Factors influencing general educational course selection among Chulalongkorn University students

Abstract

This study was conducted to explore the influence of academic motivation (extrinsic, intrinsic) according to the motivation continuum on students’ general education course (GenEd). The four factors influencing students’ course selection were categorized as either intrinsic or extrinsic factor academic motivation. It was hypothesized that intrinsically motivated students would value intrinsic factors (applicability and enjoyment and satisfaction) and extrinsic factors (grades and social influence) differently. Likewise, extrinsically motivated students would value extrinsic factors and intrinsic factors differently. A total of 89 international program undergraduate students (29 males and 60 females) from Chulalongkorn University were randomly recruited to complete the questionnaire. Repeated measures ANOVA and follow-up ttest were used to analysis the main data. The results indicated that intrinsically and extrinsically motivated participants valued both types of factors differently. Intrinsic participants ranked enjoyment and satisfaction the highest, while valuing grades, applicability, and social influence at a similar level. Extrinsic participants valued applicability the least, while social influence, grades and enjoyment and satisfaction are in a comparable level. Moreover, the additional analyses were conducted to further examine whether the extreme scores data would produce any novel results.