Approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic environment among university students in Pakistan

Abstract

There has been a paucity of research on the experiences of students at Pakistani universities. A survey of over 900 students at two universities examined their approaches to studying and perceptions of their courses. Evidence was obtained for a deep approach, a surface approach and two aspects of a strategic approach. Their perceptions were based upon the instructional practices, the acquisition of generic skills, the appropriateness of the assessment and of their workload, and the available learning resources. A higher-order analysis revealed two broad dimensions of the student experience in Pakistan. Students who had positive perceptions tended to adopt a deep approach, to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that supported their understanding and to be engaged and reliable in their studies. However, students who had negative perceptions tended to adopt a surface approach and to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that reinforced this approach through the bare transmission of information.

Validating the Course Experience Questionnaire in West Bengal higher secondary education

“…Three of the four constructs (good teaching, generic skills and appropriate workload) broadly match scales in the extended CEQ advocated by Wilson et al (1997). In addition, they represent the CEQ scales that have been most consistently identified in previous investigations in China (Yin et al, 2014;Yin & Wang, 2015;Zhang et al, 2006), Hong Kong (Law & Meyer, 2011;Ning & Downing, 2010), Japan (Fryer et al, 2012) and Pakistan (Ullah et al, 2011). They would appear to reflect fairly universal aspects of the perceptions of students in most, if not all, educational systems around the world, although, clearly, more research is needed to confirm this notion.…”

“…Such a construct has been identified in some studies carried out in non-Western countries (Fryer et al, 2012;Ning & Downing, 2010;Ullah et al, 2011;Yin et al, 2014) but not in others (Law & Meyer, 2011;Price et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2006). In the context of West Bengal, this could be because all students are exposed almost exclusively to assessments that test their rote memory.…”

“…Confirmatory factor analysis of the responses produced by a separate sample of 269 students confirmed these four factors. As in the study that had been carried out in Pakistan by Ullah et al (2011), neither clear goals and standards nor an emphasis on independence emerged as a salient construct for Japanese postsecondary students.…”

“…A factor analysis of the students' responses yielded just four factors: three were concerned with generic skills, appropriate assessment and appropriate workload; the fourth factor was concerned with good teaching, specifically construed in terms of the students' perceptions of the prevalent instructional practices. Ullah et al (2011) concluded that the clarity of goals and standards and the role of independence were not salient dimensions along which Pakistani students evaluated different learning environments.…”

“…These findings may indicate that the more nuanced concepts that are reflected in the original CEQ scales are gradually emerging in the general discourse about higher education in China. Ullah, Richardson, and Hafeez (2011) included the CEQ in a survey of 912 students at two universities in Pakistan. The CEQ was administered in English (the language of instruction), but some of the items were reworded for the Pakistani context.…”