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Achievement of first-year students at the university: a multilevel analysis of the role of background diversity and student engagement

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Abstract

The massification and diversification of the student population who enters university has become a challenge for Higher Education institutions. A better consideration of this diversity could help to gain a greater understanding of students’ achievement process, and this requires observing situations where this diversity is substantial. Thus, in France University Institutes of Technology (IUT) constitute a promising context. This study aims at analyzing to what extent the diversity in student entrance backgrounds and student engagement could explain academic achievement. Analyzing the influence of these two types of variables on achievement allows to question the secondary education determinism on academic achievement. The impact of background diversity was estimated both at the individual level and at the contextual level (through class composition). To do so, multilevel analyses were performed among a sample of 748 first-year students (average age 18.43 with standard deviation of 0.98) from 50 classes in 11 IUT departments. Student engagement was measured using the “Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students” (ASSIST) and the “Strategies for Learning Questionnaire” (MSLQ). The results show that engagement in learning and academic background are both important individual factors to understand differences of students’ achievement. Moreover, classroom composition explained a significant part of student achievement differences among the classes. Student achievement differences due to the academic background were important enough not to be fully compensated by student engagement. Implications of the findings for practices and further research on the first-year experience at University are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Each of these tracks is itself subdivided into specific pathways. For example, the general track includes three specific pathways: sciences (S), economic and social sciences (ES), and literature (L). If the baccalaureate is formally the degree that gives access to university without distinction of type of higher study, in the mind of the legislator, the different baccalaureates had to lead to different types of studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LaRAC - Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Apprentissages en Contexte, UFR SHS Bâtiment Michel Dubois, Université Grenoble Alpes, 1251 Avenue Centrale CS 40700, 38058, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Laurent Lardy & Pr Pascal Bressoux

  2. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    Pr Pascal Bressoux

  3. Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, Place de l’Université 10, 1348, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Mikael De Clercq

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  1. Laurent Lardy
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  2. Pr Pascal Bressoux
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  3. Mikael De Clercq
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Correspondence to Laurent Lardy.

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➜ Laurent Lardy postdoctoral researcher associated to the LaRAC - Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Apprentissages en Contexte, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.Current Themes of Research: achievement in higher education, especially effect of background and sociocognitive factors like motivation or engagement.Most Relevant Publications: Lardy, L., Bressoux, P., & Lima, L. (2015). Les facteurs qui influencent la réussite des étudiants dans une filière universitaire technologique : Le cas de la première année d’études en DUT GEA. L’orientation scolaire et professionnelle, 44/4.

➜ Pr Pascal Bressoux, Professor of educational sciences at the LaRAC - Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Apprentissages en Contexte, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France. He is honorary member of the Institut Universitaire de France.Current Themes of Research: relationship between teaching practices/devices and students’ acquisitions. He specialized in longitudinal studies and multilevel modelling.Sanrey, C., Bressoux, P., Lima, L., & Pansu, P. (2020). A new method for studying the halo effect in teachers' judgement and its antecedents: Bringing out the role of certainty. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1-18. DOI:10.1111/bjep.12385Massonnié, J., Bianco, M., Lima, L., & Bressoux, P. (2019). Longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in French at first grade: Unpacking the oral comprehension component of the simple view. Learning and Instruction, 60, 166-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.01.005Leroy, N., & Bressoux, P. (2016). Does amotivation matter more than motivation in predicting mathematics learning gains? A longitudinal study of sixth-grade students in France. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 44-45, 41-53. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.02.001]Joët, G., Usher, E, & Bressoux, P. (2011). Sources of self-efficacy: an investigation of elementary school students in France. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(3), 649-663.Most Relevant publications:Sanrey, C., Bressoux, P., Lima, L., & Pansu, P. (2020). A new method for studying the halo effect in teachers' judgement and its antecedents: Bringing out the role of certainty. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1-18. DOI:10.1111/bjep.12385 Massonnié, J., Bianco, M., Lima, L., & Bressoux, P. (2019). Longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in French at first grade: Unpacking the oral comprehension component of the simple view. Learning and Instruction, 60, 166-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.01.005 Leroy, N., & Bressoux, P. (2016). Does amotivation matter more than motivation in predicting mathematics learning gains? A longitudinal study of sixth-grade students in France. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 44-45, 41-53. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.02.001]Joët, G., Usher, E, & Bressoux, P. (2011). Sources of self-efficacy: an investigation of elementary school students in France. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(3), 649-663.

➜ Mikael De Clercq is postdoctoral researcher in educational psychology and invited professor at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium.Current Themes of Research: The adjustment process during the transition from secondary to higher education. More precisely he addresses the role of individual and contextual diversity in first-year students adjustment to university and the impact of instructional practices on academic achievement and engagement. He is also interested in active learning and teaching and worked on cognitive and metacognitive learning processes in Higher Education. Most Relevant publications: De Clercq, M., Galand, B., & Frenay, M. (2020). One goal, different pathways: Capturing diversity in processes leading to first-year students' achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 81, 101908. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101908 De Clercq, M., Michel, C., Remy, S., & Galand, B. (2019). Providing Freshmen with a Good “Starting-Block”: Two Brief Social-Psychological Interventions to Promote Early Adjustment to the First Year at University. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 78(1-2), 69-75. doi:10.1024/1421-0185/a000217De Clercq, M., Roland, N., Brunelle, M., Galand, B., & Frenay, M. (2018). The Delicate Balance to Adjustment: A Qualitative Approach of Student’s Transition to the First Year at University. Psychologica Belgica, 58(1), 67-90. doi:https://doi.org/10.5334/pb.409 De Clercq, M., Galand, B., & Frenay, M. (2017). Transition from high school to university: a person-centered approach to academic achievement. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 32(1), 39-59. doi:10.1007/s10212-016-0298-5

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Lardy, L., Bressoux, P.P. & De Clercq, M. Achievement of first-year students at the university: a multilevel analysis of the role of background diversity and student engagement. Eur J Psychol Educ 37, 949–969 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00570-0

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