Implications for Higher Education in the Linkages of Student Differences and Effective Teaching / Dieter J. Schonwetter and Others.

This study examined the effects of individual differences, attitudes, past performances, and teaching behaviors on 286 undergraduate college students' achievement, attribution, affective, and motivational outcomes. The study was conducted at the University of Manitoba using a theoretical model based on Weiner's theory of achievement motivation. The students, all in a introductory psychology course, completed a questionnaire which covered: gender, anger-proneness, text anxiety, locus of control, high school grade point average, and last introductory psychology test score. Students then saw one of four video tapes on effective instruction where presentations maintained a high lecture content density while expressiveness, organization, and clarity were varied and manipulated. Students then completed a teaching behavior inventory to assess the lecture's presentation for expressiveness, organization, and clarity. Students also took an achievement test to assess retention and conceptual understanding of the lecture. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among variables. Results indicated that student differences and teaching behaviors differentially influenced student learning and learning related outcomes depending on where these latter variables were included in the model. Both clarity and expressiveness were directly related to students' perceptions of amount learned, whereas organization was directly related to actual achievement outcomes. Student perceptions of success also significantly affected student learning experiences. One figure and five tables of data are appended. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/JB)

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