Browsing by Author "Meyer, JHF"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Conceptions of burnout and motivation among primary and secondary school teachers in South Africa : a phenomenographic study of teacher perspectives.
    (2001) Konyana, Z E N; Green, Lena; Meyer, JHF
    The aims of this study were to explore the variation in the way primary and secondary school teachers in South Africa conceived the phenomena of burnout and motivation, using a phenomenographic research approach. The study also sought to explore the relationship among teachers’ conceptions of burnout and motivation. Accordingly, the following questions guided the research and at the same time provided structure to the thesis: l. What different conceptions of burnout exist among teachers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa? 2. What different conceptions of motivation exist among teachers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa? 3. What is the relationship between teachers’ conceptions of burnout and their conceptions of motivation? Theories of burnout and motivation relevant to the present study were reviewed and a relationship between burnout and motivation outlined, in order to serve as background materials against which to compare the findings from the actual data gathered. Research evidence in support of the theories was given. In particular, Maslach's theory of burnout, as well as the humanistic and cognitive approaches to motivation were used to serve as an initial basis to understand how other researchers have gone about studying the concepts of burnout and motivation. The purpose was to draw out of the literature some questions which would enable the present researcher to carry out interviews on burnout and motivation The study involved sixty teachers (twenty-seven males and thirty-three females) at primary and secondary school levels in rural and urban areas in the Transkei sub-region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Teachers who gained their qualifications during the apartheid era and had been teaching before the new government took over in 1994 were selected. Purposive as well as snowball sampling methods were used to select participants. Data were collected using interview guides constructed by the researcher and validated by experts. The interview questions were formulated to elicit information about interviewees’ attitudes towards their job. Interviews were conducted with participants in their homes or at school, but during mutually arranged times The interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed verbatim as is the custom with phenomenographic research. The transcripts were then subjected to rigorous phenomenographic analysis. In analysing transcript data, everything was read and taken into consideration within the context in which it was said. Analysis focused on identifying a small number of qualitatively different ways in which teachers understood and experienced the phenomena of burnout and motivation. The analysis consisted of studying the interview transcripts both individually and alongside one another, studying sets of extracts both in and out of their original contexts, seeking distinct similarities and differences. The teachers’ responses represented five and four conceptions of burnout and motivation, respectively. Overall, the respondents conceived burnout as: A. feelings of lack of job satisfaction B. feelings of loss of control C. feelings of helpless anger D. frustration related to the curriculum changes (OBE) E. feelings of physical and emotional exhaustion. In the case of motivation, the respondents conceived motivation as: A. feelings of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction B. feelings of personal satisfaction and enjoyment from the work of teaching C. positive feelings about non-material rewards arising from the social environment D. expectation of financial rewards. Burnout and motivation were found to be closely, albeit, inversely related. It was recommended that further replication of this study be carried out in other systems and cultures - also involving younger and less experienced teachers, and that the present findings be used to develop inventories on burnout and motivation, as well as programs for professional development of teachers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The "educationally disadvantaged" student : factors impacting upon conceptions of learning and perceptions of learning contexts
    (1992) Cliff, Alan Frank; Meyer, JHF
    Utilising an individual-difference model of student learning, this study set out to explore the manifestations of qualitative differences in study behaviour at the individual level, amongst a group of educationally disadvantaged students enrolled in the Academic Support Programme in Engineering at Cape Town (ASPECT). The first aim of the study was to describe and conceptually categorise, within the concept of the study orchestration, the manifestation of these individual differences in study engagement, by means of a retrospective analysis of students' school-based study of Science. This process was undertaken when the students first arrived at the university. The quantitative process of classification, done independently of the author, was augmented by each student being individually interviewed by the author about his (retrospective) study behaviour. The second aim was to investigate the study orchestrations of these students in the transition between school and university. Stability over time, in the absence of explicit intervention, of (in particular) students whose study orchestrations had been classified as "at risk" on entry to the university, confirmed the findings from previous studies (some of which had been conducted with groups of educationally disadvantaged students). In previous studies, it had been shown that students in this conceptual category were likely to fail or achieve poorly in conventional university examinations. An ongoing programme of intervention was then designed with the specific aim of enabling "at risk" students to 'reorchestrate' aspects of their study behaviour in qualitatively 'deeper' ways. Modelled in part on previous, more narrowly focused, intervention strategies, the intervention in this study set out to improve "at risk" students' qualitative levels of perceptions of their learning contexts, but it also focused more broadly on the whole ASPECT group without losing sight of the manifestations of qualitative differences in learning conceptions, student epistemologies, and so on, amongst this group. This was achieved by engaging all students in ongoing discourse about crucial learning processes, such as the development of metacognitive awareness and the .need to assume personal responsibility for learning. The study confirmed the findings of other studies: that it is possible to alter "at risk" students' contextualised perceptions in qualitatively 'deeper' ways. In addition, the study suggested lines for individual and subgroup intervention that (1) is possible within the context of everyday learning and teaching; (2) can be carried out by the average academic practitioner, and (3) is transferable to other contexts of academic support.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Exploring the association between approaches to studying and course perceptions using the Lancaster inventory : a replicative study at the Cape Technikon
    (1988) Parsons, Phillip; Meyer, JHF
    The aim of this thesis research was to replicate the important work conducted by Noel Entwistle and Paul Ramsden, published in 1983, which sought to establish the relationship between perceived contextual factors and students' approaches to studying. The two instruments that they developed for this purpose, the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) and the Course Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ), were administered to 1194 English-speaking and 590 Afrikaans-speaking students in 12 disciplinary areas at the Cape Technikon. Alpha factor analysis of the 24 summated sub-scales of the two inventories was conducted separately for the two samples. When these were compared with the factor structure obtained in the Lancaster research programme certain differences were evident. Although the two main study orientation, meaning orientation and reproducing orientation, were present in slightly modified forms, there were no empirical associations between these two orientations and the contextual factors as measured by the sub-scales of the CPQ. In order to explore the differences between the factor structures of the Lancaster programme and the two Technikon samples, the conceptual assumptions regarding the first order factor structure of the two instruments were relaxed. Firstly the 103 items of both instruments together were subjected to alpha factor analysis and subsequently the 63 variables of the ASI and the 40 variables of the CPQ were subjected to separate alpha factor analysis. These analyses confirmed the integrity of the majority of the sub-scales of the ASI while calling into question the composition and indeed the conceptual validity of the sub- scale surface approach. The factor analysis of the CPQ variables confirmed the sub-scale groupings, but the analysis of the 103 variables failed to demonstrate any empirical association between the two instruments. The replicative study concludes that the CPQ is of no value in terms of explaining students' approaches to studying. The ASI, however, appears to be a useful instrument which produces conceptually meaningful results for different population samples with respect to the two main study orientations. Areas which warrant investigation for the refinement of the ASI were identified and alternative methodologies to explore perceived contextual factors in conjunction with the ASI are suggested.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An investigation into the association between qualitatively different perceptions of the learning context and students' approaches to studying
    (1992) Parsons, Philip; Meyer, JHF
    A number of distinct paradigms exist in the field of research into student learning in higher education. It is inevitable that new research initiatives will adopt one of these paradigms as the primary focus of the investigation. However, the relationship that exists between paradigms is not one of mutual exclusivity; rather it is synergetic in nature with developments in one informing advances in another. The perspective adopted in this thesis research is grounded in the naturalistic investigations into student learning in higher education undertaken by Noel Entwistle and his fellow researchers. When reference is made to this distinctive paradigm it is not to suggest that other researchers, adopting fundamentally different paradigms, have not informed the development of the concepts and ideas that are distinctive to this perspective. Indeed, parallel work undertaken by John Biggs into student motivation and its relation to approaches to studying made a significant contribution to the development of specific aspects of the paradigm, a contribution which may not be explicitly clear to readers unfamiliar with the early development of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. Similarly, the pioneering work on the intellectual development of students in higher education undertaken by William Perry provided an important basis for the refinement of concepts within the paradigm that this thesis research has adopted. Because the work of these researchers is implicitly acknowledged, it is important to stress that their role was at least as important as the role of those whose contributions are more explicitly evident, and who subsequently took their ideas and developed them further within the specific paradigm.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An investigation into the attainment of spatial concepts by university science students
    (1984) Rochford, Kevin; Meyer, JHF
    This investigation sought answers to three main questions 1. Irrespective of level of performance in undergraduate anatomy, descriptive astronomy or engineering drawing, do students with poor spatial visualization ability significantly under-achieve in university class examinations in these subjects relative to their spatially competent peers? If this is the case: 2. Can a battery of spatial exercises be employed to diagnose severe three-dimensional impairment amongst students failing in anatomy, descriptive astronomy and engineering drawing and, if so, what is the optimum composition of such a battery? 3. For the purposes of counselling and possible remedial teaching, at which stage during a course of university study should failing students be tested for suspected spatial ineptitude? The investigation from 1980 to 1983 involved four populations of anatomy students, three populations of astronomy students, one year of engineering students and one group of clinical remedial mathematics students. The academic performances of 1126 students were monitored during this period, and 621 of these students were singled out for special measurement of spatial achievement in their academic subjects.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Teachers' attributions and beliefs about girls, boys and mathematics : a comparative study based on 40 Afrikaans-speaking secondary mathematics teachers in the Western Cape
    (1998) Roelofse, Rosina Catherina; Ensor, Paula; Meyer, JHF
    This dissertation is concerned with teachers' beliefs regarding boys, girls and mathematics. The present study is a partial replication of a study conducted by Fennema et al (1990) and the results are compared. The present study extended the work of Fennema et al (1990) through an exploration of the structure of the data. Forty female teachers in the Western Cape region were interviewed. They were asked to identify their two most and least successful boys and girls in mathematics and to attribute causation for success and failure. They _were also asked to respond to 20 characteristics on a "Likert type" response format. The results generated from the present study concluded that teachers believed their female students to be their more successful mathematics students. They attributed the most successful girls' achievement mainly to effort whereas with the most successful boys, achievement was attributed to ability and effort. Both the most successful boys and girls failures on mathematics tasks were attributed to the difficulty of the task. Achievement of the least successful girls was attributed mainly to teacher's help and for the boys it was attributed to teacher's help and task. For both these groups, ability and to a lesser extent, effort, are given as the main reasons for failure on mathematics tasks. Very little difference was found between teachers' responses regarding the characteristics of their best boy and best girl mathematics students. When exploratory factor-analysis was performed a difference was found in the factor-solutions for the boys and the girls. This study suggests that there might be a difference in teachers' beliefs regarding boys and girls achievement in mathematics that is worthy of further exploration.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Towards an understanding of ESL students' approaches to learning: a study of conceptions of learning, perceptions of situational demands, learning approaches and learning outcomes
    (1994) Marsden-Huggins, John; Meyer, JHF; Young, D N
    An hypothesised relationship between levels of proficiency in English of ESL (English as a Second Language) students and the approaches to learning which they adopt, in situations in which English is the language of instruction, is the focus of this study. An attempt was made to identify the extent to which students, who are required to learn in a second language, adopt undesirable approaches to learning as a consequence of linguistic or cultural factors. Such students appear to adopt reproductive strategies to pass examinations and retain only isolated pieces of information for practical application. In a sense, they graduate but remain unqualified. Quantitative responses of 307 students, relating to their contextualised perceptions of the demands of the learning situation, were gathered and analysed using a learning approach categorisation procedure. Qualitative responses of 120 students, relating to their descriptions of the context and content of learning, were gathered in semi-structured interviews to supplement and enrich the quantitive data collected. Levels of proficiency in the language of instruction were measured using integrative tests of comprehension of spoken discourse and written texts presented in actual lecture situations. Students were given the opportunity to rate the lectures and reading material from which they were expected to learn and self-esteem was measured as a construct considered likely to affect perceptions of the demands of the learning situation. Concurrently with the above, a group of students from each of 3 year groups was taught a new topic over a short series of lectures and tested for understanding in the language of instruction. Balanced groups, from each of the 3 year groups, were taught the same topic and tested for understanding in the mother-tongue. This procedure was subsequently replicated with a second topic of similar complexity, across all three year groups, with languages switched. Critical aspects of the teaching/learning situation were kept constant. These procedures provided compelling evidence, after analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, of a relationship between proficiency in the language of instruction and the ways in which students engage in learning tasks. Difficulty with the language of instruction appears to increase the demands of the learning situation and the likelihood of adopting reproducing strategies, which are not normally associated with success in terms of learning outcomes.