EFFECT OF GUIDED AUTONOMY INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUE ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENT AND MOTIVATION IN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN IMO STATE

  • 0 Review(s)

Product Category: Projects

Product Code: 00007029

No of Pages: 250

No of Chapters: 1-5

File Format: Microsoft Word

Price :

₦5000

  • $

ABSTRACT

 

This study examined the effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. The study adopted a quasi-experimental non-equivalent pre-test-post-test control group design involving one experimental and one control group. The population of the study consists of 8520 year one undergraduate students from two Public Universities in Imo State. The sample size for the study is 350. Six research questions and six null hypotheses guided the study. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Two instruments used for data collection were researcher-made Introduction to Philosophy and Logic Achievement Test and Philosophy Students Motivation Scale. The instruments were validated by three experts. To ensure content validity of the Introduction to Philosophy and Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT), a table of specification was designed for the test. The IPLAT was trial-tested to determine its psychometric indices and reliability coefficient. Its internal consistency reliability coefficient was determined using the K-R0 (Kuder Richardson) procedure and this yielded a K-R20 estimate of 0.91. The internal consistency of the Philosophy Students Motivation Scale (PSMS) was established using Cronbach Alpha reliability method, and an estimate of 0.72 was obtained. Mean and Standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that exposing undergraduate students to guided autonomy instructional technique significantly enhanced their achievement in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. Using guided autonomy instructional technique increased undergraduate students’ motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. Gender has no significant influence on both achievement and Motivation of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. There is significant interaction effect of gender and guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ achievement in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. There is significant interaction effect of gender and instruction in guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. Based on these findings, conclusions were drawn and the educational implications were extensively discussed. Among the recommendations made were: Teachers should expose undergraduate students to the use of guided autonomy instructional technique by giving them opportunity to practice the technique and gain mastery of it. Teachers themselves should be taught the guided autonomy instructional technique. The guided autonomy instructional technique could be incorporated into teacher-training programme.





TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page                                                                                                                                i

Declaration                                                                                                                             ii

Dedication                                                                                                                             iii

Certification                                                                                                                            iv

Acknowledgements                                                                                                                v

List of Tables                                                                                                                          ix

Appendix Table                                                                                                                      x

Abstract                                                                                                                               xii

 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION                                                                                      1

Background to the Study                                                                                                       1

Statement of the Problem                                                                                                      15

Purpose of the Study                                                                                                             17

Significance of the Study                                                                                                      18

Research Questions                                                                                                                20

Research Hypotheses                                                                                                             21

Scope of the Study                                                                                                                22

 

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE                                                         23

Conceptual Frame Work                                                                                                        23

Guided Autonomy Instructional Technique                                                                          23

Motivation and Learning                                                                                                       34

Gender and Autonomy                                                                                                          36

Academic Achievement and Learner Autonomy                                                                  38

Theoretical Framework                                                                                                          39

Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development                                                                             39

Vygostsky Social Learning Theory                                                                                        41

Empirical Studies                                                                                                                   45

Summary of Literature Review                                                                                             56

 

 

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY                                                                                     58

 Design of the Study                                                                                                              58

 Area of the Study                                                                                                                 59

 Population for the Study                                                                                                      60

 Sample and Sampling Technique                                                                                          60

 Instrument for Data Collection                                                                                             61

 Validation of the Instrument                                                                                                62

 Reliability of the Instrument                                                                                                 62

Experimental Procedure                                                                                                         63

Control of Extraneous Variable                                                                                             65

Method of Data Collection                                                                                                    66

Method of Data Analysis                                                                                                      66

 

 

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION                                                               68

 Results                                                                                                                                  68

 Summary of the Findings                                                                                                     80

Discussion of the Findings                                                                                                    81

 

 

CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS                        88

 

 Summary of the Study                                                                                                          88

 Conclusions                                                                                                                           90

 Educational Implications of the Findings                                                                             91

 Recommendations                                                                                                                92

 Limitations of the Study                                                                                                       93

Suggestions for Further Study                                                                                               93

 

 

REFERENCES                                                                                                                   94

 

APPENDICES                                                                                                                   100

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

LIST OF TABLES

 

Tables                                                                                                                         Pages

 

1. Mean Achievement Score of Students in guided autonomy and

    conventional Method                                                                                              68

 

2. Mean Motivation Score of Students in Guided Autonomy and

     Conventional Method                                                                                            69

 

3. Mean Achievement Score of Male and Female Students in

    Introduction to Philosophy and Logic                                                                    70

 

4. Mean Motivation Score of Male and Female undergraduate

    Students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic                                                71

 

5. Means and Standard Deviation of Interaction effect of teaching

    and gender                                                                                                              72

 

6. Means and Standard Deviation of Interaction effect of Teaching

    Method and Gender on Motivation Score                                                              73

 

7. Analysis of Covariance of Students’ Achievement in Introduction

    to Philosophy and Logic                                                                                         74

 

8. Analysis of Covariance on the Mean Motivation of Students in

    Introduction to Philosophy and Logic                                                                    75

 

9. Analysis of Covariance of Male and Female Students on

    Achievement in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic                                         76

 

10. Analysis of Covariance of Male and Female Students on the

     Motivation to learn Introduction to Philosophy and Logic                                   77

 

11. Interaction Effect of Gender and Teaching Method on Students’

      Achievement in Philosophy and Logic                                                                 78

 

12. Interaction Effect of Teaching Method and Gender on Motivation

      of Students to  Learn Philosophy and Logic                                                        79

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDICES

Appendices                                                                                                                Page

 

Appendix I: The Test Blue Print (TBP) for Developing the Introduction

                        To Philosophy and Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT)                       100

 

Appendix II A: Request for Validation of Instrument I                                            101

Appendix II B: Request for Validation of Instrument II                                           126

Appendix II C: Request for Validation of Instrument III                                         151

 

Appendix III A: Reliability Result for Introduction to Philosophy and

     Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT)                                                 176

Appendix III B: Reliability Result for Philosophy Students Motivation Scale

 (PSMS)                                                                                              178

 

Appendix IV A: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Control Group Lesson I                                                182

Appendix IV B: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Control Group Lesson II                                              185

Appendix IV C: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Control Group Lesson III                                             188

Appendix IV D: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Control Group Lesson IV                                             191

 

Appendix V A: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Experimental Group Lesson I                                       194

Appendix V B: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Experimental Group Lesson II                                     197

Appendix V C: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Experimental Group Lesson III                                    200

Appendix V D: A Lesson Plan on Introduction to Philosophy and

                              Logic for Experimental Group Lesson IV                                    202

 

Appendix VI A: Introduction to Philosophy and Logic Achievement

   Test (IPLAT) for Pre-test                                                                205

Appendix VI B: Marking Scheme for Introduction to Philosophy

      and Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT) for Pre-test                      209

Appendix VI C: Introduction to Philosophy and Logic Achievement

                              Test (IPLAT) for Post-test                                                            210

Appendix VI D: Marking Scheme for Introduction to Philosophy

      and Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT) for Post-test                    214

                                                                       

Appendix  VII A: Philosophy Students’ Motivation Scale (PSMS) for Pre-test       215

Appendix  VII B: Philosophy Students’ Motivation Scale (PSMS) for Post-test     216

Appendix  VII C: Scoring Chart for Philosophy Students’ Motivation

       Scale (PSMS)                                                                               217

 

Appendix VIII A: Analysis Result for Introduction to Philosophy and

         Logic Achievement Test (IPLAT)                                             218

Appendix VIII B: Analysis Result for Philosophy Students’ Motivation

                                Scale (PSMS)                                                                              226

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION


1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

From origin of teaching and learning, to this state of technological increased learning, learning setting has fully fledged many changes. What began with informal approach to learning associated with an unstructured setting years back, progressed to learning in an exceedingly structured, organized and planned physical classrooms, libraries, and colleges a number of hundred years ago, to the employment of Information Communication Technology (ICT), mobile gadgets, and wealthy media a number of decades ago. Within the past few decades, there has been a basic amendment within the education arena, not such a lot on the advancement and potentialities of technology-assisted education; however rather on the impact these technologies have on the way learners interact with their learning environment, academics and also the construct of learning. Learners of the twenty first century inherit the classroom with traits, skills, and expectations that disagree from the normal learners’ profile (Tucker & Morris, 2011). The trendy learner is comfy with higher degrees of technology-enabled learning, and prefers cooperative work, learning environments that area unit unstructured, and a learning relationship that resembles the authority structure of a ‘facilitator’ – rather than that of a lecturer.

 

The current perplexity baby-faced by education establishments and leaders within the industry is the divide between the recent learning setting, and the learning traits, skills and expectations of the learners it serves (Organization for political economy Corporation and Development, OECD. 2012). As organizations have continuously evolved to suit their stakeholders, it's very important that education leaders and institutions begin implementing autonomy learning environments that are relevant, interesting and positioning the learner at the seat of the educational engine. Such learning environments would ideally be adjustive, customized, and technology-driven, with the flexibility to produce immediate feedback and guidance along the way. It is becoming more and more very important for guided autonomy educational learning environments to be enforced in secondary and tertiary institutions, so as to confirm that learners area unit given the simplest learning expertise that's not obsolete and unsuitable learning setting.

 

The traditional sage on stage, uniformed learning style, unproductive assessment, and gradation patterns, as well as lecture-laden learning experiences, no longer support the way twenty first century learners reason, engage, and react to their environments. The traditional notion and understanding of a learning setting is definitely associated with selected areas and places, that harbours great deal of knowledge, expertise, lecture halls, laboratories, libraries and classroom block. Education still for the most part happens in these physical environments, effective learning environments within the twenty first century got to be designed to support learners’ endlessly evolving and numerous ways of learning. A basic shift is required towards a more customized, social, open, dynamic, emerging and knowledge-pull model for learning, as opposed to the one-size fits-all, centralized, static, top-down and knowledge-push models of ancient learning solutions (Chatti, Agustiawan, Jarke, & Specht, 2010).

 

This is not to say that there has been no important action taken to handle the dynamic needs and learning preferences of learners, as institutions of learning over the decades have employed ICT and academic technologies into the course of study of learners across all levels of education. Despite these advances in instructional technologies and also the manner learners have adjusted to their dynamic environments, several schools still use teaching methods of the past: lecture formats, unproductive assessments, and memorization. What is lacking is aligning the teaching methods with the introduction of recent technologies. Perhaps new teaching method tuned to the current learning environment was required. In order to ensure that learners are provided with a relevant and engaging learning experience, it is becoming increasingly important for such autonomy learning technique to be enforced in secondary and tertiary learning institutions.

 

Guided autonomy instructional technique is one that adopts the use of innovative technologies and components that permit bigger flexibility, adaptation, engagement, and feedback for the learner (Spector, 2014). Guided autonomy instructional technique allows learners to own ‘the ability to take charge of one’s own learning (Nguyen, 2012). Nguyen, noted that autonomous learners would do the followings: (a) take responsibility for deciding their own learning objectives, (b) outline the contents and progressions of their learning; (c) choose the strategies and techniques to be used, (d) monitor the acquisition procedure, and (e) assess what had been learnt. MacDougall (2008) defined learner autonomy as “the characteristic of the person that solely exhibits intentional behaviour in learning activities P.30”. According to Yvan (2012) once a learner becomes additional conscious of the educational processes, makes selections and choices, and self-assesses his/her progress within the room he/she develops learner autonomy.

 

Guided autonomy instructional technique, however, does not mean that the teacher becomes redundant; abdicating his/her management role over what flow within the learning process. It is noteworthy that autonomy may be thought of in terms of a departure from education as a social process, also in terms of distribution of power in the process of knowledge acquisition as well as the roles of the participants within the learning process. To any or all intents and purposes, the autonomous learner takes an energetic role within the learning process, generating ideas and availing himself of learning opportunities, instead of merely reacting to numerous stimuli of the teacher (Benson, 2011). For Thanasoulas (2016) the autonomous learner is a self-activated maker of meaning, an energetic agent in his own learning process. He is not one to whom things simply happen; he is the one who, by his own volition, causes things to happen. Learning is seen as the results of his own self-initiated interaction with the globe. Among such a conception, learning is not merely a matter of memorisation; it is a constructive method that involves actively seeking that meaning from (or even imposing that meaning on) events (Murphy, 2011).

 

In a guided autonomy instructional classroom the teacher splits the students into teams and assigns them tasks to do while not inserting restrictions on the process of learning. the students will analysis the task, develop modalities on their own to tackle the task, proffer solutions to the matter and report back their findings, by so doing takes full responsibility of their learning. Here the teacher's role is simply to facilitate learning while not necessarily meddling with the learners’ mode of problem solving, here the learners define their process of learning and has a high sense of possession because the golden rule here is do it yourself. This methodology of teaching acquaints learners with life skills required for future survival, particularly within the work place, by making them proactive learners that succeed in most challenging situations with minimal or no teacher support. It therefore, becomes paramount that such method of curriculum delivery is sine qua non solution to Nigerian educational system that produces a lot of graduates with little or no workplace, industrial values or skills.

 

Curriculum delivery is a critical issue in schools because it is a means through which the theorised curriculum is translated into the actual curriculum. It is the instructional phase of the curriculum and is substitutable with curriculum implementation that takes place at the classroom level, where teachers attempt to infuse life into the curriculum document to achieve its intended goals (Udosen, 2014). Curriculum delivery embodies the ways, techniques, approaches, strategies and media instructional materials that teachers use to facilitate learning. It is the process of actualising the intended desires of the curriculum planners. It additionally embraces the interactions that proceed throughout lesson presentation, assignments and researches which engage the learners actively in the learning process. Curriculum delivery is incredibly important particularly in Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a result, a superbly planned curriculum could fail at the delivery stage thanks to some factors. These factors include teachers’ incompetence, unmotivated learners and lack of tutorial materials, poor assessment procedures and a bunch of alternative factors (Udosen, 2014).

 

Basic amongst these factors that hinder effective curriculum delivery is the teacher-centred approaches and spoon-fed strategies that are prevalent for a protracted time in Nigerian schools. Teachers are thought to be authority, knowledge-givers and error correctors. Classroom instructions have been driven by “teacher-talk” and depended heavily on textbooks. Instruction within the lecture rooms has been built upon the misunderstanding that there is a fixed world of information that students should know. There has been very little or no space for student-initiated queries, freelance thought or interaction between students. As a result, several learners are acquainted with looking on teachers’ feeding. Without teachers’ timely and adequate facilitation, students have felt disoriented, lost confidence and failed to pinpoint their goals in learning. Things has become even worse with the enlargement of school enrolment, more and more giant class sizes and inadequate teaching employees, who have found it harder to take every student’s needs into consideration.

 

The traditional approach to teaching and learning is preponderantly teacher based. Egbe and Uloh-Bethel (2013) opined that the teacher is the most vital person in traditional approach. Throughout the lesson, he is in charge of the subject matter and the environment and makes choices concerning what work is required and what students ought to do. It is defined by memorisation on the part of the learners who reproduce what was dictated to them with no effort to go beyond the notes recycled by the teacher to them annually (Igbokwe, 2010). However, international changes within the convenience of knowledge indicate that there is no longer a fixed body of information which will be transmitted to learners. It is impossible to teach all students all they need to know.

 

Moreover, lifelong learning will solely be achieved once learners are able to avail themselves of learning opportunities and become skillful manipulators of information in their learning processes instead of merely responding to stimuli from the teacher. It is learners who are alleged to play active role within the learning process and take a lot of responsibility of their own learning, however this is often not the case in several philosophy and logic lecture rooms. The situation calls for urgent need of cultivating learners’ initiatives and learner autonomy in the tertiary education classrooms.

 

Tertiary education is the education given after secondary education in universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, and monotechnics including those institutions offering correspondence courses (Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) 2014). The FRN (2014) has identified the goals of tertiary education in Nigeria as follows:

 i. To contribute to national development through high level relevant personnel training.

ii. To develop and instill correct values for the survival of the individual and society.

iii. To develop the intellectual capability of people to grasp and appreciate their native and external environments.

iv. To acquire both physical and intellectual skills that will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society.

v. To promote and encourage scholarship and community service.

vi. To forge and cement national unity, and

vii. To promote national and international understanding and interaction.

The truth that each nation sees in her tertiary or higher education, through its normative roles of teaching, research and community service to create personnel and transmit required information that are needed in industry and alternative spheres of the nation’s existence, could have triggered the introduction of General Studies Programme in Nigerian universities curriculum for fast realization of the above goals.

 

On October 22nd, 1977, the Federal Military Government, directed Nigerian Universities to introduce a programme on national awareness which ought to be mandatory for all students in Nigerian Universities. An enabling decree was publicised within the same year providing for the establishment and recognition of General Studies Unit in all Nigerian Universities. In accordance with the provision of the Decree and the recommendation of the National Universities Commission (NUC), most universities established the General Studies Department in the early 80’s. In the year 2004, the panel on the merger of Benchmarks and Minimum Academic Standards (MAS) on General Studies, took an important scrutiny at the University educational programme and what it takes in the production of higher proficient graduates, who are going to be sufficiently equipped to satisfy the dynamic need of the nation, international aggressiveness, likewise the challenges of the labour market. In view of this, they suggested some General Studies Courses that lay stress on culture, education, ethical instruction likewise environmental issues. The panel additionally took into thought the requirement for each student to possess a sound foundation on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. Job and career prospects of the Nigerian graduates are taken into thought and efforts are made to boost the communication and entrepreneurial skills likewise information and Communication Technology (ICT). The essence is to train better qualified, knowledgeable, proficient and entrepreneurship-conscious graduates (Stone, 2018).

 

It is through the approval of a minimal standard for educational activities that, the National Universities Commission (NUC) launched the General Studies programme into the University’s curricula. This was done in order to satisfy the craving for students in Nigerian Universities to be grounded in multidisciplinary studies so as to compete favourably with their mates in universities in different parts of the world. The aim of the General Studies Programme (GSP) is to expose students to a course of liberal education through which they will develop and expand their awareness of social, cultural and natural environments. With the addition of this programme to the specialised courses being taken by the students, it is expected that the graduates of Nigerian Universities would graduate ready to perform within the society. The General Studies Programme also aims at assisting students develop adequate competency in the use of English Language as a tool for his or her studies and means of effective communication in society, in their future employment and enterprise. The programme is meant to produce well rounded virtuously and intellectually capable graduates with vision and entrepreneurial skills in an atmosphere of peace and social cohesiveness. It will also assist them to accumulate a body of relevant information outside their several fields of specialization for successful living (Stone, 2018).

 

The General Studies (GS) courses approved by NUC for Nigerian Universities includes among others: Communication in English, Introduction to Philosophy and Logic, Nigeria People and Culture, Use of Library and Study Skills. Others are a course in Arabic or French, History and Philosophy of Science, Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, Entrepreneurial Skills, Contemporary Health Issues, as well as Leadership Skills (Stone, 2018). This study is interested in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic as a General Study course.

 

Introduction to Philosophy and Logic is a course that deals with vital examination of reality characterised by rational inquiry that aims at the reality for the sake of achieving knowledge. Philosophy is a persistent attempt to gain insight into the nature of the world and ourselves by systematic reflection (Ezeani, 2009). Philosophy is an academic subject in universities and other tertiary institutions which aims at the inculcate in learners the ability of clear, logical and critical analysis of ideas and issues; the turning away of emotional or parochial teaching or superstition and irrational thinking and the development of the habit of seeking rationally satisfactory answers to continual life issues. Its traditional branches are Epistemology, that deals with queries regarding human knowledge; Logic, that teaches us to reason correctly; Moral Philosophy (Ethics), that has the morality of human actions as the object of its study and Metaphysics which enquires into the character of reality as a whole (Mesembe, 2005). The course content comprised of a brief survey of the scope, notion, history, and meaning of philosophy, divisions and systems of philosophy, argument and theory of syllogism, fallacies and laws of thought.

 

Among the aims and objectives of this course, it is geared towards investigating varied areas through which students on graduation would be greatly prepared with requisite potentialities for the foremost responsively active citizenship. This is obtainable through its innate ability for interrogating different areas of study like Religion, Education, Arithmetic, Science, Literature, Social Sciences, History, Language, and even freshly opened area of oil and gas. This is the brain behind the description of philosophy as a “second-order discipline”. Philosophy in and of itself targets at developing a whole knowledge of the Universe by means of investigation of the facts of knowledge. Also, it increases ability to reason logically and abstractly and to understand and criticize arguments. These aims of philosophy and logic have merited the approval of the Federal Government of Nigeria via the agency of NUC that instructs all Nigerian Universities to teach students its fundamentals and strategies so as to instill in students the values of positive and moral character and the tradition of rational enquiry which are requirements for survival in a post-tertiary society.

 

Unfortunately, Introduction to Philosophy and Logic as a mandatory general study for all 1st year students in Nigerian universities is a course seen by most as a group of ‘failures’. Students do not perform well most times due to the overall perception of the course as an abstract course (Mesembe, 2005). Introduction to Philosophy and Logic is notoriously problematic. Significant proportion of students find it too troublesome, uninspiring, apparently pointless to learn it. Failure rates tend to be high, and lots of students who battled unsuccessfully with Introduction to Philosophy and Logic in their first year carry Philosophy-phobia with them throughout their degree course, breaking out in a chilly sweat at the merest glimpse of Philosophy. Majority of them detest and scorn Philosophy. The natural and, unfortunate, common reaction among such students is to bury their heads in the sand and hope that the whole horrific ordeal can somehow get away. So, they have a tendency to skip classes, fail to do the background reading and practise exercises, and fail to submit assignments, and so on (Mesembe, 2005).

 

Personal interaction between the researcher and philosophy lecturers in Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) and Imo State University (IMSU) revealed that over the years of teaching the course in the universities witnessed a mass failure of over half of the students. A state of affairs that's extremely deplorable. Additional investigation within the Record and Statistics Unit of the schools from 2016/2017 academic year to 2019/2020 academic year revealed that the highest number of carryover students across the subject areas comes from Introduction to Philosophy and Logic as a GS course. What is more, the prevailing pedagogy (note dictation) adopted by lecturers is very deplorable. Another matter of concern for underperformance in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic is based on students’ philosophy anxiety, which is akin to an unwanted feeling by students towards philosophical issues. These fears, issues and disgust in philosophy could be reduced by smart teaching and assessment ways (Mesembe, 2005). A possible method of reducing students’ Philosophy anxiety may be for them to become more autonomous with their learning and have high motivation.

 

Motivation springs from the Latin verb movere (to move). It is the process whereby purposeful activity is instigated and sustained. The term refers to the drive that gets a behaviour started and keeps it going. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behaviour. Motivation is defined by Paiva (2011) as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviours. In everyday parlance, the term motivation is used to describe why an individual will do something. Like each activity in life, motivation is one among the essential factors in learning. Ngonebu (2008) posits that learners who are not sufficiently motivated do not perform well in learning tasks due to lack of propellant force. Also Otagburuagu (2002) explains that motivation which provides the impetus to make and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts, is vital in the teaching-learning context. This is because it determines the extent of learners’ active involvement and perspective to learning which successively affects accomplishment. Studies have shown that motivation is connected to whether or not students have chances to be autonomous and to make vital academic decisions.

 

There are two forms of motivation,- intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviour performed in the absence of external impetus that's inherently attention-grabbing and pleasurable (Malik, 2014). For instance, once individuals are intrinsically motivated they play, explore, and have interaction in activities for the inherent fun, challenge, and excitement of doing so. Such behaviour has an internally perceived locus of relation (Brophy, 2010), which suggests they are experienced as emanating from the self instead of from external sources and are accompanied by feelings of curiosity and interest (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). Thus, as an example of autonomous (that is, volitional) functioning, intrinsic motivation is central to humans’ inherent tendencies to learn and develop (Huitt, 2010). In actual instructional contexts, where assessment pressures are undermined whereas autonomy supports are expedited, students’ intrinsic motivation for classroom topics and materials, as well as their achievements in school works are increased (Gunes, 2011).

 

Intrinsic motivation provides a very important basis for learning. It is essential for students’ self-initiation and maintained volition for academic activities that are not inherently attention-grabbing or pleasurable (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). Moreover, from primary to tertiary education, students learn better and report higher levels of psychological health when they have well-internalised motivation for learning. Students’ autonomy will be supported by teachers’ minimising the salience of assessment pressure and any sense of dominance within the classroom, as well as by maximizing students’ perceptions of having a voice and choice in those academic activities in which they are engaged (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009).

 

Extrinsic motivation is usually defined as one’s tendency to engage in activities so as to achieve some form of acknowledged, external reward. It is vital to note that these rewards can be either concrete or psychological in nature. Cash and trophies are two common forms of tangible rewards. Individuals engage in activities that they might usually not find very pleasurable or rewarding so as to earn a wage. Athletes typically engage in strenuous and tough training sessions so as to be ready to compete in sporting events in order to win trophies and awards. Psychological types of extrinsic motivation will embrace praise and public acclaim. A child might possibly clean her apartment so as to receive positive praise from her oldsters. An actor might perform in an exceedingly role so as to get attention and acclaim from his audience. In each of these examples, whereas the reward is not physical or tangible, it is a sort of motivating reward that is external to the actual process of participating in the event.

 

In addition to the needs for autonomy and motivation, gender variations are found to be of importance in several areas of human social and psychological feature development. Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities related to being male and female and the relationship between women and men, girls and boys. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially made and are learned through socialization (Pan, 2011). In a more understandable parlance, gender may be seen as a group of characteristics or attributes between males and females that are attached with socially made roles, behaviours or activities that a specific society considers acceptable between male and female. Pan (2011) further observed that in most societies, there are differences and inequalities between men and women in responsibilities assigned , activities undertaken, access to and management over resources as well as decision making opportunities. All these bring about gender bias and long standing gender bias also reflects in performance levels in profession (Onuzulike, 2011).

 

Studies indicated that females show additional interest in social activities than males, females are less competitive and more cooperative than males (Ezeahurukwe, 2010). More so, Varol and Yilmaz (2010) noted that men and women differ in nature. They can use their differences to express what they have in common, their common intelligence and sensitivity, their common interest and experiences. Varol and Yilmaz (2010) also argued that because men and women have totally different types of abilities, it is clear that they are suited to totally different tasks. The present study ascertained whether or not there is influence of gender on students’ achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic when guided autonomy instructional technique is employed. The research, therefore, addressed the effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic and additionally take into account gender as predictor in the academic achievement and motivation of autonomous learners in public universities in Imo state.

 

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In Nigeria, nearly all the Universities offer courses in Philosophy either as Philosophy major or as general studies. For three decades now the study of philosophy in Nigeria has been on however philosophical inquiry and knowledge has had little or no influence on the tradition as well as gross illiteracy of the nature, value, relevance and significance of the discipline. Despite the efforts of the National Universities Commission to raise the academic standard of philosophy, philosophy in Nigeria remains in a marginalized state.

 

However, in Nigeria, professional philosophy has greatly cut itself off from real world problems to devote attention to technical issues of interest solely to professional philosophers. Some Professional Philosophers in Nigeria have in their varied ways defined a specific subject matter of philosophy and a novel methodology or approach, both of which permit them to develop an abstruse body of doctrine and results to be disseminated and further developed by colleagues. In teaching the topic to students such professionals make the study so mysterious, complex, difficult and confusing. Philosophy is presented as some transcendental study which has very little or nothing to do with human nature and practical problems. Consequently, they consider the course an inessential additional burden and fail to visualize its connection to their major course of study or appreciate the professional role of the thinker, their teacher.

 

In some universities in Imo State, with which curriculum of philosophical studies the researcher is acquainted with, the content of the study is essentially historical and only scratches at the essential analytic and argumentative views of the study. The students study philosophy as if, like another disciplines, what is needed is to learn facts that are to be reproduced on examination day. They do not receive adequate coaching in critical thinking and logical as well as analytic reasoning. Invariably on examinations, in spite of however questions are designed, one receives comments like “Kant said ... however Mill said ...” and “Plato claimed that..., however Aristotle believed that ...” the matter lies in getting the students to really engage in DOING philosophy themselves and in doing it in such a way so as to develop a reasonably subtle level of philosophical skill. The curriculum remains to a great extent traditional. At the end of the studies, the student graduates having accumulated information, historical facts, knowledge that makes him maybe knowledgeable, educated, a graduate, a historian, however undoubtedly not the thinker/philosopher the training meant him to be. Reasoning ability is lacking in our graduates.

 

The humanities must rethink their role in an age of science and technology and introduce some pragmatism in their disciplines. Already theatre studies, literary studies, history, linguistics appear to be responding to the current necessity by collaborating within the “practical world” and sustaining their importance. Hence, the 21st century philosophy teachers got to retool their teaching strategies to suit the requirement of the 21st century learners. Therefore, to engage the 21st century Nigerian students properly and effectively too, a guided autonomy instructional technique may be very useful. Therefore, the problem of this study posed as a question was: what are the effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on students’ achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and logic?

 

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on students’ academic achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic in public universities in Imo state. Specifically, the study determined the:

1.         Effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ academic achievement in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic

2.         Effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ motivation in learning Introduction to Philosophy and Logic

3.         Influence of gender on mean achievement scores of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic taught using guided autonomy instructional technique

4.         Influence of gender on mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic taught using guided autonomy instructional technique

5.         Interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on mean achievement scores of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic

6.         Interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.

 

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The results of this study have both theoretical and practical significance. This study was used to explore the validity of some major tenets of the constructivist theory of Piaget (Theory of Cognitive Development) and Vygotsky (Social Learning Theory). This is based on the very fact that these constructivists theories posited that active construction of new knowledge takes place based on the learners’ recall of previous knowledge; learners’ social experiences and through multiple perspectives. This implied that the learner profited vastly as he is not treated as a passive object of instruction but has his needs, experiences and ideas adequately catered for in the teaching and learning process. The constructivism learning theories of Piaget and Vygotsky maintained that the learner ought to play a central role in mediating and controlling learning (Cameron, 2002).  Activities, opportunities, tools and environments are provided to encourage meta-cognition, self-analysis, self–regulation, self-reflection and self-awareness. This has a close relationship with autonomy in teaching which is student centred and self directed learning. The results of this study, therefore, helped in authenticating or debunking the tenets of the constructivists’ theory.

 

The findings of this study will be of immense benefits to individuals, professional bodies, the government and also the society at large. Specifically, it is hoped that teachers, students, authors, curriculum planners, government and also the society at large would derive some benefits from the study.

 

One of the main problems in the teaching of Introduction to Philosophy and Logic has been the teacher centred nature of Philosophy instruction and inadequate affiliation between the activities of the learner and school work. The result of this study showed that the use of guided autonomy instructional technique in teaching Introduction to Philosophy and Logic enhanced achievement and increased students’ motivation, therefore, curriculum planners will see the need to plan the curriculum in a flexible manner to accommodate guided autonomy instructional technique for vast improvement in the teaching and learning of Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.

 

The findings of this study provided a guide to Philosophy and Logic teachers. It revealed the efficacy of guided autonomy instructional technique to Introduction to Philosophy and Logic, on the basis of which it was adopted as a more effective technique in teaching Philosophy and Logic. In line with this, the teaching and learning of Introduction to Philosophy and Logic became more interesting, less tedious, effective and meaningful to students and teachers.

 

Based on the findings, workshops and seminars on how to use guided autonomy technique in teaching different aspects of the curriculum will then be organized. The findings of the study will also enable Philosophy learners to be self reliant and pro active in their learning process. From the findings of the study, the students will learn that they can make use of their leisure time to learn new things and as such encourage them to be more autonomous and active in learning of Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.

 

To the society, the study will generally improve productivity, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial skills in the youths who will graduate from school equipped with the necessary autonomous skills for self and societal development. Also, the findings of the research will enlighten oldsters to provide their ward with autonomous environment for effective self development and give away a more restricted and bottle necked method of upbringing that hinders a child’s versatility and creativity.

                                                                                                  

Other benefits of the study include the fact that the study would serve as an empirical basis for future research evidence and citations.

 

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were posed to guide the study;

      1.            What are the mean achievement scores of undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic using guided autonomy instructional technique and those taught with the conventional method?

      2.            What are the mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic with guided autonomy instructional technique and those taught with the conventional method?

  1. What are the mean achievement scores of male and female undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic taught using guided autonomy instructional technique?
  2. What are the mean motivation ratings of male and female undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic taught using guided autonomy instructional technique?
  3. What is the interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on the mean achievement scores of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic?
  4. What is the interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on the mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic?

 

1.6 HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Each of the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance.

1.      There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic using guided autonomy instructional technique and those taught using conventional method.

2.      There is no significant difference between the mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic with guided autonomy instructional technique and those taught with conventional method.

3.      There is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic using guided autonomy instructional technique.

4.      There is no significant difference between the mean motivation rating of male and female undergraduate students taught Introduction to Philosophy and Logic using guided autonomy instructional technique.

5.      There is no significant interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on the mean achievement scores of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.

6.      There is no significant interaction effect of teaching methods and gender on the mean motivation ratings of undergraduate students in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.

 

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study was delimited to effect of guided autonomy instructional technique on undergraduate students’ achievement and motivation in Introduction to Philosophy and Logic.  The study was conducted in two public universities in Imo State, Nigeria: the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and Imo State University (IMSU) Owerri.

 

 The study was specifically concerned with:

1.      The content scope such as the notion, history and meaning of philosophy, divisions and systems of philosophy, argument and theory of syllogism, fallacies and laws of thought.

2.      Other variables of the study which include gender, motivation and achievement were covered too.

 

 

Click “DOWNLOAD NOW” below to get the complete Projects

FOR QUICK HELP CHAT WITH US NOW!

+(234) 0814 780 1594

Buyers has the right to create dispute within seven (7) days of purchase for 100% refund request when you experience issue with the file received. 

Dispute can only be created when you receive a corrupt file, a wrong file or irregularities in the table of contents and content of the file you received. 

ProjectShelve.com shall either provide the appropriate file within 48hrs or send refund excluding your bank transaction charges. Term and Conditions are applied.

Buyers are expected to confirm that the material you are paying for is available on our website ProjectShelve.com and you have selected the right material, you have also gone through the preliminary pages and it interests you before payment. DO NOT MAKE BANK PAYMENT IF YOUR TOPIC IS NOT ON THE WEBSITE.

In case of payment for a material not available on ProjectShelve.com, the management of ProjectShelve.com has the right to keep your money until you send a topic that is available on our website within 48 hours.

You cannot change topic after receiving material of the topic you ordered and paid for.

Ratings & Reviews

0.0

No Review Found.


To Review


To Comment