ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Mohammadi   Y. (*)
Kaykha   A. (1)
Sadeghi   A. (2)
Kazemi   S. (3)
Raeisoon   M.R. (4)






(*) Education Development Center, Education Development Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
(1) Educational Sciences Department, Shahid Motahhari Faculty, Farhangian University, Zahedan, Iran
(2) Educational Sciences Department, Psychology & Educational Sciences Faculty, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
(3) Management Department, Management Department, South Khorasan Branch, Payam-e-Noor University, Birjand, Iran
(4) Social Medicine Department, Medicine Faculty, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

Correspondence

Article History

Received:  October  22, 2015
Accepted:  December 6, 2015
ePublished:  January 10, 2016

BRIEF TEXT


… [1-10] There are factors outside a person, such as chance, homework difficulty, teacher, and unusual helps from other persons, which lead to a happening; and then, the causality is referred to the outside factors by the person leading to a weak belief in the usefulness of attempts [11, 12] and forming a defensive style and absurdity in the person [13].

Based on the internal locus of control, the positive and negative happenings are comprehended as a function of behavior by the persons, while based on the external locus of control, the positive and negative happenings are comprehended by the persons as out of control. In the higher educational system, persons should have internal locus of control to affect their own activities, studies, and thoughts [14]. … [15]

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between metacognitive learning strategy and locus of control and the students’ academic achievement.

This is a descriptive-analytical study.

The students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were studied in the academic year 2014-15.

Based on Krejcie and Morgan Table, 335 students were selected through random stratified sampling.

Data was collected using the motivational and self-regulating learning questionnaire (MSLQ). The questionnaire is consisted of 47 questions in two parts including the motivational beliefs and the self-regulating learning strategies (cognitive and metacognitive strategies). The metacognitive learning strategies are scored based on 5-point Likert’s scale. The second questionnaire was 29-question Rotter’s locus of control questionnaire assessing the person’s expectations and understandings of the locus of control. Each question is consisted of two phrases as “A” and “B”, of which one is in the internal and the other is in the external control scale. Total score of the person shows her level of control. 9 scores or more show the sign of the external locus of control. And scores less than 9 scores show the signs of the internal locus of control. The students’ GPA was used as the component of the academic achievement to determine their academic achievement. The formal validities of the questionnaires were confirmed by the experts. Cronbach’s alpha values of the questionnaires were 0.85 and 0.81, respectively. Data was analyzed by SPSS 14 software. Pearson correlation coefficient test was used to investigate the correlations between the variables. Independent T test was used to compare the variables based on gender and age. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the variables based on the faculty.

45.1% and 54.9% of the participants were male and female, respectively. The mean ages of the male and female students were 21.4±5.2 and 19.7±4.2 years, respectively. There was a positive and significant correlation between the aspects of the metacognitive learning strategies and the internal locus of control and the academic achievement. Nevertheless, there was a negative and significant correlation between the aspects of the metacognitive learning strategies and the external locus of control (p<0.05; Table 1). There was no significant correlation between the mean scores of the variables of the metacognitive learning strategies and the locus of control based on gender, faculty, and age (p>0.05). There was a significant correlation between the students’ academic achievements based on gender. Nevertheless, the correlation was not significant based on age and faculty (Table 2).

There was a positive and significant correlation between the aspects of the metacognitive learning strategies and the students’ academic achievement. The result is consistent with other studies [4, 16-20], showing a significant correlation between the metacognitive learning strategies and the academic achievement. There were positive and negative correlations between the internal and the external loci of control and the academic achievement, respectively. The results are consistent with some other studies [21-23], showing a positive and significant correlation between the internal locus of control and the academic achievement. Nevertheless, the results are not consistent with some other studies [24, 25], showing no significant correlation between the locus of control and the academic achievement. The locus of control is more affected by an integration of the learning experiences than other components. Passing times, a person understands her ability to perform an especial task and assess her achievement in dealing with it. The findings are consistent with the present results showing that if we find out ourselves able to perform a task, while we are to some extent constrained to do it, we more insist in doing this and finally, we reach more achievements. In addition, there was no difference between the mean scores of the variables of the metacognitive learning strategies, the locus of control, and the academic achievement based on the faculty and age of the students.

Through designing proper tasks, teaching the study strategies, and using new teaching methods, the teachers should encourage the students to use a proper learning orientation and to intend to the internal locus of control.

Lack of participation of all the students and their problems and mental situations were of the limitations for the study.

Two main effective factors on the enhancement of learning and academic achievement in the students are the metacognitive learning strategies and the locus of control.

Education Deputy, Committee of Research in Study, and Research Deputy of the university, as well as the participating students, are appreciated.

There is no conflict with the interests of anyone.

The study was confirmed by Ethics Committee of the university.

The study was funded by Research Deputy of the university.

TABLES and CHARTS

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