研究型大学本科生学习投入及其影响因素的学科差异

Does Academic Engagement and Its Influence Factors Differ by Academic Discipline for Undergraduate Students in Research Universites?

研究采用一所研究型大学本科生就读经历调查数据,探讨学生学习投入水平及其影响因素的学科差异。结果显示:应用学科学生学术挑战度、课程参与、师生互动水平均显著高于纯学科。输入特征对学习投入的影响在应用学科更显著;院校环境和学科/专业亚环境对学习投入的影响包括一般性影响和因学科而异的条件性影响,应用学科学生学习投入受学科/专业亚环境中教师和教学的影响比纯学科显著。高校需要为不同特征学生亚群体有针对性地采取学业支持措施,以学科/院系为单位有效激励学生投入学习,同时促进基于学科的教学质量评估和学科文化反思。

This article examines differences in college students’academic engagement and its influential factors including input characteristics and environment as well as sub-environment indicators under Biglan’s typology of three dimensions(i.e.,soft versus hard,pure versus applied,life versus non-life),using data of survey on undergraduate experience in a research university.It was expected that students of applied disciplines would be more engaged in using challenging cognitive strategies,and curriculum participation,and faculty-student interaction than students in pure disciplines.The influence mechanism of input factors on student academic engagement is more remarkable in applied disciplines than pure disciplines.And impacts from environment factors of different levels is conditional as well as general,students in sub-environment of applied disciplines are more intended to be academically engaged motivated by faculty and teaching than pure disciplines.Data from regression models in pure and applied disciplines indicate that influences of input characteristics and environment factors to student engagement are partially similar.Institutional environment and disciplinary sub-environment would have more impact on students’engagement than students’input characteristics.Family economic classes,student level and gender are more influential than student aspiration and parents’education background.Teaching efficiency in professional education has significant influence on students’perception to academic challenge,and professional teachers’engagement to teaching are positively related to students’engagement to curriculum activities.There are also conditional effects in pure and applied disciplines among input characteristics,environment factors and student engagement.Effects in applied disciplines are more significant than that in pure disciplines.Students from middles class prefer to engage in interaction of different types and content than students from families of low income;female students in pure disciplines are more possibly to engage in negative academic activities,and male students have lower level of student-faculty interaction than female students.Seniors are less engaged in student-faculty interaction and curriculum activities that students of lower levels in applied disciplines.Positive effects of teaching levels and teachers’engagement to student’s academic challenges in professional education,and that of teaching levels and teaching efficiency to student-faculty interaction and curriculum engagement,as well negative effects of teaching levels and teaching efficiency to student’s engagement in negative academic activities,are significant only in applied disciplines.Such conclusion provides implications to administration.Firstly,policies to stimulate student development could be more effective if university provide targeted support to subgroup students,especially those from low income families,encourage female students to cope with academic challenges and be more engaged in curriculum activities,and pay more attention to freshmen’s negative engagement.Secondly,polices and innovations based on sub-environments of disciplines or departments could improve student engagement more effectively than general institution factors including give guidance to students’learning skills and encourage their motivation to engage in academically challenging academic activities,student-faculty interaction and curriculum activities.Policies in institutional level should focus on promoting faculty engagement in teaching efficiency in order to promote students’engagement in pure disciplines.Thirdly,teaching quality assessment and improvement would be more efficient if based on discipline cultures and keep introspection on them.