American Journal of Educational Research

Supervision of the student teachers is essential during the teaching practice exercise; however the way or manner that some of the newly employed lecturers handle it tend to discourage the student teachers. This suggests that these categories of teachers needed an orientation exercise/seminar to put them through in their assessment and supervision. This paper therefore highlight the objective of Teaching practice (TP), functions/roles of supervisors, stages of supervision and recommendations are made towards ensuring an itch free and effective teaching practice supervision.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 840-842. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-21
Pub. Date: September 25, 2014

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Does Russian English Exist?

by Olga Bondarenko

Original Research

The researcher investigated and described the characteristic features of English of Russian EFL users in the context of World Englishes. Russian-like English in use is regarded at different levels, from pronunciation to syntactic structures and further to written and oral discourse. The Russian accent in English was studied through frequent and typical errors made by Russian natives and was interpreted as a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural phenomenon. Russian error analysis became the framework of this research. The analysis was made at several levels with contrastive analysis techniques involved and the results were explicated as negative interference. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were undertaken, the results of which were summarized and illustrated with examples. The quantitative evidence was provided of error spread and individual error profiles, i.e. the most numerous types of errors in each individual error count and the most common combinations of such error type peaks. The research was based on the analysis of a considerable corpus of written and oral discourse samples featuring Russian errors in English made by Russians and collected by the researcher during the years of teaching practice from 2000 to 2014. The research results are suggestive of regarding Russian accent in English as a performance variety of English.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 832-839. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-20
Pub. Date: September 24, 2014

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Teaching Recorder: Creating Excitement in the Instrumental Music Classes

by Alan Caldas Simões

Original Research

In this paper we describe strategies for teaching recorder in elementary school. We seek to answer the following question: How to develop teaching strategies that allow students to make music since the first lesson in a pleasant, and appropriate to their musical environment, age and technical level? Traditional musical education focuses on the teaching of instrumental technique and musical notation. These approaches may inhibit or discourage beginner’s music students. Furthermore, in many cases, the repertoire chosen by the teacher does not take into account the student's everyday lives. Thus we developed a recorder method for beginners based on the principles of learning folk musicians, seeking technical and theoretical work in context and meaningful to the student. This method was applied during the year 2013-2014 in four classes of elementary school in Brazil. In our article, we describe the process of creating songs for beginners and the results of its application in the classroom. We present the scores for these songs and analyze their implications for teaching and learning music. The results indicate that: (a) the style, arrangement and technical level of execution of songs worked on in the classroom can be determinant stimulus for beginner students continue with their musical studies; (b) approaches that value the music active listening allow the student to develop increased autonomy in the classroom; and (c) an exciting musical practice should take into account age, musical knowledge and student's reality.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 828-831. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-19
Pub. Date: September 23, 2014

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The Bottom up Evaluation at Universities

by Marek Botek and Tomáš Macák

Original Research

Evaluation is one of the most important tasks of a manager. Multi-criteria method is often used to increase objectivity. Opinion and satisfaction of students with their classes, courses, teaching and teachers is often used as a part of an evaluation at universities. This article wants to show that student surveys are not representative and objective. The opinion carried in this article is based on study which was made at a prestigious technical university in Prague, the Czech Republic. The paper has been processed based on the analysis and evaluation of secondary sources and outcome synthesis. Survey has been realized in June 2014. It included all subjects which are taught at the university during winter semester 2012/2013. Only laboratories were excluded. There was total of 330 subjects which were part of the study. In a conclusion of the article there are discussed ways for increasing representativeness of the bottom-up evaluation and also possibilities how to take the finding into evaluation in managerial practice.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 823-827. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-18
Pub. Date: September 19, 2014

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Pre-reading Assignments: Promoting Comprehension of Classroom Textbook Materials

by Sami A. Al-wossabi

Original Research

Reading is seen today as one of the most fundamental skills to acquire knowledge in any discipline. The present study is an attempt to highlight such importance for EFL Saudi learners at Jazan University. It investigates the influence of pre-reading assignments on maximizing Saudi EFL learners' comprehension of classroom textbook materials. In this regard, 60 learners were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups designed to qualify the above statement. Participants in both groups were introduced to language acquisition learning theories for three-month period. However, in the experimental group, learners were instructed via the use of pre-reading assignments. An unpaired sample of T- test is used for this study to determine if there is a significant difference of achievement for subjects introduced to pre-reading assignments. The results of the study revealed that there is a strong correlation between the use of pre-reading assignments and better comprehension of classroom learning materials. The study concludes with a rationale to empower and utilize the use of pre- reading strategies in the EFL Saudi learning context.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 817-822. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-17
Pub. Date: September 17, 2014

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Use of Standardized Test to Develop Literacy Levels of Students in Primary Schools

by Horatio Morgan

Original Research

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the Grade Four Literacy Test (G4LT) in Jamaica as a preparatory agent for improved performances in the literacy levels of students who complete the standardized Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). This research was based on the use of quantitative analysis and variable correlations. Data was collected from a secondary source on performance rates of students who completed the G4LT and the GSAT in the areas of Language Arts and Communication Task from 2003 to 2013. In-addition, data was obtained from the Devinfo Edustatjamaica Database of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and reviewed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Micro-Soft Word Excel. The results indicated that indeed there exist a relationship between the performance levels on the G4LT and the GSAT Examinations. It also showed that in both examinations, relative increases have taken place in the national averages of the students.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 811-816. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-16
Pub. Date: September 17, 2014

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Principals’ Transformational Leadership Skills in Public Secondary Schools: A Case of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions and Academic Achievement in Nairobi County, Kenya

by Beatrice Ndiga, Catherine Mumuikha, Fedha Flora, Margaret Ngugi and shem mwalwa

Original Research

Due to reforms in the education sector, school managers need to appreciate the new policies and laws that guide school management, namely Children’s Act and Basic Education Act. Management of resources while ensuring accountability and integrity to the public is equally crucial. The reforms emanate from the Education changes brought about by the new constitution dispensation and the devolved system of Government. The managers of schools need to appreciate the new policies and laws that guide the management of schools such as: Education being a basic human right, therefore being free and compulsory and schools being disability friendly. There is also the element of participation which is important. Management of resources while ensuring accountability and Integrity to the public is equally crucial. Sessional Paper No 1 of 2005 emphasizes improving quality completion rates both at the primary and secondary school level of education (MOE: 2005). There have been reports about the literacy and academic achievement of students in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Examination that point towards a decline in academic standards. With all these, the overall outlook of school managers has to change. This paper explores the way forward to a better understanding and management of schools in a new kind of leadership, transformational leadership, hence the need for this study. The study aimed to establish teachers’ and students’ perceptions on the Principals’ transformational leadership in Nairobi County, Kenya and correlate these to student academic achievement. Transformational leadership among the principals in Nairobi were examined and correlated with the study dependent variable, the student academic achievement. The two research objectives that guided the study were: (1) To find out the extent to which the principals in Nairobi County exhibit transformational leadership (2) To determine the correlation between the principals’ transformational leadership and student academic achievement. A mixed method approach was adopted by the study where both naturalistic and descriptive survey designs were used. Qualitative approach was utilized to gather more in- depth information from the principals and other respondents. A total of 21 eligible public secondary schools were drawn from a sampling frame of 73 schools through stratified sampling method. A total of ten teachers, ten students and the principal from each eligible school were sampled and included in the study. A total of 21 principals from each eligible school were included in the study. The total sample size was therefore four hundred and forty one (441) respondents drawn from the selected 21 public secondary schools. Questionnaires and interview guides were employed to collect data. Likert items with a 5-point response scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree were included in the questionnaire. The data was sorted out and analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Correlations and T-test were used to examine how well the transformational leadership factors correlated with student achievement. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft's Excel and data presented using tables. The results of the study indicated that (i) there was a moderate, negative correlation between student perception towards principals’ transformational leadership and student achievement, which was statistically significant (ii) there was a strong, positive correlation between teacher perception towards principals’ transformational leadership and student achievement, which was statistically significant. The study recommends action plan by TSC in establishing training needs and training principals in transformational leadership.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 801-810. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-15
Pub. Date: September 15, 2014

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Moral or Authoritative Leadership: Which One is Better for Faculty Members?

by Bilal Afsar

Original Research

While much has been written and empirically researched about leadership style, little effort has been made to make out what constitutes successful and effective leadership for university teachers of Pakistan. Paternalistic leadership is a promising body of research that has been tailored to the Pakistani context in this study. The research focuses on the impact of two most important dimensions of paternalistic leadership on the commitment and organization citizenship behavior of university teachers of Pakistan. A questionnaire was used in this research to survey the relationship among moral and authoritative leadership behaviors, organization citizenship behavior and organization commitment. Data was obtained from 798 faculty members from thirteen public sector universities of Pakistan. We found that: (i) morality increased teacher’s affective and continuance organization commitment, whereas authoritarianism negatively influenced the affective commitment; and (ii) morality positively affected the organization citizenship behavior and authoritarian paternalistic leadership negatively affected citizenship behavior.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 793-800. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-14
Pub. Date: September 11, 2014

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Effects of Analogy Instructional Strategy, Cognitive Style and Gender on Senior Secondary School Students Achievement in Some Physics Concepts in Mubi Metropolis, Nigeria

by UGWUMBA AUGUSTINE OKORONKA and BITRUS ZIRA WADA

Original Research

The study investigated the effects of analogy instructional strategy, cognitive style and gender on senior secondary school students achievement in some physics concepts in Mubi Metropolis, Nigeria. Instructional strategy at two levels was crossed with two levels of cognitive style and two levels of gender which served as moderator variables. A 2x2x2 matrix, pre-test, post-test, control group, quasi-experimental design was employed for matching the factors. Data were collected using two validated and reliable instruments namely: the Cognitive Style Test (CST) and Physics Achievement Test (PAT). A total of 82 senior secondary school two (SS 2) students from four schools took part in the study. Data were analysed using mean, t-test, factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Least Significant Difference (LSD) Post Hoc Mean Comparison Test. The results showed significant main effect of treatment on achievement and significant interaction effect on achievement when cognitive style was crossed with gender. The more effective treatment was the analogy instructional strategy. Analytical female students and non-analytical male students were homogeneous, while the analytical male and non-analytical females were not in the same homogeneous group.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 788-792. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-13
Pub. Date: September 10, 2014

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Differences in Body Image and Health among Sport Active and Passive Adults as a Base for School Health Education

by Ludmila Fialová

Original Research

The contribution concerns the aspects of body image, self evaluation, physical self, sport activities, health care, personal satisfaction and the possibility of improvement. The aim of the research “Body image as a part of active life style” was to learn about the importance and level of satisfaction with particular aspects of the physical and psychological self and degree of felt control and opportunity for change. The questionnaire contains 8 parts: personal data, importance and satisfaction with “My body and health” and “My thinking and feelings”, self control, opportunity for change, health status, sport activities, somatic type. 866 women and 769 men were interviewed. The results show that the more physically active people value their body and health much higher and they prove a significantly higher satisfaction with monitored aspects of their own physical and psychological status. At the same time, they feel they have more control over their body and feelings. They also perceive more positively the opportunity to change, which indicates greater self confidence. The number of health complaints declared by these respondents is significantly lower than that reported by inactive participants. Control over thoughts and feelings was reported by approx. 65% of respondents and control of body and health by even fewer respondents (approx. 60%). There is an interesting difference in terms of control over activities for change or the ability to cope with negative things – this type of control was felt by 71% of women but only 46% of men. This result may indicate that men are less ready to deal with changes.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 782-787. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-12
Pub. Date: September 05, 2014

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Teachers Perceptions towards Modules Used in Vocational and Technical Education

by Nihat UYANGÖR, Hasan Hüseyin ŞAHAN and Mustafa TANRIVERDİ

Original Research

This paper is a situational research aiming at determining teachers’ perceptions with regard to Modules Used in Vocational and Technical Education. The data were collected from 12 teachers via semi-structured interview method. Context analysis is applied for the data. According to the data, teachers have positive ideas in some main points with regard to the modules, but they stated that there were very important problems in the process of their application. There are two main reasons for these problems. First, modules were not prepared by specialist and they were very far from real business life. Teachers’ perceptions towards modules are not different from each other in three different institutions.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 775-781. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-11
Pub. Date: September 05, 2014

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The Contribution of Homeroom Teachers’ Attachment Styles and of Students’ Maternal Attachment to the Explanation of Attachment-like Relationships between Teachers and Students with Disabilities

by David Granot

Original Research

Over the past 25 years, numerous studies have sought to explore the ways in which the quality of teacher-student relationship develops. Such relationships are considered particularly significant in the case of students diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study involved 65 dyads of Israeli homeroom teachers and their students (mean age = 10.9) with disabilities (LD, ADHD, and LD/ADHD comorbidity) in regular educational settings, receiving special assistance from "integration teachers." The study examined the effect of student-teacher attachment features on day-to-day student-teacher “attachment-like” relationships. Students reported on their felt security with their mother using a maternal attachment security scale. Appraisal of the teacher as a secure base was conducted using availability/acceptance and rejection scales. Teachers completed the attachment style (secure, avoidant, and ambivalent) questionnaire and the teacher-student relationship scale concerning emotional closeness, conflict, and student dependency. Findings show that elementary and junior high school teachers and their students develop relational perceptions of secure and insecure attachment-like relationships. The teachers’ caregiver perception of the relationship was explained strictly by the students’ reports of day-to-day security in the teacher-student relationship. Student care receiver perception of the actual teacher-student relationship was explained with greater sensitivity by maternal attachment security, teacher attachment style, and teacher-reported day-to-day security in the teacher-student relationship. Finally, the teachers’ attachment level of security was found to moderate the association between student maternal attachment security and the students’ appraisal of teacher as a secure base. Students of teachers with a mid-to-high level of attachment security exhibited a positive association, whereas students of teachers with mid-to-low level of attachment security exhibited no association. Implications for teacher education and research are discussed.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 764-774. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-10
Pub. Date: September 05, 2014

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Professional Development of Educators in Russia in the Paradigm of European Tendencies of LLL

by Tatiana Voronchenko, Marina Fomina and Lyudmila Tatarnikova

Original Research

Life Long Learning, which has acquired great significance in recent years, is an urgent factor in the educational policy of many countries. LLL is considered to be a debatable issue among educators dealing with psychological, methodical and financial aspects of this phenomenon, because of the number of approaches to it. Nevertheless, the concept of LLL presupposes some basic features, such as the presence of the educational environment at any schooling age, the variety of learning trajectories and the established system of improvement of professional skills and abilities. Special importance is given to the professional development of educators, who are not only transmitters and translators of scientific doctrines but are responsible for the formation of spiritual values of the younger generation. There are a number of different programmes in the EU that focus on satisfying the growing needs of sustaining mental fitness and potential employability of people. The field of university education in Russia has both similarities and differences with the learning strategies of the EU. The implementation of LLL technologies among Russian university teachers is present now in three major forms: mastering English, improving professional skills and providing computerized learning environments. It is concluded that professional development of educators occupies one of the most promising areas in the paradigm of LLL, due to the fact that professional qualifications of teachers ensure the quality of the teaching-learning process.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 759-763. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-9
Pub. Date: September 04, 2014

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Factors Contributing to Academic Performance of Students in a Tertiary Institution in Singapore

by S. Valli Jayanthi, Santhi Balakrishnan, Angela Lim Siok Ching, Noor Aaqilah Abdul Latiff and A.M.A. Nasirudeen

Original Research

This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing the academic performance of students in a tertiary institution in Singapore. The main method of data collection was a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 144 students. The specific objectives of the study were to determine if factors such as gender, age, nationality of student, part-time employment, extracurricular activities and interest in pursuing higher studies affected academic success. The study also examined the learning methods used by students and how these affected their academic scores. The students’ cumulative Grade Point Average (cGPA) was used as a measure of academic performance. The data were analyzed quantitatively and the results showed that factors such as gender, nationality of student, co-curricular activities and an interest in pursuing higher degrees affected students’ academic scores. The use of past year examination papers as a learning method improved students’ academic scores compared to other methods.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 752-758. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-8
Pub. Date: September 03, 2014

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An Investigation on the Anxiety of Turkish Mothers Living in the USA about Their Children’s Future

by Sengul Ilgar and Nihat Topac

Original Research

The purpose of this study is to investigate the anxiety of Turkish mothers from different socio-economic levels about their adolescence period children’s future. The investigation is a qualitative study composed of 24 mothers. In the analysis of interview results, descriptive analysis method was used in line with qualitative data analysis. When the anxiety of mothers in different socio-economic level families about their children’s future was investigated, all mothers in higher, middle and lower socio-economic levels had the anxiety that their children would alienate from Turkish culture, feel shy about being Turkish, have a cultural dilemma and find our cultural values nonsense. While the children’s being unwilling to learn Turkish and forgetting the language was the first anxiety that middle class family mothers mentioned, higher socio-economic level mothers stated their anxiety about their children’s getting married to a non-Turkish person.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 745-751. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-7
Pub. Date: August 28, 2014

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Develop a Self-Evaluation Questionnaire for Evidence-Based Practice Education

by Kee-Hsin Chen, Pei-Chuan Tzeng, Tzu-Hsuan Chen, Ken N. Kuo, Hsueh-Erh Liu and Chiehfeng (Cliff) Chen

Original Research

Background: Teaching Evidence-based practice (EBP) should be evaluated and guided by evidence of its own effectiveness. As educators implementing EBP training, they need instruments to evaluate the learning outcomes of trainees. For that reason, to develop a reliable and minimal time-consuming instrument is necessary. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of an EBP evaluation instrument, the Taipei Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (TEBPQ). Methods: The content validity index (CVI) and Cronbach's αwere used to analyze the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. After that, a two parallel group (novice and experienced learner) study design for was designed to determine the construct validity of the instrument. Results: Taipei Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (TEBPQ) contained 26 self-report questions, which includes domain of ‘Ask’ (5 items), ‘Acquire’ (7 items), ‘Appraisal’ (4 items), ‘Apply’ (6 items) and ‘Attitude’ (4 items) of evidence-based practice, and learners’ basic characteristics. The overall CVI of TEBPQ was 0.9; while Cronbach's α was 0.87. The construct validity showed that all p values were significant (p<0.05) among 5 domains. Conclusions: The results indicated that the TEBPQ is an instrument with good validity and reliability for evaluating the effectiveness of EBP education.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 740-744. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-6
Pub. Date: August 28, 2014

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Physiological Evaluation of the Players’ Emotions in Different Educational Games

by Jian-Sheng Li, Yun-Xia Han and Shan Liu

Original Research

The player’s personality in games has been studied in recently. This study explored whether the game types could affect learner’s learning emotions in educational games or not and inferred which kind of game has the potential in education. As a sample, 40 players were recruited to evaluate three electronic games on training players’ abilities to use the games. In this paper, the players’ heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded through Biofeedback instrument to explore learner's emotions. After evaluating the games’ scores by the related scales, three different kinds of games (“Balance”, “Rescue” and “Gates of Logic.”) are chosen as test materials. The experiment results show three games all arouse the players’ an overall positive emotions. The increasing HF and the unchanging LF/HF show the different types’ games can arouse the different degrees of pleasure.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 735-739. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-5
Pub. Date: August 25, 2014

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National ICT Program- A Lever to Change Teachers' Work

by Noga Magen-Nagar and Tamar Shamir-Inbal

Original Research

The current research examines the impact of the national ICT program on changing classroom performance of teachers in regard to both use of technology and perception of resulting changes. The research methodology integrated qualitative and quantitative methods. A total of 1,035 elementary school teachers who joined the program in 2010-2011 participated in a semi-enclosed questionnaire that was constructed especially for this research. The main finding indicates that a large-scale change occurred in teachers' classroom activity and in their perceptions of pedagogical essence, which is necessary for the integration of technology into teaching. However the findings indicate that most teachers use technology as a supplement for existing teaching-learning methods, and do not implement a meaningful change in their work that may lead to transforming the teaching-learning task from traditional to advanced digital teaching methods. It can be assumed that if the educational system continues to support the training of teachers and consistently and systematically outlines a suitable pedagogical path, a significant change in teachers' work characteristic of teachers can be expected in the course of the next several years.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 727-734. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-4
Pub. Date: August 24, 2014

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Contributions from Data Mining to Study Academic Performance of Students of a Tertiary Institute

by David L. la Red Martínez and Carlos E. Podestá Gómez

Original Research

Education-oriented data mining allows to predict determined type of factor or characteristic of a case, phenomenon or situation. In this article the mining models used are described and the main results are discussed. Mining models of clustering, classification and association are considered especially. In all cases seeks to determine patterns of academic success and failure for students, thus predicting the likelihood of dropping them or having poor academic performance, with the advantage of being able to do it early, allowing addressing action to reverse this situation. This work was done in 2013 with information on the years 2009 to 2013, students of the subject Operating Systems tertiary career Superior Technical Analyst (TSAP) Higher Institute of Curuzú Cuatiá (ISCC), Corrientes, Argentina.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 713-726. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-3
Pub. Date: August 24, 2014

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Lessons from the Recovery Training Program for Service Users Empowerment

by Marta Anczewska, Alicja Multarzyńska, Joanna Krzyżanowska-Zbucka, Joanna Roszczyńska-Michta, Justyna Waszkiewicz and Justyna Tucholska

Original Research

In the recent years there has been growing interest in the process of recovery, not in the sense of clinical remission but rather in terms of being able to lead a meaningful and satisfying life, despite illness symptoms and psychosocial difficulties. The personal recovery is driven by people’s lived, subjective experiences of psychotic crisis and challenges the diagnosis of permanent, chronic, disabling mental illness. One of the activities, which might foster recovery, is lifelong learning paradigm. This paper presents the results of twelve hours training focused on the following topics: recovery – individual experiences, barriers in the process of recovery, social and internalized stigma, empowerment, personal strengths, problem solving, personal recovery plan, and life narrative story. The participants found it to be a positive experience: helpful and supportive. They agreed that talking of their strengths was much useful and made them feel good. In their opinions’ the most important exercise was personal recovery plan which has given them the opportunity to establish individual, meaningful life goals, provide them with hope and self-determination. These results need replication and further work to identify what were the preconditions for making the training such a valuable experience and how this could be replicated on a wider basis.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 709-712. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-2
Pub. Date: August 24, 2014

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Outcomes and Characteristics of Faculty/Student Mentorship in PhD Programs

by Michelle Mollica and Lynne Nemeth

Review Article

With increasing numbers of doctoral programs, and a persistent high attrition rate, the need to provide support to PhD students grows. Faculty mentoring is one strategy employed by many doctoral programs to address attrition, although objectives, methods and responsibilities of the mentor role vary. The purpose of this integrative literature review was to synthesize outcomes and characteristics of faculty/student mentorship in PhD programs. This integrative review included studies from 2003-April 2014 in peer-reviewed journals, found from a comprehensive search of PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, PsycInfo, and GoogleScholar. Key search terms included: mentor, faculty, student, advisor, doctoral, education, engagement, attrition, retention, and PhD. The search strategy yielded a total of 850 references; 47 were retrieved, read and rated for relevance and research quality. A set of 12 articles met relevance criteria. Results indicate that although successful faculty mentoring is time consuming, students benefit from decreases in social isolation, and increased progression and retention through doctoral programs.

American Journal of Educational Research. 2014, 2(9), 703-708. DOI: 10.12691/education-2-9-1
Pub. Date: August 22, 2014

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