JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE Interdisciplinary Science, 2014, Vol 59, No 5, pp 144 151 This paper is available online at http //stdb hniie edu vn EXPLORING STUDENTS'''' ATTITUDES, CONFIDENCE AND SATISFACTI[.]
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE OF HNUE Interdisciplinary Science, 2014, Vol 59, No 5, pp 144-151 This paper is available online at http://stdb.hniie.edu.vn EXPLORING STUDENTS' ATTITUDES, CONFIDENCE AND SATISFACTION BY EXAMINING CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT FACTORS Tran Van Dat Deputy Head of Research arul International Relations Office, An Giang University Abstract This smdy is a report on the validity of the hypofliesis fliat smdents' perception of the leaming environment in a psychology classroom reflects their attitude, confidence and sense of satisfaction with regards to psychology It examines data obtained from 110 smdents in psychology classes of the Faculty of Education, An Giang University, to identify how students' perceptions of the classroom leaming environment varies and the extent to which this reflects attimdes, confidence and satisfaction The results indicate taat some classroom leaming environment factors are related to positive attimde, smdent confidence and leaming satisfaction Keywords: Classroom learning environment factors, attitude, confidence, satisfaction Introduction There are classroom leaming envfronment variables which may be used to predict cognitive variables and evaluate affective variables (e.g confidence, attitade, motivation and satisfaction) [11] The classroom climate titiat is perceived as stadent-centered, safe, fiiendly, warm, supportive and non-threatening has been reported to correspond to higher confidence, satisfaction and a more positive attimde toward thefr leaming [1, 6] In Vietaamese higher education the issue of classroom envfronment is rarely addressed Vietaamese smdents generally perceive the classroom leaming envfronment to be passive, non-cohesive, not satisfying and not stadent-centered [9] TTie purpose of this smdy is to investigate the association between the classroom leaming envfronment and stadent attitade, confidence and satisfaction in Vietaamese higher education Received February 2,2014 Accepted June 19,2014 Contact Tran Van Dat, e-mail address: tvdat@agu.edu.vn 144 Exploring students' attitudes, confidence and satisfaction by examining classroom Content 2.1 Research on leaming environment The classroom learning environment is defined as being "the interpersonal relationship among students,, the relationships between students and thefr teachers, the relationships between smdents and both the subject matter smdied and tae metaod of leaming and teaching and tae stadents perception of tae structtiral characteristics of tae class" [7;7] In recent years, studies involving the leaming environment have emerged within tae scope of social science research [1] The results of several research stadies [12, II, 1, 13] found a sttong correlation between the aspects of the My Class Inventory instmment and measiu^s of cognitive and affective leaming outcomes Some stadies reviewed [4] provide credible evidence that aspects of the classroom envfronment may account for 13% to 46% of tae variance in leaming outcomes Accordingly, stadents leam more when they perceive thefr classroom activities as being positive (e.g stadent-centered leaming, satisfaction, cohesiveness and professional teaching), and that stadents leam less whentaeyperceive thefr classroom activities as being negative (e.g difficulty, friction and competitiveness) Thefindingsof taese associations show that the classroom envfronment can be analyzed to predict stadent cognitive and affective leaming outcome [3] In addition to the estabUshed influence of the classroom envfronment on stadent outcome, some aspects of classroom envfronment have been found to be predictors of a number of stadents' affective outcomes [12,16,11,1,13,14] This review shows taat almost all stadies which supported the importance of tae classroom envfronment for tae prediction of achievement and evaluation of confidence, attimdes and satisfaction were conducted in the setting of western education [2,4] Until now no known study has examined tae issue of classroom environment on stadent leaming in tae setting of Vietaamese higher education The current stady adds to tae Uteratare by reporting the results of an investigation to determine whether smdents' perception of the leaming envfronment of the psychology classroom in Vietaamese higher education can predict their attitade, confidence and satisfaction towards psychology 2.2 Research method A correlational design was utiUzed to examine correlations between tae leaming envfronment factors of tae psychology classrooms and the scales of confidence, attitades towards psychology and satisfaction of stadents in leaming The sample used for this research consisted of 110 ffrst-year psychology stadents (100 females and 10 males with a mean age of 18.36) from classes of the Faculty of Education at An Giang University This stady used fom scales to examine the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables For each item,respondentsmarked a 1,2,3,4 or for thefr response, tiie numbers corresponding to, SD (Sttongly Disagree), D (Disagree), U (Undecided), A (Agree), SA (Sttongly Agree), respectively The Leaming Envfronment Inventory [7] and the Instiiictor and Insttuction Scale 145 [15] were utilized to investigate tae stadents' perception of thefr psychology classroom learning envfronment The first factor, caUed efficacy for smdent engagement, contained items (e.g the teacher made the information easy for the stadents to understand, the teacher made the lesson interesting and stadent were encomaged to ask questions) The second factor, caUed tae leanung goal direction, consisted of items (e.g the class knows exactiy what it has to get done, the objectives of tae class are not clearly recognized and the class reaUzes exactiy how much work it is required to do) The thfrd factor, caUed professional capacity, contained items (e.g the teacher seemed knowledgeable and the teacher seemed to be entausiastic about tae subject) The fourth factor, caUed stadent-centered leanung, consisted of items (e.g stadents exchanged information, smdents discussed the leaming material wita other stadents and stadents taught each other) The fifth factor, caUed cohesiveness, contained items (e.g members of the class favors for one anotaer; each smdent has tae opportunity to get to know all the otaer stadents in tae class and all of tae stadents know each otaer very well) The stady indicated taat the intemal consistency reUabiUty (alpha coefficient) based on the sample of 110 smdents was accepted for all factors Table describes the means, standard deviations (SD), sources and alpha coefficient of the five factors Table Conbach's Alpha of independent and dependent variables Variable Mean SD 3.77 649 3.76 593 Professional teaching (PT) 3.79 723 Student centered learning (CL) 3.94 697 Cohesiveness (CH) Attitudes toward the subject matter Values of the subject matter (VP) Enjoyment of the subject matter (EP) Self-esteem toward the subject matter Academic confidence (AC) Social confidence (SC) Satisfaction 3.85 774 Classroom leaming environment Efficacy for stadent engagement (EL) Leaming goal dfrection (GD) Source Tran & Lewis (2012a) Eraser etal., (1982) Tran & Lewis (2012a) Tran & Lewis (2012a) Eraser etal., (1982) Alpha (a) No Items 74 84 79 86 85 89 81 88 83 87 Researcher 3.78 761 3.65 607 Researcher 3.76 3.65 3.75 746 588 907 Eraser etal., (1982) ^ Note: n = 110 146 Exploring students' attitudes, confidence and satisfaction by examining classroom The attimde scale developed by tae researcher was used to measure the attitade of stadents toward psychology This scale comprised 14 items and was in a format of Likert type The scale consisted of two components The first component, called value of psychology, contained items (e.g psychology has contributed greafly to science, psychology is not important for tae advance of civiUzation and society, and an underetanding of psychology is needed by artists and writers as weU as scientists) The second component, caUed enjoyment of psychology, contained items (e.g psychology is enjoyable and stimulating to me, I am interested and wiUing to acquire furtaer knowledge of psychology and psychology is very interesting) The stadents'responsesto the two scales were checked for intemal consistency by computing respective Cronbach Alpha coelficients Table describes tae means, standard deviations, somces and alpha coefficient of the two components The present stady used tae confidence scale developed by the researcher to measme the smdents' seff-esteem in psychology This scale included 15 items, and was in a format of Likert type The scale consisted of two components The first component, called social confidence, consisted of items (e.g I like to psychology tasks wita my classmates, my lecturer discusses psychology with my classmates and my classmates did Uttie to help me smdy psychology) The second component, called academic confidence, consisted of items (e.g I beUeve that I have the abiUty to stady psychology, I am intelUgent enough to stady psychology and I have tae abiUty to use my knowledge of psychology to solve social issues) Stadent responses to tae two scales were checked for intemal consistency by computing the respective Cronbach Alpha coefficients Table describes the means, standard deviations, somces and alpha coefficient of the two components A satisfaction scale [7] was used to measure smdent satisfaction in leaming This scale contained items (e.g the stadents enjoy thefr class work; the smdents look forward to going to class meetings; after class, stadents are well satisfied wita tae work of the class) The stady indicated that tae intemal consistency reUability (alpha coefficient) was accepted this factor Table I describes tae means, standard deviations, somces and alpha coefficient of this factor 2.3 Procedure and data analysis AU 110fii^t-yearstadents of the psychology classes in the Faculty of Education at An Giang University were invited to participate in this stady Participants completed tiie fom questionnafres within 60 minutes The relationships between tiie variables of leaming envfronment and scale of attitades, confidence, and satisfaction were investigated using tae Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient Stepwise multiple regression analyses were also conducted to determine if there were any attimde-envfronment associations, any confidence-envfronment associations or any satisfaction-envfronment associations For aU tests, the significance level was determined with p < 05 The results of the multiple correlation analyses showed that CH should enter the multiple regression analysis as tae first variable since it showed the highest correlation 147 witii tiie ST and SC scores (r = 866, p < 000; r = 852, p < 000, respectively) The second variable to enter tae analysis was CL since it showed the highest correlation with tiie ST and VP scores (r = 800, p < 000; r = 735, p < 000, respectively) The tiurd variable to enter the analysis was EL since it showed the highest correlation with the EP and AC scores (r = 657, p < 000; r = 627, p < 000, respectively) The fomth variable to enter tae analysis was GD since it showed the highest correlation with the VP and ST scores (r = 626, p < 000; r = 595, p < 000,respectively).The last variable to enter tae analysis was PT since it showed the highest correlation with the SS and VP scores (r = 287, p < 000; r = 278, p < 000, respectively) as taey showed lower correlation coefficients These correlation coefficients showed that classroom leaming envfronment factors were useful in measiuing attimde, confidence and satisfaction of smdents towards psychology 2.4 Results and discussion The research question inquired as to which of the independent variables (students-centered leaming, efficacy for stadent engagement, goal leaming dfrection, professional teaching, or cohesiveness) were significant predictors of attitade, confidence and satisfaction Primary analyses were conduced to ensme no violation of the assumptions of multicolUnearity The results show that there was no violation of assumptions of multicolUnearity on the five regression analyses (Tolerance value > 10, VIF [Variance inflation factor] < 10) Attitudes The first multipleregressionmodel with aUfourpredictors explained 65.5% of the variance in tiie VP scale (R^ = 655), F (5,104) = 37.911 and df = 109, p < 001 The tiuee variables were positively and statistically significant, with the value of CL (t = 8.533, p < 001), GD (t = 4.049, p < 001) and CH (t = 11.990, p < 001) The EL scale (t = 493, p > 05) and PT scale (t = -1.507, p > 05) were not statisticaUy significant with regards to the VP scale The results show that in the process of learning, stadents shared information, leamed in groups, taught each other and discussed the leaming material with other stadents They also reported that they realized exactly what it had to get done and knew the goals of the com^e In addition, smdents reported that members of the class favor certain individuals and all stadents in the class know each other very well Similarly, the second multiple regression model produced 46.9% of the variance in the EP scale (R^ = 469), F (5,104) = 18.349, df = 109 and p < 001 The two variables were positively and statisticaUy significant, with the value of EL (t = 8.217, p < 001) and CH (t = 2.237, p < 05) The CL scale (t = 1.642, p > 05), GD (t = 1.340, p > 05) and PT (t = 259, p > 05) were not statisticaUy significant predictors in this model The results show that smdents reported that the lecturer made the information interesting and easy to understand and they were encomaged to ask questions T h ^ also reported that the relationship among smdents was cohesive and close The results obtainedfix)mthe first two models indicated that stadent-centered leaming, efficacy for stadent engagement goal 148 Ejqjloring students' attitudes, confidence and satisfaction by examining classroom learning direction and cohesiveness were significant predictors of attimde The results indicate taat when stadents perceive tae classroom leaming envfronment as one which is more stadent-centered leaming, engaging, cohesive and directive, they tend to perceive psychology as being more valuable and enjoyable TJte results of this smdy are consistent with thefindingsof previous research [12; 11; I] which indicate a significant relationship between the classroom envfronment and smdent attimde Confidence The third multiple regression model with aU fom predictors explained 64.6 of the variance in ttie SC scale (R^ = 646), F (5,104) = 34.757, df = 109 and p < 001 The tiuee variables were positively and statistically significant wita regards to tae value of CL (t = 7.163, p < 001), GD (t = 2.899, p < 05) and CH (t = 11.769, p < 001) The EL scale (t = 395, p > 05) and PT scale (t = -.586, p > 05) were not statisticaUy significant with regards to the SC scale Similarly, the fourth multiple regression model explained 43.2% of die variance in the AC scale (R^ = 432), F (5,104) = 15.834, p < 001 The CL, GD and PT variables of the leanung environment were not significantiy related to the AC scale in tills model witiitfiebeta value of CL (t = I.6I5, p > 05), GD (t = 1.327, p > 05), and PT (t = 185, p > 05) The results indicate that stadent-centered leaming, efficacy for stadent engagement, goal leaming direction and cohesiveness were aU sigiuficant predictors of self-esteem SpecificaUy, when smdents perceive tae classroom learning environment as being more student-centered, engaging, cohesive and dfrective, taey tend to have higher seff-esteem in academic abiUty and toreceivemore social support in solving psychology issues The findings of this stady supported the results of other recent smdies [I; 13] that indicate an appreciable self-esteem-envfronment relationship Satisfaction The last multiple regression model with all fom predictors explained 64.8% of tiie variance in tiie ST scale (R^ = 648), F (5,104) = 35.954, df = 109 and p < 001 The three variables were positively and smtisticaUy significant, with regaids to the value of CL (t = 4.006, p < 001), GD (t = 2.730, p < 05) and CH (t = 15.470, p < 001) The EL scale (t = 620, p > 05) and PT scale (t = -1.489, p > 05) were not StatisticaUy significant with regards to the ST scale in this model The results indicate that stadent-centered leaming, goal leaming dfrection and cohesiveness were significant predictors of satisfaction SpecificaUy, when stadents perceive the classroom leaming envfronment as being more stadent-centered, cohesive and dfrective, they tend to obtain more satisfaction when leaming psychology Thefindingsof this smdy support the results of other recent stadies [1,13,12, 5] that indicate an appreciable satisfaction-environment relationship Conclusion This stady may be one of the first stadies of the psychology classroom environment in tiie setting of Vietaamese higher education The results support tiie hypotiiesis tiiat stadent perceptions of the learning envfronment in the psychology classroom may predict 149 their attitude, confidence and satisfaction towards psychology The findings reveal that only the professional teaching factor was not statistically significant with regards to scale of attitude, confidence or satisfaction The findings also indicated that students-centered learning, efficacy for student engagement, goal leaming direction and cohesiveness were significant predictors of attitude In this case, it was shown that the student-centered learning approach (e.g group work, leaming together and cooperative leaming) should be appUed in the psychology classroom [11] Such a leaming approache has been reported to help students perceive the leaming activities as being more student-centered, engaging and cohesive and they perceive the leaming goals as being more directive because students in student-centered situations are encoiu'aged to work together in groups rather than individually [10] In the classroom, psychology lecturers should pay more attention to all aspects of the classroom leaming environment to become more reflective and improve their teaching practice It seems that fostering a positive student attitude towards psychology and enhancing their confidence in leaming psychology, as well as improving their satisfaction in leaming, are necessary mandates of lecturers A positive learning enviroimient should, therefore, be created in Vietnamese higher education institutions REFERENCES [1] Chionh, Y H., & Eraser, B J., 2009 "Classroom environment, achievement, attitudes and self-esteem in geography and mathematics in Singapoie", Interrmtiorml Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 18, 29-44 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10382040802591530 [2] Fisher, D L., & Khine, M S., 2006 Contemporary approaches to research on leaming environments: Worldviews Singapore: World Scientific [3] Eraser, B J., 1998 Science leaming environments: Assessment, 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Efficacy for stadent engagement (EL) Leaming goal dfrection (GD) Source Tran & Lewis (2012a) Eraser etal., (1982) Tran & Lewis (2012a) Tran & Lewis (2012a) Eraser etal., (1982) Alpha (a) No Items 74... satisfaction were conducted in the setting of western education [2,4] Until now no known study has examined tae issue of classroom environment on stadent leaming in tae setting of Vietaamese higher education... (e.g psychology is enjoyable and stimulating to me, I am interested and wiUing to acquire furtaer knowledge of psychology and psychology is very interesting) The stadents''responsesto the two scales