College Students' Academic Beliefs and Their Motives for Communicating With Their Instructor

Abstract

Academic entitlement, a term used to reflect students' expectation for success regardless of personal effort, has become a growing issue at many universities. This study examined the relationship between college students' academic beliefs (i.e., academic entitlement, grade orientation, learner orientation, self-efficacy) and their motives for communicating with their instructor. Participants were 184 undergraduate students who completed a series of self-report scales. Students' level of academic entitlement was positively related to their grade orientation but negatively related to their self-efficacy. Results of a canonical correlation revealed that students who were learning oriented, but not grade oriented, and possessed self-efficacy communicated with their instructor for relational and participatory reasons. Students who were academically entitled and grade oriented communicated with their instructor for sycophantic reasons and to a lesser extent for participatory reasons but not for functional reasons.

Keywords:

• Academic Beliefs
• Academic Entitlement
• Educational Orientation
• Self-Efficacy
• Student Motives to Communicate

Notes

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Validity support for the measures used in this investigation can be found in the following articles: See Kopp et al. (2011) for the Academic Entitlement Questionnaire, Eison et al. (1986) for the LOGO-II scale, Pintrich et al. (1993) for the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and Martin et al. (1999) for the Student Communication Motives Scale.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zachary W. Goldman

Zachary W. Goldman (MA, West Virginia University, 2012) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.

Matthew M. Martin

Matthew M. Martin (PhD, Kent State University, 1992) is a Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.