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The relationship between learner control of CAI and locus of control among hispanic students

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Abstract

This study investigated achievement and motivation effects related to locus of control (internal and external) and three levels of learner control (no control, moderate control, and high control).

The 101 seventh-grade and eighth-grade Hispanic subjects were classified as internal or external based on locus of control (loc) scores, blocked by sex and grade, then randomly assigned to the three levels of learner control in separate versions of a CAI instructional program in science.

Internalloc subjects did not choose more en route practice than externals and did not perform better under high learner control. Theloc results raise questions about the usefulness of locus of control as it relates to instruction, at least with populations similar to the present one.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Education and Human Services department of Arizona State University, West Campus, 85069-7100, Phoenix, AZ

    Cecilia L. López

  2. the Division of Psychology in Education, Arizona State University, 85287-0111, Tempe, AZ

    Maria Harper

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  1. Cecilia L. López
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  2. Maria Harper
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The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Howard Sullivan on this research and in preparation of the manuscript.

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López, C.L., Harper, M. The relationship between learner control of CAI and locus of control among hispanic students. ETR&D 37, 19–28 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02307718

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