Academic locus of control: a relevant variable at tertiary level?

Abstract

A survey of 744 first year students at an Australian university provides no evidence of significant sex, age, or faculty differences in those students' perceptions of their control over their own learning. A follow-up survey of 182 of this sample over two years later suggests that neither maturation nor the impact of tertiary study has brought about a significant change in these students' academic locus of control. However, cross-lagged analysis indicates that accepting responsibility for learning was causally dominant over the adoption of less superficial and more achievement oriented learning strategies. Implications of these findings for study skills training programmes are briefly outlined.

Attitudes toward and Approaches to Learning First-Year University Mathematics

“…Research (Prosser & Trigwell, 1997) suggests that students who adopt a deep approach to learning mathematics have a qualitatively different awareness of their learning from those who adopt a surface approach. This finding is consistent with the idea that deeper approaches to learning tend to be associated with attitudinal factors such as self-confidence and the belief that the person is responsible for his own learning (Biggs, 1987;Watkins, 1987). The regression indicated a significant relationship of students' attitude toward mathematics for the Deep Approach of learning mathematics.…”

An investigation of the approach to learning of Nepalese tertiary students

“…American theorists have emphasised the importance of controlling one's own learning if high quality outcomes are to be achieved (McCombs 1986;Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons 1990). Empirical backing comes from both a longitudinal study from Australia (Watkins 1987) and an evaluation of a Dutch intervention program (Van Overwalle, Segebarth, and Goldchstein 1989). Together with the results of this study, it seems that in a variety of cultures possessing an internal locus of control may well be a prerequisite for a student to adopt a deep/achieving approach to their learning tasks.…”

“…The hypothesis was tested that students with a more internal locus of control were more likely to report higher levels of both intrinsic and achievement motivations and the corresponding strategies of learning (Biggs 1987;Watkins 1987 Nepalese and Australian university students. The means of the Nepalese students' responses to the SPQ scales were compared to those reported by Biggs (1987) for Australian students, after the latter were corrected for length.…”

The learning and study strategies inventory: A South African application

“…Low motivation would indicate extrinsic motivation and a tendency towards external locus of control where learning behaviours are instrumental (Rigby, Deci, Patrick and Ryan, 1992) and where students believe that learning outcomes are determined by forces beyond their control (Findley and Cooper, 1983). The literature on motivation and locus of control indicates that there is a positive relationship between both intrinsic motivation and internality, and deeper levels of learning and academic achievement, even though there is little evidence to imply that this relationship is causal (Findley and Cooper, 1983;Watkins, 1987;McCombs, 1988;Wankowski, 1991;Pottebaum and Eberhardt, 1986). Lefcourt et al (1979) and Meyer, Dunne and Richardson (1994) explore attributional causes for academic success in higher education represented in a locus model which distinguishes between two extemal attributional causes (luck and context) and two internal attributional causes (ability and effort) for academic success and for academic failure.…”