Towards the multicultural validation of a western model of student approaches to learning

The reliability and validity of the Study Process Questionnaire is investigated for 750 South African undergraduates. The concepts involved in the SPQ are relevant to the South African students and the SPQ scales and subscales were found to be adequate internal consistency reliability for research purposes. This conclusion was further enhanced by the meaningful factor structure of responses to the SPQ subscales found for the South African sample. However, doubt is cast as to the metric equivalence of SPQ scales across cultures making it difficult to interpret direct cross-cultural comparisons of mean scale scores.

Keywords: Learning, Culture, Study process, South Africa

Introduction

Psychological and educational theories of learning have often been criticized as being inadequate to explain level cognitive processes required for academic learning. Research into student learning especially in the developing countries such as South Africa should start with the context in which learning takes place. Educational theorists generally believe that learning is not a unitary process that happens inside an individual, but is a construction that takes place as a result of the individual interacting with a content, which usually contains other individuals. We sometimes assume learning takes place in a vacuum (Akande,1997a,1997b; Biggs & Watkins, 1993; Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983; Watkins & Akande,1994; Wedekind, Lubisi, Harley & Gultig, 1996).

For many years, the role of cross-cultural differences has been overlooked in discussions of approaches to learning. Most findings on approaches to learning have been overwhelmingly focused on the teacher's and researcher's point of view.

Educational change will not occur until new educational system in postapartheid South Africa can root the analysis and practice of education and care-giving of students in the context of their culture. Other research confirms that there is a need to devise educational strategies that integrate the African culture in all its diversity into a creative interrelated learning environment (see Hale-Benson, 1996).

Knowledge of how students go about their learning can be useful information for psychologists, teachers, counselors and researchers. This article investigates aspects of the reliability of one of the most widely used questionnaire in this area, the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ; Biggs, 1987), for use with urban South African students.

Theoretical Model

The SPQ has been developed within the framework of a well articulated model of learning: the Presage, Process, Product (3P) model (Biggs, 1985; 1987; 1988; 1989). The 3P Model involves the interrelationships between the personal characteristics of students; the situational constraints in which they find themselves; their approaches to learning; and the outcomes of that learning (see Figure 1). The components of this model tend to be in equilibrium but changes to any component affect the whole system. Thus, change in the teaching context may well result in a change in approach to learning and ultimately to the learning outcome itself.

Passage Variables

Passage factors involve two categories of variables: those which are characteristics of the individual students and those which are a function of the situation. Amongst the personological variables. Biggs (1987) included both general ability and information processing abilities; personality characteristics; age and previous learning experiences. Biggs further emphasizes those factors which influence meta-cognition, the degree to which students are aware of and can control their own learning processes. Important for this purpose are a relatively high degree of selfconfidence and an internal locus of control (McCombs,1986; Watkins,1987; Watkins & Akande, 1992). Situational factors include the mode of teaching, the difficulty and nature of the task, the method of assessment, student satisfaction with the learning environment, and the opportunity students are given to learn independently (Biggs, 1987; Hattie & Watkins, 1988).

Process Variables

Process factors refer to the student's approaches to learning. Briggs' treatment here is based on findings from research into how students go about their studying. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of these findings is that they, in turn, are derived from two distinctive approaches to research. Some researchers use a "quantitive" approach typified by large sample sizes, structured questionnaires and sophisticated multi-variate techniques (cf., Briggs, 1985; Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983), while others adopt an essentially "qualative" approach to their approach to learning form much of the data to be analyzed (Marton, Hounsell & Entwistle, 1984; Watkins & Akande, 1992).

Researchers from both methodologies have identified the same two approaches to learning which students tend to utilize (Adams & Adams 1991; Akande, 1990; Gerwel, 1994; Hawarden, 1985; Mackenzie,1994; Meyer,1995; Meyer, Dunne, & Richardson,1994; Moja, Muller & Cloete, 1996; Slonimsky & Turton,1985; Vilakazi 1986). Students adopting a surface approach try to memorize those things on which they expect to be examined rather than to understand what they are learning. On the other hand, those students who adopt a deep approach attempt to understand what they are learning and to relate it both to their previous knowledge and personal experience. It has been demonstrated that a deep approach tends to lead to qualitively superior learning outcome but one that is not always reflected in higher academic grades (Dahlgren, 1984).

To the surface and deep approaches described above Biggs (1987) adds an achieving approach which is based on achievement motivation and involves those strategies which the student believes will lead to high marks. These usually include both the traditional "study skills" techniques (for example, good organization, speed reading, effective note-taking) and other "cue-conscious" strategies depending on the learning environment and the teacher involved. Thus the achieving approach is context dependent whereas the deep and surface approaches are related to the general cognitive processes of coding and rehearsal, respectively.

Biggs (1987) further points out that it is difficult both to focus on the actual words in order to reproduce them and to focus on the meaning of the concepts involved. The surface and the deep approaches therefore tend to be mutually exclusive. The achieving approach can be linked to either, however. Thus a student who believes efficient reproduction of material to be learned will achieve high grades is likely to combine the achieving and surface approaches. A student who feels that high grades depend on demonstrating understanding of the concepts involved would probably combine the achieving and deep approaches.

Motive/Strategy Congruence

Biggs' (1987) model goes beyond that of other theorists in his advocacy of a motive-strategy model underlying the students' approaches to learning. The components of the three approaches are described in Table 1 and they served as the basis for the development of the SPQ.

Product Variables

The product refers to the learning outcomes achieved. This does not necessarily reflect the quality of learning in terms of how well the student has grasped the concepts involved. Biggs (1987) argues this is better assessed in terms of the structural complexity of the learning outcome which can be determined through means such as the SOLO taxonomy (Biggs & Collins, 1982).

The Cross-Cultural Perspective

The researcher reported here explores the usefulness of a questionairre developed in Canada and Australia, the SPQ, to assess the approaches to learning of South African high school students. Cross-cultural methodologists have pointed out that there is a hierarchy of levels of "equivalent" usage of questionairres in different cultures, each of which requires the demonstration of a corresponding hierarchy of assumptions (Hui & Triandis, 1985; Mboya, 1993; 1994). The lowest level involves conceptual equivalence and the highest metric (or scalar) equivalence. In this research it must be asked firstly whether the concepts of deep, surface, and achieving approaches to learning are relevant to South African children (conceptual equivalence)? If so, is the SPQ reliable and valid for use in South Africa to assess these concepts? Finally, are we justified in directly comparing the scores of urban students in Australia and Nigeria with those of urban South African students (metric equivalence)?

The issue of conceptual equivalence involves the concepts of "emic" and "etic" approaches to research (Berry, 1989). The former involves using only concepts that emerge from within a particular culture and is associated with the traditions of anthropological research. The latter approach seeks to compare different cultures on what are thought to be universal categories. Triandis (1989) particularly warns against what he calls "pseudoetic" research which involves the imposition of the concepts of one culture onto another as if they are universals. For example, Watkins and Akande (1994), through analysis of open-ended questions, have questioned whether Western concepts of approaches to learning are relevant to a sample of Nigerian students.

Factor analysis of responses to a questionnaire is one of the main strategies of demonstrating cross-cultural validity (Hui & Triandis, 1985) but this type of validity is only a necessary but not a sufficient condition for metric equivalence. The factor structure of the Study Process Questionnaire has been investigated in a number of cultures. Studies in Australia (Biggs,1987; Hattie & Watkins,1981), the United Kingdom (O'Neil & Child, 1984), Hong Kong (Kemper & Gow, 1990) and Nigeria (Watkins & Akande, 1992, 1994) have generally supported the factorial validity of the SPQ. However, a Filipino study found a rather different factor structure (Hattie & watkins, 1981). That this may be more a problem with the English wording of the SPQ for Filipinos is suggested from the finding that two other learning process questionnaires, based on similar concepts to the SPQ, were found to be factorially valid for Filipinos (Hattie & Watkins, 1981; Watkins, Hattie & Astilla, 1986).

Aims of Research

The goals of this research were as follows:

1 To try to find out if the concepts of deep, surface, and achieving approaches to learning are relevant to the South African school settings;

2 To assess the interval consistency reliability of the SPQ scales for South African students;

3 To investigate whether the factor structure found for South African students is consistent with the underlying model of learning postulated by Biggs (1987);

4 To compare the approaches to learning of South African students with the norms for Australian students reported by Biggs (1987).

5 To compare the approaches to learning of South African students enrolled in different faculties.

N.B. The legitimacy of progressing to goals (4) and (5) is dependent on satisfactory findings related to the first three goals.

Method

Subjects

The South African sample consisted of 750 first and second year undergraduates from a single university students. None were of European descent. Of this 288, 265 and 173 were enrolled in the Faculties of Arts, Science and Economic Management, respectively. The remainder failed to indicate their faculty.

Measures

The participants' approaches to learning were assessed by administering the Study Process Questionnaire. The SPQ consisted of 42 items grouped into six motive/strategy scales (see Table 1) plus 7 items tapping locus of control. Each item was to be answered on five point scales from 1 = "never true" to 5 = "always true". All measures were administered in English during practical extra class hours by the author who previously checked that the level of English required would be appropriate for these students.

Analysis

The SPSS-X computer program (Hull & Nie, 1984) was utilized to conduct factor analyses, analyses of variance (ANOVA), and calculate means and correlations.

Results And Discussion

Concept Equivalence

Evidence to support the proposition that the conceptions of approaches to learning as embodied in the SPQ are to be found within any country in Sub-Sahara Africa and not simply imposed by outside researchers comes from three sources:

1. Omokhodion (1989) reports findings from 120 hours of ethnographic classroom observations in primary schools. Omokhodion claimed that an ethos of "right answerism" characterized the assessment methods, that is, some African pupils are trained to believe learning is about getting the "correct" answer by any means, including cheating. Neither the teachers nor the pupils considered the processes of understanding the problem and of achieving the solution of any importance. Thus a very superficial "surface approach" to learning is encouraged.

2. Ehindero (1990) reports a pilot study in which 250 African university students responded to the question "What strategies do you use to study?" His content analysis indicated three main themes in the students' responses: "diligence", "building up understanding" and "memorizing content material without understanding". These themes correspond closely to the notions of achieving, deep, and surface approaches to learning, respectively (see Watkins & Akande, 1992).

3. Content analysis of the responses of 610 of the participants to three openended questions: "What do you mean by learning?", "What do you mean by teaching?", and "What does it mean to apply what you have learned?" was reported in another article. Preliminary analysis of responses to these questions is throwing light on the students' conceptions of learning. The following conceptions of learning seem to be emerging consistently:

a. Learning as the acquisition of knowledge. This conception, which was the most frequently found, is thought to be characteristic of students who typically adopt a surface level approach to learning. (Van Rossum, Deijkers, & Hamer, 1985). It often has a quantitive flavor. Knowledge here is seen as something given by somebody with a wealth of experience e.g. teachers, parents, and so on. Some examples are:

"Learning means to attain body of knowledge from individuals with wealth of experience." "Learning is the learning of new ways of doing things we don't know before." b. Learning as understanding. Here the emphasis is on the learner taking an active role in constructing understanding. Some examples are:

"(Learning) is the act of establishing new ways of doing things." "(Learning) is the process by which the mind of a student is influenced by a teacher or by reading a text or understanding one's mind." "(Learning) means the way students actively imitate ways of doing things from the teacher who has the relevant experience of the subject matter." Such a conception is thought to be characteristic of a student who typically adopts a deep approach to learning (Watkins, Akande & Mpofu, 1985).

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability coefficient alphas of the six SPQ scales were found to vary from 0.72 approach scales while those for the subscales varied from 0.49 to 0.73.

Factor Structor

Factor analysis of the six SPQ subscales found one large eigen value of 2.79 (44.7% of the variance) and a second largest value of 0.91 (17.3% of the variance). Examination of the screen diagram supported either a one-or two-factor solution test. The latter solution was found in earlier research (see below) and the two-factor oblique solution for South African students is shown in Table 2.

Factor I is clearly dominated by high loadings from the Deep Motivation and Strategy and Achieving Strategy Subscales, whereas Factor II has highest loadings from the Surface Motivation and Strategy subscales. the Achieving Motivation scale splits between these two factors suggesting that urban South African students are divided as to whether higher marks will be given for rote memorization of course content of for demonstrating understanding of this content. but the underlying factor structure is generally very similar to that reported for Australian (Biggs, 1987) and Nigerian students (Watkins & Akande, 1992).

Country and Faculty Comparisons Means of South African Arts and Science students SPQ scores found in this study and those reported by Biggs (1987) and Watkins and Akande (1992) for Australian and Nigerian students respectively are shown in Table 2. Strong main effects for country for each SPQ subscale were found when country x faculty ANOVA was conducted. It can be seen that there was a tendency for the South African students to score more highly on all subscales. But relative to their other subscales scores, the South Africans just like the Nigerian were more achievement oriented but perhaps not as "deep" oriented as the Australians. no strong faculty differences were found in the South African data but the Australian data showed a trend for the Arts students to be more deep but less surface approach oriented than the Science students. This country x faculty trend was confirmed by corresponding significant ANOVA interactions.

Common guidelines are that an alpha exceeding 0.50 is adequate for a pilot study, 0.70 for research with grouped data, but 0.95 for important decisions about an individual. So perhaps it is fair to conclude that the internal consistency of the SPQ scales is adequate for research purposes in South Africa but is well below the level required for individual diagnostic purposes. Of course, in practice, the SPQ may well perform a useful service as one a number of diagnostic indicators available to the school psychologist or counselor.

Conclusion

It would appear that the concepts of approaches to learning, currently "state-of -the-art" in the higher education literature, are relevant to South African students. Moreover, factor analysis supports the validity of the SPQ for use in South Africa. However, this is only a tentative support for within-construct validity (Watkins & Regmi, 1991). More evidence needs to be provided of between-construct validity by demonstrating that the SPQ correlates with other variables, such as academic grades, in expected ways. Further evidence of validity could be obtained by relating SPQ scores to classification derived from indepth interviews concerning the learning processes of South African students. If such validity evidence can be demonstrated then the SPQ can be used to investigate further correlates and the individual differences of learning motives and strategies within the South African culture. The results can be compared to those found within other cultures. Such research may help us decide how South African students can be encouraged to adopt deeper level learning strategies.

The validity of comparing scores on instruments such as the SPQ across different cultures is questioned in this research. As found in previous research with Nigerian students (Watkins & Akande, 1992), these South African students tended to score more highly than comparable Australians on all SPQ scales, a finding which is hard to believe given the nature of the scales whatever cultures, perhaps due to differences in responding to rating scales. The validity of comparing scores on instruments such as the SPQ across different cultures must be treated with caution. Just the mere demonstration of conceptual equivalence and the construct validity of the measures involved is not sufficient for demonstrating metric equivalence. Cultural differences in response sets such as extremity response set, social desirability, and acquiescence can make it dangerous to compare raw scores across cultures (Hui & Triandis, 1989; Watkins, Akande & Mpofu, 1995). But it should be emphasized that metric equivalence is not necessary before a questionnaire can be used validly within a culture, be it collectivist or individualist. Yet the findings might suggest that the system has maintained the position of Blacks at the bottom of the educational ladder is extremely complex and has many new interlocking components. As incisive analysis of the problem of achievement gap between students is crucial.

Of course, the generalizability of these findings to other South African students may be questioned. However, the samples were chosen to be representative of first or second year arts and science students from established universities in each country so that cross-cultural comparisons would be justified (the discrepancies in the percentages of females and makes in the different samples accurately reflect actual gender differences in enrollment).

References

Adams, H. B. & Adams, W.B. (1991). Developing the potential of children in disadvantaged communities: thinking actively in a social context. South African Journal of Higher education, 5, 42-52.

Akande, A. (1990). The meaning of self in the African mind. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of Ife. Akande, A. (1997a). The perception of ability scale for students in Africa and New Zealand, School Psychology International, 18, 179-189. Akande, A. (1997b). IQ is irrelevant to the definition of apartheid education. AN unpublished manuscript, University of the Western Cape. Berry, J. (1989). Imposed etics-emics-derived etics: The operationalization of a compelling idea. International Journal of Psychology, 24, 721-735.

Biggs, J. B. (1985). The role of meta-learning in study process. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 55, 185-212.

Biggs, J. B. (1987). Student Approaches to Learn

ing. hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.

Biggs, J. B. (1988). Assessing student approaches to learning. Australian Psychologists, 23, 197206.

Biggs, J. B. (1989). Approaches to the enhancement of tertiary teaching. Higher Education Research and Development, 8, 7-25. Biggs, J. B. & K. F. Collins (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.

Biggs, J. B. & Watkins, D. (1993). Learning and Teaching in Hong Kong: What is and what

might be. Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong Press.

Dahlgren, L. O. (1984). Outcomes of Learning. In L. Marton, F. D., Hounsell, and N. Entwistle (eds.), The Experience of Learning. Edinburgh: Scottish University Press.

Ehindero, O. J. (1990). A discriminant function analysis of study strategies, logical reasoning ability and achievement across major teaching undergraduate curricula. Research in Education, 44, 1-11.

Entwistle, N. & Ramsden, P. (1983). Understanding Student Learning. London: Croom Helm. Gerwel, J. (1994). Education in South Africa: means and ends. In Spence, J. E. (ed.), Change in South Africa. London: Zed Books. Hale-Benson, J. (1996). Achieving equal educational outcomes for Black children. In Barone,

A. & Garcia, E. (Eds.), Children at risk: poverty, minority status, and other issues in educational equity. Washington DC: National Association of School Psychologists. Hattie, J., & Watkins, D. (1981). Australian and Filipino investigations of the internal structure of Biggs' new Study Process Questionnaire. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 241-244.

Hattie, J., & Watkins, D. (1988). Preferred classroom environment and approach to learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 58, 345-349.

Hawarden, J. (1985). Some non-academic problems of Black students at the University of Wit vaterstand. ASPects, 6, 12-17.

Hui, C. H. & Triandis, H. C. (1985). Measurement in cross-cultural psychology: a review and comparison of strategies. Journal of CrossCultural Psychology, 16,131-152. Hull, C. H. & Nie, N. H. (1984). SPSS-X. New

York: McGraw-Hill.

Kember, F. D. & Gow, L. (1990). Cultural specificity of approaches to study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 60, 356-363. Mackenzie, C. G. (1994). Black students in "White" universities: the character and provision of liberal higher education instructions in post-apartheid South Africa. Compare, 24, 6778.

Marton, F. D., Hounsell & Entwistle, N. (1984).

The experience of Learning. Edinbergh: Scottish University Press.

Mboya, M. M. (1993). Development and construct validity of a self-description inventory for African adolescents. Psychological Reports, 72, 183-191.

Mboya, M. M. (1994). Cross-cultural study of the structure and level of multidimensional selfconcepts in secondary school students. School Psychology International, 15, 163-171. McCombs, B. (1986). the role of the self-system in self-regulated learning. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco. Meyer, J. H. F., Dunne, T. T. & Richardson, J. T. E. (1994). A gender comparison of contextualised study behavior in higher education., Higher Education, 27, 469-485.

Meyer, J. H. F. (1995). Gender-group differences

in the learning behavior of entering first-year university students. Higher Education, 29, 201-215.

Moja, T., Muller, J., & Cloete, N. (1996). Towards new forms of regulation in higher education: the case of South Africa. Higher Education, 32, 129-155.

Omokhodion, J. O. (1989). Classroom observed: the hidden curriculum in Lagos, Nigeria. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 54, 228-234.

Slonimsky, L. & Turton, R. (1985). Development in the conceptual skills program for ASP in the

Faculty of Arts at Wits. ASPects, 6, 61-66. Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.

Vilakazi, H. (1986). The need for a revolution in

education. ASPects, 7, 34-39. Van Rossum, E., Deijkers, R., & Hamer, R. (1985). Students learning conceptions and their interpretation of significant educational concepts. Higher Education, 14, 617-641. Watkins, D. (1987). Academic locus of control. a relevant variable at tertiary level? Higher Education, 16, 221-229.

Watkins, D., Hattie, J., & Astilla, E. (1986). Approaches to studying by Filipino students: a longitudinal investigation. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 56, 357-362.

Watkins, D. & Regmi, M. (1991). Towards the cross-cultural validation of a Western model of student approaches to learning. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 22, 12-24. Watkins, D. & Akande, A. (1992). Assessing the approaches to learning of Nigerian students. Assessment, 17, 11-20.

Watkins, D. & Akande, A. (1994). Approaches to learning of Nigerian secondary school children: emic and etic perspectives. International Journal of Psychology, 1994, 29, 165-182. Watkins, D., Akande, A. & Mpofu, E. (1995). The assessment of learning processes: an African perspective. IFE Psychologia, 2, 1-13. Wedekind, V., Lubisi, C., Harley, K., & Gultig, J. (1996). Political change, social integration and curriculum: A South African case study. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 28, 419-436.

ADEBOWALE AKANDE, PH.D.

University of Western Cape

Belville, South Africa 7535

Copyright Project Innovation Fall 1998
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved