Vol 3 Test 4 Part 4

Section four.

You will hear part of a talk about research into learner persistence given by a university lecturer to her colleagues.

First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40 on pages seven and eight.

Now listen carefully, and answer questions 31 to 40.

My talk is about a research study I did over a period of five years on learner persistence—why some people stick at academic study better than others. As teachers, you will know that there is a tremendous variation in learners’ responses to certain things. For example, a short period of illness might completely destabilize some students and cause them to give up their degree studies. Other learners might overcome tremendous difficulties to stay the course. I am particularly interested in this second group, who are the ones with learner persistence.

What I decided to do was design a research study using a sample of my university’s third-year undergraduate students—295 in all—who had obviously already stayed the course pretty well. The sample was drawn from a range of ages, but there was deliberately a significant number of mature students. All respondents were living at home in the local core region. I wanted to have this element of consistency, not having some coming from outside the area and living in university accommodation. It should be noted, though, that there was significant variation in home background to reflect the variation in our student population.

I designed questionnaires which were devised to elicit what their concerns had been as they started the course and what had sustained them throughout the three years. Findings from the first section indicated that their worries when they started varied from financial concerns—though this had not been as strong as I expected—to career prospects. Mature students with children, however, tended to emphasize uncertainties about their relationship with them.

The second section of my questionnaire looked at learner persistence under three main headings: social and environmental factors, other factors, and intrinsic or personal characteristics. I identified three levels of importance for each of these.

At the first level—those points identified by participants as most important in learner persistence—many respondents said how crucial it had been to have good support. Though there was no one specific source, this could be family or friends. As regards other factors, students were heartened not so much by high grades, but by what they regarded as success in study. And for personal characteristics, many respondents reported that they took pleasure in challenge, which was regarded as very significant.

At the second level of importance, in the social category, a sizeable percentage talked about the fact that they had enjoyed themselves in school. In the category of other factors, a number of people said that what was of most importance was decent health, which had a fairly strong influence on their persistence. Under personal characteristics, quite a large percentage of respondents mentioned that they felt it was important to have lots of interests in their everyday lives. This gave them a depth and sense of perspective which less persistent learners might lack.

At the third level, under social factors, several respondents talked about good relationships with their tutors. For other factors, they mentioned the lack or absence of problems in their families. Finally, under personal characteristics, they identified an ability to juggle several roles—what we might call their capacity for multitasking.

These findings obviously helped inform the design of activities, but in addition, a number of further recommendations emerged. Firstly, I propose that the department distributes questionnaires to first-year students to help get an idea of their maturity when starting the course. This is really our overriding concern. Secondly, I recommend we look into ways of offering induction courses for selected students to allow them to take on the role of advisors. We think they are the best people to act in that role, and this policy will make support much more accessible.

Thirdly, this help is often most needed in the evening and at night when offices are closed, so we should set up online services instead of the more traditional telephone services. Research has shown that these services are actually more accessible to the majority of students. Finally, it is often important to be proactive. If students are not meeting deadlines, someone should contact them rather than wait for them to come to us.

Now, are there any questions about these points?

That is the end of section four. You now have half a minute to check your answers.