Persistence and academic achievement in foreign language in natural sciences students

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Persistence and academic achievement in foreign language in natural sciences students

Alexandr I. Krupnov, Yulia V. Kozhukhova, Alexandra A. Vorobyeva; Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

Abstract

The article discusses the results of empirical study of the association between variables of persistence and academic achievement in foreign languages. The sample includes students of the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Science at the RUDN University (n = 115), divided into 5 subsamples, two of which are featured in the present study (the most and the least successful students subsamples). Persistence as a personality trait is studied within A.I. Krupnov's system-functional approach. A.I. Krupnov's paper-and-pencil test was used to measure persistence variables. Academic achievement was measured according to the four parameters: Phonetics, Grammar, Speaking and Political vocabulary based on the grades students received during the academic year.

The analysis revealed that persistence displays different associations with academic achievement variables in more and less successful students subsamples, the general prominence of this trait is more important for unsuccessful students. Phonetics is the academic achievement variable most associated with persistence due to its nature, a skill one can acquire through hard work and practice which is the definition of persistence. Grammar as an academic achievement variable is not associated with persistence and probably relates to other factors. Unsuccessful students may have difficulties in separating various aspects of language acquisition from each other which should be taken into consideration by the teachers.

Key words: persistence, personality traits, academic achievement, foreign language, language acquisition, System-Functional Approach

Настойчивость и учебные достижения студентов естественнонаучных направлений при освоении иностранного языка

А.И. Крупнов, Ю.В. Кожухова, А.А. Воробьева; Российский университет дружбы народов

В статье рассматриваются результаты эмпирического исследования связи переменных настойчивости и академических достижений студентов при освоении ими иностранного языка. Выборку исследования составили студенты факультета физико-математических и естественных наук РУДН (n = 115), разделенные на 5 подвыборок, две из которых подробно описаны в настоящем исследовании (подвыборки наиболее и наименее успешных учащихся). Настойчивость как черта личности изучается в рамках системно-функционального подхода А.И. Крупнова. Для измерения переменных настойчивости использовался бланковый тест А.И. Крупнова.

Академические достижения были измерены в соответствии с четырьмя параметрами: фонетика, грамматика, речь и политическая лексика, основанных на оценках учащихся, полученных в течение учебного года. Анализ показал, что настойчивость демонстрирует различные связи с переменными успеваемости у более и менее успешных в освоении иностранного языка студентов, причем эти связи более выражены у менее успешных студентов. Фонетика как навык, который можно приобрести благодаря упорной работе и практике, наиболее тесно связана с настойчивостью. Грамматика практически не связана с настойчивостью, но, вероятно, связана с другими факторами академических достижений. Менее успешные студенты могут испытывать трудности с отделением различных аспектов освоения языка друг от друга, что должны быть учтено в педагогической работе.

Ключевые слова: настойчивость, черты личности, академические достижения, иностранный язык, освоение языка, системно-функциональный подход

Introduction

The concept of studying any subject and especially a foreign language has dramatically changed in the recent years. Several years ago, all the efforts were aimed at acquiring as much knowledge as possible during the years of higher education and applying this knowledge successfully. The acquired knowledge was considered as the final product of the education.

Nowadays the students are expected to become “lifelong” learners (Rogers, 2003; Gordeeva, 2011). “Lifelong learning and continuing professional development are arguably essential for graduates and other workers to remain competent. Therefore, the initiation of key skills development programs and policies in Higher Education has in turn led to an examination of how students reflect on and record their development, and activities which are central to helping them become lifelong learners” (McAvinia, Oliver, 2001, p. 209). Not everybody can grasp this idea and put up with continuous learning, perfecting their knowledge step by step through their professional life. That means that the students of higher education institutions should be psychologically prepared while at the higher school and equipped with the skills and certain attitudes for the continuous personal learning and professional updating the acquired knowledge all through their life.

The wealth of the information existing in the modern society induces graduates to perfect the acquired knowledge using self-study techniques. The most persistent students are already predisposed for lifelong education and learning, as during the years spent at the university they worked out a habit of acquiring as much knowledge as possible during their studies (Sternberg, 1997). Some other students have to be encouraged to do it by the teachers who are to equip them with necessary techniques and attitudes to help them realize the dire necessity of perfecting their knowledge of the subject or failing to apply the knowledge acquired at the university. As a few years after the university the knowledge they get there will become inadequate without constant intensive activities directed at perfecting their abilities to work at the subject with more persistence and perfecting the existing knowledge step by step (Ghanadi, Ketabi, 2014). Lifelong learning is a personal effort of an individual. It depends on the individual's perception of the necessity of doing it and the individual's persistence in doing it, as it is done not according to the curriculum of a university or a higher educational institution, but of the individual's own accord and intention.

“Another aspect of skills development work which can make it hard to reconcile with traditional curricula is the need for skills development to be student-centred. It is difficult to fit this into what is, by necessity, a teacher-centred model, in much the same way that the introduction of student-centred negotiated learning contracts is often felt to be `practically impossible under the conditions prevailing at universities today'” (Peters, 2001, p. 199). The problem raised by Peters has not lost its topicality, though it has been a subject to thorough research since then. It is the individual personality traits that we must be looking into to develop a truly student-centered curriculum. Naturally, the problem of identification of factors of academic achievement arises (Azhar, Nadeem, Naz, Perveen, Sameen, 2014).

The personality trait of persistence is one of the most important traits for learning and it requires a thorough examination. Most studies reveal, that persistence is a much more prominent factor of academic achievement compared to such factors as curiosity, communication features, motivation, abilities, etc. (Novikova, 2009; Kozhukhova, Krupnov, 2012; Kartashova, 2012; Kartashova, Isaev, 2016; Herguner, Mirici, 2016).

Methodology

In our research, we were guided by the eight-component model of the personality trait analysis, developed by A.I. Krupnov (Kozhukhova, 2012; Krupnov, 2013). According to the system-functional model, the personality trait of persistence is studied as a complete and systematic formation. The eight-component model is further subdivided into two blocks: the motivational-meaningful, including the attitudinal-target, motivational, cognitive and productive components, and the regulatory- dynamic, containing in its structure the emotional, dynamic, regulatory, reflective- evaluative components of the personality trait.

Each component contains two variables. The attitudinal-target component includes socially significant purposes and personally significant purposes. It takes into account the specific goals, attitudes, intentions and interests of the person.

Motivation of persistence consists of the sociocentricity (incentive connected with the sense of duty, the aspiration to help other people, to deserve respect, etc.) and egocentricity (incentive caused by the aspiration to realize the opportunities and abilities, to be independent, to improve one's welfare, etc.).

The cognitive component is represented by the variables of profound awareness and superficial awareness. It takes into account the depth of the person's understanding of the nature of persistence as a personality trait.

The productive component includes the variables of objectness (the results achieved by the person with the help ofpersistence in academic performance, work, relations with other people) and subjectness (the results of solving one's personal and financial problems, self-education).

The emotional component includes sthenic emotions (domination of the positive emotions of pleasure, pride, optimism, an anticipation of a positive outcome, etc.) and asthenic emotions (domination of anxiety, pessimism, fear, apathy, etc.) connected with the manifestation of persistence.

The dynamic component is characterized by energy (ergicity) and inactivity (aergicity). It reflects the variety of methods and ways of the realization of persistence: the force, stability and constancy of the aspirations or inertia, inactivity, a weak manifestation of persistence respectively.

The regulatory component is subdivided into internal regulation (internality) and external regulation (externality). It reflects the internal or external locus of control of the person and their self-regulation of persistent behavior.

The reflective-evaluative component contains the variables of operational difficulties (lack of intellectual, communicative or conative habits and skills, etc.) and personal difficulties (a low self-esteem, anxiety, lack of self-confidence, etc.).

Sample

The sample of the research consisted of115 students of the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Science at the RUDN University. The age of the respondents ranged between 16 and 18 years. All of them were mastering a foreign language (English, French, German, Spanish) within the framework of the training program that envisaged a full year of additional studying of various aspects of the foreign languages to prepare the students for obtaining an additional qualification as interpreters and translators in their major subject.

We have selected this specific sample because one of the key points of the study was to isolate, to the best of our ability and resources, the role of persistence as an academic achievement factor. We believe that natural sciences students do not display a prominent interest in language acquisition compared to Linguistic or social sciences or arts and humanities students, which makes them a more “neutral” sample and lets us study persistence “untainted” by another trait, for example, prominent curiosity.

Methods and techniques

In the current research we measured the components of persistence with the help of A.I. Krupnov's paper-and-pencil test developed on the basis of the system-functional model of the personality traits analysis (Kozhukhova, 2011).

We measured the students' performance according to the four parameters: Phonetics, Grammar, Speaking and Political vocabulary. To provide the data we asked their teachers to assess the students' fluency in the studied foreign language according to these parameters. In addition to the more obvious parameters of Phonetics, Grammar and Speaking we also included the parameter of Political vocabulary as it is important in developing speech competence in many spheres, helps the students master the grammar patterns, it provides the students with the opportunity to develop the skills in translating both from and into a foreign language. We must not forget that political vocabulary is partly international in most European languages, and so it is easy to grasp and is effective in making students fluent in a foreign language. It also dramatically upgrades the vocabulary the students use to a more sophisticated level and prepares them for the scientific language they are going to use in their further research. Studying it the students quickly become more confident in using a foreign language. Apart from the above mentioned more subjective parameters we also took into account their general academic performance (GPA).

Results

At the first stage of the study, we divided the original sample into 5 subsamples of 23 subjects each according to their academic achievement: the successful students, the aboveaverage students, the average students, the below-average students, the unsuccessful students. The mean value of each academic achievement variable in the original sample was used as the main criterion for division (See Table 1). Standard deviation was not used as this method resulted in unequal subsamples. We focused our research on the two “extreme” subsamples, the successful and the unsuccessful students.

In order to further justify the successful and the unsuccessful students subsamples, we compared the academic achievement variables values in these subsamples using Student's t-test (See Table 2).