to a higher long run level of performance, however. The nativity gap does not fade in time. The theoretical model is allowed to predict that foreign-born will converge to higher achievement levels across all ethnicities. This process is slow and convergence takes 14-15 years. Once a student is added and fixed effects, the results are unchanged, the convergence speed reduces however to 1.5-2 years (Biavaschi, Schwartz, & Stiefel, 2009).

6. We found no better literature to sum up this particular paragraph than the one of Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp in their “A New Wave of Evidence” citing an the fact that when parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well, help them plan for college, and make sure that out-of-school activities are constructive, their children do better in school. When schools engage families in ways that are linked to improving learning, students make greater gains. When schools build partnerships with families that respond to their concerns and honor their contributions, they are successful in sustaining connections that are aimed at improving student achievement. And when families and communities organize to hold poorly performing schools accountable, studies suggest that school districts make positive changes in policy, practice, and resources (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).

Evaluation of the result:
We predicted that qualified and experienced teacher influence the academic achievement of university students in a disciplined educational system. It is true that if students are being monitored supervised and taught by an experienced instructor, it will pave a very wide way for that student (regardless of the gender, age and academic year, etc) to achieve more in his/her educational journey. A survey was done on forty-five students were randomly picked from Abu Dhabi University in both genders (twenty- eight males and seventeen females to be more exact). The charts below visually illustrate the outcome of the aforementioned survey:

The 40 of the students that answered the questionnaire fell within the age group of 18 – 29 while only 5 students fell within the ages of 30 – 39.

The highest number of students that participated in our survey was the freshmen. Next were the sophomores; then, the final year students and lastly the juniors.

There were more than 30 students with GPA from 3.0-3.4 more interested in filling our survey. The second highest numbers of students fell between 2.0-2.9. Next is 3.5 – 4.0, then less than 1.0 and from 1.0 – 1.9 respectively

There were more than 30 students with GPA from 3.0-3.4 more interested in filling our survey. The second highest numbers of students fell between 2.0-2.9. Next is 3.5 – 4.0, then less than 1.0 and from 1.0 – 1.9 respectively

61% of the students surveyed believed the role of instructor is more important than the role of the family when talking about student achievement while the rest of 39% went for the opposite.

Only thirty-six percent of the students agreed with the fact that instructors should have different courses that will deal with students in different ages while sixty-four percent of them disagreed.

Only thirty-six percent of the students agreed with the fact that instructors should have different courses that will deal with students in different ages while sixty-four percent of them disagreed.

A whopping ninety-two percent off the surveyed students gave in to the fact that teachers who use different method to teach are better than those who use only a method; however, eight percent of them disagreed.

Most students believe their relationship with their respective professors is beyond average. They believe it is either good or very good. Nevertheless, couple of them claimed they have poor relationship with their professors, and some decided to stay neutral

Majority of the students declined with the fact that qualified teachers go with one certain gender, but few of them maintain yes.

Twelve of the students have come close to the failure in one way or the other in their studies, three blamed their failure on their various instructors, five admitted it was their fault, and another five believe their instructors are too experienced to fail their courses

Fifty seven percent of the students vowed to change the instructor they fail his/her course; nevertheless, forty three percent of them don’t mind doing the course again with the same instructor.

A lot of students would like their instructors to play the same role as the high school teachers do, but a very few of them want to take the responsibility for themselves.

Ninety percent of the whole surveyed students rely on homework from their teacher to do well in the course while the remaining ten percent oppose that notion.

More than average number of students wants to be motivated personally by their instructor to help them get good grades

Ninety one percent of the students rely on new technology to help them understand the concept of the course being taught by their teacher. Only nine percent of them do not care.

A huge number of students believe they can get influenced by their teachers’ behavior, but a very few of them do not mind.

Sixty five percent of the students see difference in teaching in accordance to the gender of the instructor; however, thirty fiver percent do not care about the instructor’s gender.

Great number of students believed when an instructor speaks in his/her local language, it affects the understanding of the course concept.

Conclusion:
According to Andrew Horton in one of his nice write-ups with the title: Turning your Dream into Reality, he said, “for you to move forward from where you are to where you want to be or should I rather say “where you passionately NEED to be”. You must firstly be certain that you really need and want, whatever goal you are willing to achieve in your life. You must have a deep inner desire (inner motivation) to live that new reality and you must be certain that you are ready to make the sacrifices, which living that goal will require (Horton, 2012).” Everybody has his/her personal goals, dreams, ambitions, visions and missions before joining any association or group. If three hundred college students are asked the reasons why they are studying in the university, their response will most likely differ from one another. Having a positive perception and being in the right frame of mind help a lot to achieve every goal set by any individual. Be it a student or a worker. Moreover, students’ academic achievement can easily be influenced, manipulated or in one way or the other be determined by the instructors. It can be by the teachers’ gender, behavior, spoken language, frequent homework, personal supervision and so on and so forth. Some researchers claim that nurturing kids to be responsible for their actions and giving them the opportunity to express themselves can go a long way in helping the students achieve more than their counterparts that are not raised that way. The evidence continues to grow that parent involvement improves student achievement.
Proposal for the future research:
As previously mentioned, this research was done by using the survey method with a sample size of 45 students from Abu Dhabi University, which looks at the two variables of 28 male students and 17 female students with their ages ranging from 18 to 39. Furthermore, the research can be done later by changing or adding to the hypothesis that we predict. As we think our sample size is less, we suggest it could be tested by increasing the size of the sample to improve, generalized, and make better results. For example, instead of staying put on Abu Dhabi University students alone, many other university students can be surveyed in and out the UAE. Moreover, a lot more number of older female students can be considered when doing surveys too. Aside from survey questionnaire, interview is also a genuine idea to adopt when doing this kind of research. Thus, it will be a good move to use both survey and interview for the future study.

Below are the questions of the survey used to test the aforementioned hypothesis:
ACHIEVEMENT
Students’ Academic Achievement

This is a questionnaire investigating the impact of teachers on students’ academic achievements.
Please answer all the following questions by marking the box next to your desired answer

1. Are you male or female? Male Female

2. How old are you?
18-29 30 – 39 40+

3. What year are you in the university?
1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year

4. What is your GPA?
Less than 1.0 1.0-1.9 2.0-2.9 3.0-3.4 3 .5-4.0

5. Is the role of the instructor more important than the role of the family in student achievement? Yes NO 6. Instructor should have course dealing with students in different ages Agree Disagree 7. I ask about my instructor before choosing the course Agree Disagree 8. Teacher who use different method of teaching are better than those who use only one method Agree Disagree 9. On a scale of one to five, how much the relationship between the teacher and the students does affect the achievement of the students? One for very poor and five for very good. 1 2 3 4 5 10. Do you think qualified teachers are restricted to a certain gender? Yes No 11. If yes, which gender is it? Male Female 12. Have you ever failed a course? Why or why not? I. Yes, the instructor is not qualified and harsh II. Yes, it was my fault III. No, but I’ve come close to it IV. No, the instructor is too good to fail his/her course 13. Do you think that changing your instructor in case you fail a course would make you pass the course? Yes No 14. University teachers need to play the same role as high school teachers in student ‘s achievement Agree Disagree

15. I do very well with the teachers that give homework after every chapter than the one that don’t Agree Disagree 16. Being supervised personally by my teacher help me a lot in the grades Agree Disagree 17. Do you think that the teacher have to use the new technology of teaching to make you achieve more?? Yes NO

18. Is the teacher behavior important to you?
Yes NO

19. Do you see any different in teaching if the teacher is male or female? Yes NO 20. Do you think that speaking local language of the teacher during the class will affect your understanding during the class? Yes NO

Works Cited
Ahmad, J., Ghazali, M., & Hassan, A. (2011). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF CONCEPT AND RESPONSE TOWARDS STUDENT’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG STUDENTS LEADERS IN UNIVERSITY PUTRA MALAYSIA. Serdang Selangor: International Journal of Instruction.
Biavaschi, C., Schwartz, A. E., & Stiefel, L. (2009). Testing the Convergence Hypothesis in Immigrant Academic Achievement. New york: Institute for Education and Social Policy.
Evidence, S. I.-I. (2003). Boosting Student Achievement. Minneapolis: Search Institute.
Francis, A., Goheer, A., Haver-Dieter, R., Kaplan, A. D., Kerstetter, K., Kirk, A. L., et al. (2004). Promoting Academic Achievement and Motivation. Maryland: Univeristy of Maryland.
Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). A New Wave of Evidence - The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Texas: SEDL.
Horton, A. (2012). Turning your Dream into Reality. Retrieved June 5, 2012, from http://www.andrewhorton.co.za
Spavins, E. A. (2007). Academic Achievement. Virginia: University of Virginia.

2012

ACHIEVEMENT

Cited: Ahmad, J., Ghazali, M., & Hassan, A. (2011). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF CONCEPT AND RESPONSE TOWARDS STUDENT’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG STUDENTS LEADERS IN UNIVERSITY PUTRA MALAYSIA. Serdang Selangor: International Journal of Instruction. Biavaschi, C., Schwartz, A. E., & Stiefel, L. (2009). Testing the Convergence Hypothesis in Immigrant Academic Achievement. New york: Institute for Education and Social Policy. Evidence, S. I.-I. (2003). Boosting Student Achievement. Minneapolis: Search Institute. Francis, A., Goheer, A., Haver-Dieter, R., Kaplan, A. D., Kerstetter, K., Kirk, A. L., et al. (2004). Promoting Academic Achievement and Motivation. Maryland: Univeristy of Maryland. Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). A New Wave of Evidence - The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Texas: SEDL. Horton, A. (2012). Turning your Dream into Reality. Retrieved June 5, 2012, from http://www.andrewhorton.co.za Spavins, E. A. (2007). Academic Achievement. Virginia: University of Virginia. 2012 ACHIEVEMENT