Browsing by Subject "Academic achievement"

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    Father-absence and the academic achievement of high school students
    (1991) Nesengani, Ralintho Isaac; Mboya, M
    Father-absence, whether it be in the context of short duration or total absence, tends to provide inadequacies in the child's interaction with his/her father, leading to accompanying debilitating effects on cognitive functioning (Sutton-Smith et al, 1986). In view of the South African context father-absence economically sanctioned through migrant labour amongst Africans, manifests itself during the formative years of children's lives. For this reason this study investigates the association between migrant father-absence and children's levels of high school academic achievement. The sample of matched father-absent and -present working class children was acquired from 39 schools under the Venda State department of Education. HSRC's standardised Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) biology, English second language, and mathematics were used as data gathering instruments. 276 father-absent and -present high school (Std 10) students data was analysed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to establish how academic achievement among students varies by family patterns and gender. Differences established between family patterns and gender on SAT raw scores of the Total Battery, mathematics, English second language and biology are reported separately. The results of the study seem to suggest that father-absence has some remarkable deleterious effects upon scholastic achievement, apparently depending upon the type of skill tested. Furthermore, another significant finding indicated among these working class African children is that father-presence tends to benefit males more than females, while father-absence detrimentally affects females more than their male counterparts.
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    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.
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    UPE and social inequality in Uganda: A step backward or a step in the right direction?
    (Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, 2015-05-28) Zuze, Tia Linda; Leibbrandt, Murray