YoonJung Cho

Perceived Competence and Autonomy as Moderators of the Effects of Achievement Goal Orientations.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of two moderators – perceived competence and perceived autonomy – in the relationships of achievement goal orientations with a broad range of learning‐related variables, including interest, effort, learning strategy use and academic achievement. Perceived competence and autonomy played roles as moderators by strengthening the positive effects of a mastery goal pursuit on outcome measures of adaptive use of learning strategies and effort, respectively. However, no moderating role of either perceived competence or perceived autonomy was found for the effect of a performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goal pursuit. In addition, perceived competence played a significant role in determining the level of academic achievement in the context of multiple‐goal pursuit. For students with high perceived competence, the adoption of high performance‐approach goals resulted in a higher level of achievement regardless of the levels of mastery goals. In contrast, students with low perceived competence showed the highest achievement when high performance‐approach goals are paired with low mastery goals.

Goal Structures: The Role of Teachers’ Achievement Goals and Theories of Intelligence

This study investigated how teachers’ achievement goals for teaching and implicit theories of their students’ intelligence are associated with the goal structures that they create in their classrooms. Teachers (N = 209) reported their achievement goals for teaching (mastery, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals), implicit theories of intelligence (belief that their students’ intellectual ability is malleable or fixed), and achievement goal structures that they created within their classroom (mastery vs. performance goal structures). In general, mastery goals for teaching positively predicted classroom mastery goal structure while performance-approach goals for teaching positively predicted classroom performance goal structure. However, there were significant interactions between mastery and performance-approach goals and between performance-avoidance goals and implicit theory of students’ intelligence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

College Student Effort Expenditure in Online versus Face-to-Face Courses: The Role of Gender, Team Learning Orientation, and Sense of Classroom Community

The study investigated the differential impact of sense of classroom community on effort in online versus face-to-face courses while controlling for potential effects of gender and team learning orientation. The interaction effects from ANOVA results suggested a gender difference across the two course delivery formats, with male students expending more effort than females in online courses while females put more energy than males in face-to-face courses. The hierarchical regression analyses results showed differential predictive patterns of student effort, with multiple predictors of student effort in face-to-face courses in contrast to a single value-interest predictor in online courses after controlling for individual differences. The results suggested the need of instructional differentiation of the two course delivery formats and the importance of enhancing the value and interest of online courses to promote student effort in distance education programs.

Pre-Service Teachers' Motivation, Sense of Teaching Efficacy, and Expectation of Reality Shock.

The present study investigated how pre-service teachers’ motivation and their sense of teaching efficacy influence their expectation about reality shock during the first year of professional teaching. A total of 533 pre-service teachers at a state university in the US Midwest participated in this study. The results showed that the pre-service teachers’ expectation of reality shock was negatively related to teacher efficacy and intrinsic motivation while it was positively related to introjected and external motivation. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that pre-service teachers’ sense of efficacy and introjected motivation were strong predictors of their expectation of reality shock, when gender difference was controlled for. There was an interaction effect between intrinsic motivation and teachers’ sense of efficacy in predicting the reality shock expectation. We discussed the educational implications for future research in an endeavour to reduce the reality shock among novice teachers.

Exploring teaching concerns and characteristics of graduate teaching assistants

The purpose of the study was to explore a conceptual structure of graduate teaching assistant (GTA) teaching concerns. Results indicated that GTAs experience five distinct, inter-related types of concerns: class control, external evaluation, task, impact and role/time/communication. These ‘teaching concerns’ were further analysed by examining their relationship with the value placed on them by the GTAs and the confidence in dealing with the teaching-related issues of concern. The results revealed that GTAs tend to have concerns about self, task or role/time/communication-related issues when the nature of the concerned issues is perceived as being valuable but challenging. On the other hand, GTAs are more likely to have concerns with impact-related issues when the nature of the issues is perceived as both being valuable and manageable. Several GTA characteristics, such as teaching experience, teacher efficacy, participation in professional development and values on teaching practices, were examined as predictors of GTA teaching concerns.

Relationships among Properties of College Students' Self-Set Academic Goals and Academic Achievement.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among properties of college students’ self-set academic goals and academic achievement, using multiple theoretical perspectives. Using a personal goal-based research methodology, college students enrolled in a learning-to-learn course (N = 130) were asked to list 20 of their goals (academic and/or non-academic). For each of their goals, goal specificity, value, expectation of success and autonomous and controlled motivation were measured and then ratings on each goal property were averaged across students’ academic goals (24.75% of all goals) to predict students’ grade point average (GPA) for the semester. Regression results suggested a positive affect on students’ semester GPA for goal specificity and a negative effect for controlled motivation; the model explained 19% of the variation in GPA. This research may help to inform motivation researchers and educational practitioners who assist college students with goal setting.

College Student Motivation to Lead in Relation to Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Leadership Self-Efficacy

We investigated basic need satisfaction and leadership self-efficacy as psychological antecedents of college students’ motivation to lead (MTL), while controlling for individual differences by gender and academic class. Preliminary analyses revealed significant gender differences with males scoring higher than females on calculative MTL and classification differences with seniors scoring higher on affective-identity MTL compared to less advanced students in college. When these demographic differences were controlled for, need satisfaction for competence was significantly associated with all 3 types of MTL through the mediation effect of leadership self-efficacy. Need satisfaction for relatedness was significantly associated with social-normative MTL and calculative MTL.

Factorial Invariance of an Integrated Measure of Classroom Sense of Community in Face-to-Face and Online Courses

The aim of the present study was to develop a more integrated measure of classroom sense of community (SOC) while testing factorial invariance of the measurement structure across face-to-face and online courses. We incorporated two existing SOC measures to capture both context-specific and context-general characteristics of SOC and developed an integrated scale of classroom SOC with a four-factor structure. Tests of measurement invariance indicated that the new measure of classroom SOC has equivalent patterns of factor loadings, strength of factor loadings, and intercepts across the two course delivery modes, thus making this a viable measure to examine potential differences across these contexts. Latent mean analysis indicated that students in an online course perceived a lower level of SOC.

Development and Validation of the Collegiate Religious Dissonance Scale

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to evaluate psychometric evidence for the Perceived Collegiate Religious Dissonance Scale among calibration (n = 425) and validation (n = 326) samples of self-identified Christian undergraduate students. Perceived collegiate religious dissonance is defined as emotional tension resultant from a perceived discrepancy in valued religious views among peers, faculty, family, and the campus environment. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses results supported a theoretically meaningful two-factor structure (i.e., campus-religious and familial- religious dissonance) with high reliabilities. Both factors were statistically significant predictors of school adaptation after controlling for gender, GPA, and the perceived value of religion. JCC ©