Students’ perceptions of academic counselling at the University

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The Self-Efficacy Theory

The word ‘efficacy’ according to the Oxford Dictionary of English (2010) simply refers to the ability to produce a desired result in a specific situation. In relation to Bandura’s theory, Zulkosky (2009) defines the concept as the ‘power to produce an effect’ (p. 95). Further meaningful suggestions of the concept ‘efficacy’ are effectiveness, productivity or fruitfulness. An integration of this understanding with that of the ‘self’, which refers to a person’s identity, reflects Bandura’s theoretical implication that, our self-efficacy belief systems define our thoughts, feelings and behaviour (Zeldin et al., 2008). The self-efficacy theory holds that individuals’ decisions regarding impending tasks, their persistence on those tasks and the strength they expend in carrying out the tasks (Tschannen-Moran & McMaste, 2009) are often determined by their self-efficacy belief systems. Individuals will accordingly avoid or exert less effort in situations about which they feel less capable or possess a lower level of self-efficacy, but with high expectations of the self, others will increase their willingness to persevere on their tasks towards high attainment (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). In short, Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy belief system operates like a self-fulfilling prophecy where individuals’ beliefs in their personal capabilities to perform an act, increases their achievement levels on those tasks.

The Social Cognitive Theory

The three key interactive factors that stimulate human behaviour in the theory comprise the environment, the individual and the behaviour itself (Pajares, 2009). The environment or social world of the individual comprises all the external stimuli, including the objects and people around him. The individual factor also consists of the unique personality traits, cognitive factors as well as experiences of the person. The behavioural factor finally represents the manner the individual adopts to undertake his operations within the environment. In this theoretical discourse, the three components comprising the environment, the individual’s behaviour and his personality are in a constant cyclical interaction. As the individual acts on his environment to achieve his daily purposes, the environmental components in turn influence the intensity and frequency of his behaviour to revert to the individual in completion of the triadic cycle. All three levels of interaction however do not occur simultaneously, neither do they possess the same level of potency. Rather they cooperate with each other (reciprocally) to produce the resultant behaviour of the individual (Schunk & Usher, 2012). Humans thus develop their personalities via the interactions of the three constantly interacting factors.

The goal achievement process

A similar cycle is presented in the human goal-achievement process. According to Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory, the four stages of self-observation, self-evaluation, self-reaction and self-efficacy (Redmond & Mulnihil, 2015) interact in a fixed continuous cycle to result in the goals we seek to achieve. The initial self-observation stage involves a general assessment of the task ahead for the valuation of the required factors in accomplishing the impending task. The next level (self-evaluation) involves a comparison of the individual’s current attainment or performance level with the impending task or goal. The intention is to ascertain one’s likely performance on the task ahead, based on 41 available skills before tackling it. The significance of self-evaluation is also to offer an opportunity of familiarization with the task and to motivate the individual through regularity and proximity. The final self-reaction stage is where the individual undertakes the task to produce a performance (self-reaction). Once accomplished, the individual’s performance strength on this task becomes a key source for constructing future self-efficacy belief systems, and an ultimate measure for all future assignments is attained (Redmond & Mulnihil, 2015). In effect, an outstanding performance on a previous task results in a high self-efficacy belief system that continues to motivate the individual into future accomplishments (Redmond, 2009).

Sources of self- efficacy beliefs

The four main sources of self-efficacy beliefs comprise mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological reactions (Adeyemo, 2007; Pajares, 2009; Redmond & Mulvihill, 2015). Key among these sources is the mastery experience, which refers to the cyclical process of interpreting one’s constructive outcomes to continuously reinforce one’s self-efficacy belief systems for future successes. A single well-accomplished task is all one needs to mobilize more energy for further future successes. This implies better and better performances for high self-efficacy believing people (Bandura, 1986). In effect, the continuous accomplishments of simple tasks lead to the accomplishment of bigger or more challenging ones in future (Jackson, 2010). The ‘practice makes perfect’ principle is thus highlighted though similarity between the earlier and subsequent task is key to the realization of mastery experience.

Self-efficacy beliefs and academic accomplishments

Bandura’s self-efficacy belief theory explicates the focus of the current research. It stressed the importance of students’ self-efficacy beliefs in predicting their academic attainment (Vogel & Human-Vogel, 2015; Parjares & Graham, 1999). Vogel & HumanVogel, (2015) stressed the role of self-identification and students’ commitment in attaining academic success. The authors suggested that the more students felt intrinsically motivated towards their engineering study programmes, the higher their personal commitment in their tasks and therefore a resulting higher academic attainment (Vogel & Human-Vogel, 2015). Students’ high self-efficacy beliefs equally predicted their remarkable Mathematics performance in their initial study year (Pajares & Graham, 1999) 43 and further facilitated their college adjustment to engender a rippling effect on their academic attainment (Ramos-Sanchez & Nichols, 2007). According to Mills, Pajares and Herron (2007), students’ self-efficacy mediated their academic regulated acts to impact positively on their French language reading, listening and overall achievement. Students’ self-concept in studying French was equally influenced by their self-efficacy beliefs, likewise the mentally agile who consistently monitored their attainment in the subject. In relation to gender, females often displayed higher self-efficacies as compared to their male counterparts in language studies (Mills et al., 2007) but the reverse prevailed in the male dominated subjects like Mathematics and science (Zeldin et al., 2008). Clavin, Fernandes, Smith, Visscher and Deary (2010) confirmed the higher performance of females than males in language studies.

The Self Determination Theory

The self-determination theory focuses on motivation to achieve gratification for human psychological needs (Reeve, 2012). The theory comprises five interrelated motivationdefined minitheories (Reeve, 2012). Ryan and Deci, (2000b) propose that humans can either be active and engaged or passive and alienated, depending mostly on the conditions under which they operate. Engagement essentially involves partaking in internally fruitful and satisfying activities though individuals’ acts may occasionally be solely motivated by external rewards. Vansteenkiste, Lens and Deci (2006) observe that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation or autonomy versus dependence predict human behaviour. However, intrinsically motivated activities have a greater tendency of being realized in view of their internally motivated intentions (Vansteenkiste et al., 2006). Individual differences also form the basis for variations among internally motivating factors for individuals.
This justifies the dichotomies in individuals’ reactions regarding certain real-life situations. Ryan, Rigby and Przybylsky (2006) emphasize the role of autonomy and competence in increased concentration and enjoyment of playing computer games. The intuitive nature of this game enjoyment is synonymous to intrinsically motivated acts that constantly receive reinforcement for the act’s repetitive occurance (Ryan, Rigby and Przybylski, 2006). In effect, the self-determination theory stresses the social and environmental factors that facilitate or undermine the two types of motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic (Singh, 2011).

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• Contents
• ETHICS STATEMENT
• DEDICATION
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABSTRACT
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF PICTURES
• CHAPTER ONE
  • ORIENTATION AND BACKGROUND
  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Background to the Study
  • 1.3 Statement of the problem
  • 1.4 Purpose of the study
  • 1.5 Research questions
  • 1.6 Delimitation of the study
  • 1.7 Clarification of key terms
  • 1.8 Motivation for the study
  • 1.9 Highlights of the chapters
  • 1.10 Conclusion
• CHAPTER TWO
  • LITERATURE REVIEW
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 The theoretical framework of the study
  • 2.3 Students’ experiences with academic counselling
  • 2.4 Students’ attitudes towards academic counselling
  • 2.5. Students’ perceptions of academic counselling at the University
  • 2.6 The impact of academic counselling on students’ achievement
  • 2.7 Conclusion
• CHAPTER THREE
  • RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 The qualitative research approach
  • 3.3 The Paradigmatic Perspective
  • 3.4 The research design
  • 3.5 Research Methods
  • 3.6 The Role of the Researcher
  • 3.7 Conclusion
• CHAPTER FOUR
  • PRESENTATION OF STUDY RESULTS
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Results
  • 4.3 Conclusion of findings
• CHAPTER FIVE
  • INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Interpretation of study results
  • 5.3 Discussion of themes and literature control
  • 5.4 Key findings
  • 5.5 Concluding remarks
  • 5.6 Literature control
  • 5.7 Summary of empirical findings
  • 5.8 Revisiting the research questions
  • 5.9 Recommendations for the study findings
  • 5.10 Limitations of the study
  • 5.11 Contributions of the study
  • 5.12 Research conclusion
• References
  • Appendices

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STUDENT EXPERIENCES OF ACADEMIC COUNSELLING SERVICES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN GHANA