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Individual student characteristics as measures of success in a PSI-taught course
Abstract
This investigation examines the influence of individual student characteristics on academic achievement and satisfaction in a basic communication course using the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). The review of literature highlighted learning style preferences, test anxiety and communication apprehension as important variables for study. The subjects included 521 students enrolled in a basic communication course using PSI. The subjects were primarily 18 to 20 years in age and in their freshman or sophomore year in college. During the semester the subjects completed the Canfield Learning Style Inventory (CLSI), the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT), the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24), and a course satisfaction evaluation form. Student scores for learning style preferences, test anxiety and communication apprehension were regressed with several measures of academic success and satisfaction with the course. The results indicate that several measures of learning style preferences significantly correlated with measures of academic success in the course. The students' desire for clear organization of course materials, the ability to work independently, and the chance to know their instructor influenced the measures of academic success in the course. However, none of the variables listed above significantly correlated with the measure of student satisfaction with the course. Explanations for the failure of any of these variables to affect satisfaction are provided. Post hoc analysis found that at least one of the four demographic and descriptive variables (sex, age, grade level and GPA) were significantly correlated with eight of the measures of learning style preferences, as well as the measure of positive test anxiety. Three implications of the conclusions are discussed. Several learning style preferences were found to have a direct impact on the academic achievement of the subjects. Current research in the speech communication discipline has led to an abundance of research on the causes, effects and treatment of communication apprehension. However, this investigation found that learning style preferences may play a bigger role in the success of students in the basic speech communication course using the PSI format. Finally, past research on test anxiety has focused on debilitating test anxiety rather than facilitative test anxiety. The current study found that the facilitative anxiety was more important.
Subject Area
Communication|Education|Language arts|Educational evaluation
Recommended Citation
Lubbers, Charles Alan, "Individual student characteristics as measures of success in a PSI-taught course" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9314415.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9314415