Di s cus s i on
Al tho ugh the co ncept o f i nd i vi dual i zed i ns truct i o n h a s become popu l a r i n recent years , i t i s p robab l y true t h a t by far the g rea ter p roporti on of educato rs who profes s commi tment to thi s pedago g i cal a pproach conceptual i ze i t in terms o f a method of varyi ng i n s truct i on to s u i t the rate of an i nd i v i d ual ' s l earn i n g . I n fac t , many p rotago n i s ts o f prog rammed i nstruct i on have conceptual i zed l earner cha racteri sti cs excl us i ve l y i n terms of a temp ora l d i men s i o n ; how l o ng wi l l i t ta ke eac h i nd i v i du a l to ach i eve ma s tery? Such a n und i men s i onal premi se i s na i ve . A mo re promi s i ng strategy mi g ht be to conceptua l i z e i nd i v i du a l i zed i ns truct i on
a s a dynami c th ree-way i n teract i v e p rocess i n vol vi ng l earner a ttri butes , i ns tru ct i o nal methodo l og i es and tas k characteri s t i cs . The pu rpos e of th i s s tudy has been to commence the formul at i on of a set of p recepts capabl e of veri fi ca t i on by emp i ri cal res ea rch .
Attri b ute C h a rac teri s t i c s
T h e term apti t ude o r attri bute h a s tra d i ti ona l l y been a s s oc i a ted w i th the cogn i t i ve doma i n . As i t h a s al ready been po i n ted o u t there i s
l i ttl e reason to expect that va r i abl es such as s chol a s ti c a pti tude or i ntel l i gence wi l l be p a rt i cu l a rly useful meas u res in pred i c t i n g wh i ch
s trategy or i ns tructi onal method wi l l be optimal i n atta i n i ng an i ns tru c t i ona l o u tcome . Thus , Tob i as ( 1 9 70 ) and o thers have p referred to u s e the term
" attri bute" as connota t i n g a wi de ra nge of personol og i ca l va r i a bl es .
I n th i s s tudy fou r attri b u te vari abl es were exami ned i n rel a t i on to i ns truct i o nal strateg i es and ta s k characteri s t i cs . Thes e were the a c h i evement ori entati ons of co n formance and i n dependence , and objecti ve
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and s ubj ecti ve i nd i ces of p r i o r fami l i ar i ty . Earl i e r s tud i es ( Domi no , 1 968 ; 1 97 1 ) had s u g ges ted that the d i ffere n t i ated a c h i evement ori entat i on s of confo rmance and i ndependence wou l d fac i l i ta te l ea rn i ng i n s i tuati ons where these attri butes were rewa rded . So i t was expected tha t s tudents who s e p ersona l i t i es were characteri zed by, and whos e ori enta t i on wa s towa rds ,
academ i c work emp has i z i ng the i mportance o f d i l i gen c e , a nd p rescri bed orderednes s , wou l d p rofi t mo s t from treatment method s wh i c h rewa rded
these attri bu tes i n a tas k s i tua t i on wh i ch emphas i zed l og i ca l s tructure . Convers e l y , s tudents of an i ndependenc e ac h i evement o r i enta t i o n , refl ect i ng a c reati ve , i n nova t i ve rat i on a l approach to academi c work wou l d fi nd rewa rd i ng a more i nterprel ati ve tas k , presented in a s t udent- generated sequenc i n g method . A l though enco ura g i ng trends were i n evi dence , the res u l ts were not as dec i s i ve a s one mi ght h a ve hoped . As expected , conformance i n terac ted wi th trea tments i n the i ntri ns i ca l l y s tructured stat i s ti c s tas k , but was found to be an u n i mportant c h a racteri s t i c i n the extri ns i ca l l y s tructured s i tua t i on . The i ndependence a ttri bute was not nea r l y as dec i s i v e , al though the mag n i tude of the i nteractions were i n the a n t i c i pated d i recti ons . I ndependence was mos t s i g n i fi cant when i n terac t i ng wi th the l earni ng theory treatments . On l y when i n comb i na t i o n with t h e obj ec t i ve content fami l i a r i ty mea s u re d i d th i s attri bute s how a s i gn i fi ca n t l evel of i nteract i on .
What do we conc l ude from thes e ac h i evement ori enta t i ons when they a re exami ned i n re l a t ion to p rogrammed i ns truc t i on a l s t rateg i e s ?
Conforma nce , the s ca l e ori g i na l l y devi sed by Gough t o a s s e s s the mot i vat i onal and personal i ty factors a s soc i a ted w i t h aca demi c ac h i evemen t i n h i g h
school s etti ngs , was a usefu l p red i ctor of cri ter i o n ach i evement at a terti a ry l evel of i ns tructi o n when programmed methods had been cons tructed from a l ea rn i ng tas k wh i ch wa s c h a racteri zed by an i n tri n s i c structu re . Th i s fi n d i ng was expected . Howeve r , the manner i n wh i c h th i s a ttri bute i ntera c ted wi th treatments i n a n o rdi n a l way was no t expected . Nei ther
h a d i t been a n t i c i pated that th e s tudent generated sequenc i ng s trategy_ woul d be the mos t fac i l i tati ve i ns t ructi ona l method at a l l po i nts a l ong
the attri bu te conti n u um . S i nce confo rmance empha s i zes s tru ctu rednes s , the mos t h i g hl y s tru cture d i ns tru c t i onal s tra tegy co u l d have been expected to be a s u peri or method for enab l i ng s tuden ts to ach i e ve c r i te r i on
p erformance o When the outcomes of the l ea rn i n g tas k became l es s l og i ca l o r pred i ctab l e a s i n the case o f l ea rn i n g t heory , conforma nce a s a
p redi ctive l ea rner c h a rac teri s t i c was negl i g i b l e .
On the other hand, i ndependence, the sca l e dev i sed by Gou g h to p red i ct a c h i evement i n terti a ry educat ion s ett i ngs , a nd p a rt i cul a rl y i n un der- g raduate cours es i n psycho l ogy , appea red to be muc h mo re robu s t i n terms o f the i ntri ns i c-extri ns i c ·nature o f ta s k s tructures . A s one may have expected , beca use of the underl yi ng con s truct of the attr i bute , s tudents w i th h i gher i ndependence ori enta t i on s performed o p t i mal l y u nder cond i ti ons where the o n us fo r the degree of i ns truct i onal s up port wa s l eft to t hem . Thi s fi nd i n g was parti cul arl y true i n the l ea rn i ng theory s i tuati on . I t was a l so true i n the s tati s t i cs tas k a l tho u g h the s t rength of the rel a t i on s h i ps wa s not as cons i s tent . An i n teres ti ng f i n d i ng i n th i s tas k was tha t s t udents w i t h l ow i n dependence found that the h i g h l y s tructu red p rogrammed method wa s mu c h mo re fac i l i tat i ve t h a n any other a pp roach . The expl a na t i on for thi s fi nd i ng may be i n the descri pto rs o ften assoc i a ted wi th l ow i ndependence , s uch as 11 cauti ous 11 , 11ego t i s t i ca l 11 , a nd 11 fearfu l 11 • I t may be that thes e i ndi v i dual s a l so have a s t rong mot i ve to avo i d fai l ure . S u c h a pe rsona l i ty cons truct mi ght wel l p rofi t from a h i ghly s uppo rt i ve l ea r n i ng envi ronment i n wh i c h the poss i b i l i ti es fo r fa i l ure a re g reatly reduce d .
The genera l tenor of Tob i a s ' s ( 1 97 6 ) conten t i on t h a t the h i gher 1 20
the l evel of pri or ac h i evement , the l ower the i nstruc t i o nal s u pport req u i red to accomp l i s h i ns tructi onal objecti ves wa s confi rmed , but w i th some
reservati ons . I n the l ea rn i ng theo ry tas k a n attr i b u te x tre a tment i n teraction d i d res u l t i n the manner p redi cted by Tob i as . S u bj ects w i th hi gh l eve l s of p r i o r fami l i ari ty p rofit ed most from a me thod i n whi c h they co u l d choose the degree o f p rereq u i s i te s upport req u i red . O n the other h a n d , s tuden ts wi th l ow fami l i ar i ty demons trated s uper i o r a c h i eveme nt a fter they h a d compl eted a h i ghly s tructured p rog ramme .
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B u t th i s i nve rse re l a t i ons h i p between p r i o r ach i evement and i ns tructi ona l s u pport was not a s c l ear l y evi denced i n the s ta ti sti cs tas k . I n fac t , i t a ppea red that a l mo s t the reverse was true . S tudents h i gh i n s ta ti s t i ca l c omp etency p rofi ted mos t from the modera tel y s t ructured prog ramme , and s tudents l ow i n the s ame abi l i ty perfo rmed best under the s tudent generated sequence programme . Al though thi s f i n d i ng p rovi ded one i ns ta nce of s u p port fo r the exp e r i ment ' s second hypothes i s ; name l y , tha t p r i o r fami l i a r i ty woul d d i ffe ren t i a l l y i n teract on i n s truc t i ona l tas ks , i t d i d not s up port the contenti on of Tob i as ( 1 976 ) that fami l i a r i ty mi ght i n voke s i mi l a r i ns t ruc t i onal s tra teg i es i n a var i ety o f content areas . However , th i s apparent contrad i ct i on may be more i ma g i nary than rea l . The overa l l con fidence i n s t a t i s t i ca l competency among s t even tho s e s t u dents who demo ns trated a degree of fami l i ari ty w i th the s ubje ct-ma tter wa s not h i gh . Th i s mi g h t exp l a i n why the moderatel y s tructured , rather than l ow structured , prog ramme optimi zed a c h i evement for s tuden ts w i th
p r i o r fami l i a r i ty . But that the l ow fami l i a r i ty s tudents fou nd bes t the i ns truc t i on a l method i n whi ch they co u l d choose the amount o f s u p port i ve s t ructure they needed i s mo re d i ffi cu l t to exp l a i n . One exp l a n a t i o n mi g ht be however , that i n the s tati s t i cs tas k , s tudents wi th l ow fami l i ari ty found opti ma l a n i n s truc t i ona l s i tu a t i on i n w h i ch they chose a hi gh deg ree of s up porti ve hel p . . I n o ther word s , i t i s pos s i b l e that for these 1 ow fam i l i ari ty s tudents , and i n a 1 ow confi dence s i tu a t io n , the s tudent generated seq uence trea tment was u s ed i n i ts mos t h i g h l y s t ructured form .
I t was a l i ttl e s u rp ri s i ng to fi nd that the on l y tri p l e i n terac ti ons of achi evement ori en ta t i on , content fami l i a r i ty and trea tments in both ta s ks occurred wi th the i ndependence attri b u te . I n l i g ht of the conformance cons truct a n i nterac t i o n cou l d have been expected wi th s ubject i ve content fami l i ari ty in the s ta t i s t i cs tas k . T h i s d i d not eventua te . I n s tead a pattern o f i nteracti ons devel o p ed