Developmental versus Non-developmental English Course-Takers' Perceptions of the Freshman Composition Course
Abstract
Recent reform to limit time spent in developmental education (DE) should push postsecondary institutions to assure appropriate curriculum for English basic skills (EBS) courses and for introductory English courses, which have apparent overlap. This descriptive study examined students’ perceptions of the freshman composition course, examined students’ perceived differences in content between EBS courses and freshman composition, and explored student satisfaction with directed self-placement (DSP) choice, to provide insight into undergraduates’ academic motivations and choices. Undergraduates (N = 86) were given a new instrument, the Student Survey on the Freshman Composition Course, which was created with adapted expectancy-value constructs to measure students’ perceived utility of the course, perceived ability to perform tasks in the course, and perceived cost. Items adapted from an established achievement goal model measured students’ mastery goal orientation. The questionnaire also consists of newly developed domain-specific items to measure students’ perceived differences in course content between EBS courses and freshman composition. The one-way MANOVA to examine task value, expectancy and mastery goal orientation between developmental English course-takers and non-developmental English course-takers showed no statistically significant differences between groups. However, a second one-way MANOVA to examine perceived cost showed statistically significant differences between groups. There were statistically significant differences in developmental English course-takers’ mean scores for learning how to write complete sentences and writing different genres in EBS courses and freshman composition. Lastly, results of satisfaction in DSP choice were inconclusive. Limitations on testing of psychometric properties for course content items and recommendations for further research are discussed.
Subject Area
Higher education|Cognitive psychology|Rhetoric
Recommended Citation
Ortiz, Tomasita, "Developmental versus Non-developmental English Course-Takers' Perceptions of the Freshman Composition Course" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI27963582.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI27963582
