Student question-generation: The learning processes involved and their relationships with students' perceived value

Abstract

Studies on student question-generation have mainly emphasized its value as an instructional intervention and examined its effects using experimental or action research methods. Although the theoretical foundations of student question-generation are sound and its empirical bases are solid, issues with regard to the nature of the enacted learning processes and their relationships with perceived value remain largely unexamined empirically. These issues should have important instructional implications, as well as empirical, methodological, and theoretical significance. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the nature of student question-generation learning processes using information processing and student approaches to learning theories; establish empirical evidence for multiple learning approaches and investigate whether any learning strategies and task value differences exist among different learning approaches; and examine the relationships among learning strategies, learning approaches, and task value. This study uses a survey research method and incorporates a student question-generation component into an undergraduate course that is part of a teacher preparation program. Instruments with established reliability and validity are used. This study has four major findings. First, within a student question-generation context, learners tend to activate learning strategies and use a deep learning approach when studying. Second, students may commit themselves to more than one learning approach during a specific task. Third, learners with different learning approaches are found to have statistically significant differences in their use of learning strategies and perceived task value. Fourth, learners who perceive more value in student question-generation tend to adopt a deep learning approach. The theoretical, methodological, and empirical significance of this study is highlighted, followed by suggestions for instructional implementations and future work.