Investigating Academic Acidevement And Student Evaluation Of Teacidng Effectiveness In Higher Education: A Case Study
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Date
2003-01
Authors
Gurdial Singh, Sarjit Kaur
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Abstract
This study is primarily an investigation into adult and young adult students'
evaluation of teaching effectiveness (SETE) in a Malaysian higher education setting.
The study also examines whether demographic factors such as age, gender and
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ethnicity relate to SETE, students' academic achievement and their perceptions of
their academic skills. The possible relationship between SETE and students' academic
achievement is also investigated. The study further examines the extent to which
students' and course lecturers' perceptions of teaching effective_ness differ and
investigates the various approaches course lecturers use in their teaching. The
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conceptual framework that underpins the study includes theoretical and empirical
studies on student evaluation in higher education, approaches to teaching and
principles of adult learning. The sample comprises 135 adult and young adult students
and ten course lecturers in the Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Literature
Studies degree programme at the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
The study employs both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques such as
questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and student journals. A selected sample of
44 students kept student journals to record their course experience in one semester (15
weeks). The qualitative data from interviews and student journals were analysed,
categorised and sorted into the five domains of teaching effectiveness advocated in
the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) developed by Ramsden ( 1991 ).
Respondents' perceptions and opinions of their teaching-learning context are
presented in the findings, which are ~llustrated &.rough the use of excerpts from
interview responses and journal entries. The findings of the study indicate that SETE
has crucial implications for improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher
education in the following five domains of teaching effectiveness: good teaching, clear goals and standards, appropriate workload, appropriate assessment and generic
skills. Three domains are identified as major areas addressed by the students: role of
feedback, role of teacher behaviour and role of appropriat~ workload. This study
shows that students' academic achievement is positively correlated to the domain of
'good teaching' and negatively correlated to the domain of 'appropriate assessment'.
This study shows that adult students are more positive of their academic skills and
have better academic achievement than young adult students. It also shows that
female students consistently record better academic achievement than male students
but male students have more positive perceptions of their academic skills. In terms of
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ethnicity, non-Bumiputra students (Chinese, Indians and minority group students)
have better academic achievement and generally have more positive perceptions of
their academic skills than Bumiputra students (Malays and Indigenous groups from
East Malaysia). Course lecturers' perceptions of effective teaching are consistently
more positive than students' perceptions. This study also indicates that a significant
difference exists in the way course lecturers use the Information Transferffeacher-
Focused approach. The fmdings imply that effective teaching matters greatly and that
SETE is an effective tool to help teachers in higher education reflect on and take
responsible steps in improving the teaching-learning context.
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Social sciences