Literature Review Blog #1

1.  Authors: Chan, Hsun-Yu; Wang, Xueli

2. Citation:
Chan, Hsun-yu, Wang, Xueli. “Interact for What? The Relationship between Interpersonal Interaction Based on Motivation and Educational Outcomes among Students in Manufacturing Programs at Two-Year Technical Colleges.” Community College Review. 44.1 (2016): 26-48. Web.

3.Summary: This reading talks about a study performed to observe the interactions of differently motivated students entering manufacturing programs at different public two-year technical colleges. The study found that these interactions can be grouped into three different categories, depending on the different underlying motivations. Towards the end, they also use their findings and give the information to the schools they studied from, giving them pointers on how to improve their learning environment.

4. Authors: Xueli Wang has a masters degree on Higher Education and Student Affairs from OSU. She studies college students' pathways and success, with a particular focus on community colleges and undergraduate STEM education. Hsun-Yu Chan received his masters degree in the Department of Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin. His research interest includes peer relation, peer influence, and parent-child conversation. Hsun-yu also works in an NSF-funded project focusing on improving technical college student learning and academic success. The fact that both these authors have masters on topics regarding education and students shows me that they are knowledgeable on my topic.

5. Key terms:

Interpersonal Interaction - "a communication process that involves the exchange of information, feelings and meaning by means of verbal and non-verbal messages, between two or more persons."

Manufacturing Programs - have "distinctive and rich curricular environments and contexts that serve as an optimal venue for exploring interaction among students (e.g., through both individual and group projects) and between students and faculty (e.g., through workshops) in more diverse ways as opposed to in other programs such as liberal arts transfer programs." 

6. Quotes:
- "To address this gap in the literature, the present study explored different forms of interaction based on motivation among two-year college students in manufacturing programs, and how these different forms of interaction are associated with academic achievement (i.e., grade point average [GPA]) and retention/graduation."
- "They surveyed four-year college students on the reasons for engaging in interaction with faculty (i.e., SFI), and the results from factor analysis revealed five major motivations: relational, functional, excuse, participating, and sycophancy. While the relational and sycophantic motives are relationship-oriented, the other three motives are linked to cognitive learning."
- "...we argue that individuals' motivation for interaction represents a more accurate approach to understanding interaction and its potential link to future educational outcomes. Furthermore, we argue that motivation is a latent drive that propels individuals to engage in certain behaviors to meet their needs, similar to Pintrich's (1999, 2004) conceptualization that motivational belief informs self-regulatory learning strategies."

7. Value: This material will help me explore my research question because not only does it talk about motivation and perform a study surrounding the topic, it also references many other researchers and their studies relating to my topic. Even if the information does not perfectly end up fitting in with my paper, I will have access to many other studies as a result of this scholarly article.