Quality of school life model for early withdrawal from the core French program

Rose, William (1992) Quality of school life model for early withdrawal from the core French program. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (20MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The research analyzes student perceptions of their school lives and how this correlates and impacts upon other variables in accounting for early withdrawal from core French. Six basic questions are researched, which include: (i) Why do many students decide to withdraw from core French sometime before beginning grade ten? (ii) To what extent do certain background variables account for this early withdrawal from core French? (iii) How does ability in French contribute to this early withdrawal? (iv) To what extent do students' perceptions of school life account for this early withdrawal? (v) To what extent does attitudes toward core French instruction account for this early withdrawal? (vi) To what extent does student well-being or satisfaction and dissatisfaction with schooling account for this early withdrawal? -- The sample for this study was taken from within the Exploit's White Bay Roman Catholic School District. Included in the sample were all grade nine students who were enrolled in core French during the school year 1989-90. The students were from eight schools ranging from a small school with 2.7 percent of the sample to a school with 21.3 percent of the sample. The data were gathered by administering student questionaires, a French achievement test and a student intention form. The instruments measured four domains of each of the quality of school life, attitudes towards French and student well-being (satisfaction and dissatisfaction). Permission was given by parents and the school board to conduct this research. -- Multiple regression and second-order factor analyses were conducted in determining the significance of the various relationships. The model included a dichotomous dependent variable which was determined by the actual decision of the students to withdraw or not to withdraw from core French. The alpha reliabilities were acceptably high for each measure. The direct, indirect and total effects of independent variables on dependent variables were calculated along with correlations and t-values. -- In terms of total effects, the gender and quality of school life variables were of negligible significance as predictors of early withdrawal from core French. The impact of French attitude was marginally significant as a predictor of early withdrawal in that the more positive the attitude the less likely students were to withdraw other things equal. -- The re-specified model for early withdrawal from core French indicated that the most important factors in the model were both French achievement at the beginning and end of grade 9, and the overall satisfaction with schooling. Students who were performing well in French at the end of grade 9 were likely to stay in French. However, students who were least satisfied with school were more likely to withdraw from core French than students who were experiencing greater satisfaction with school.

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