Effect of Structured and semi-structured Tasks on Behavioral and Motivational Engagement of Undergraduate Students in Educational Science

Assignment is an activity given to learners after teaching and can be done in the classroom under teacher's supervision or outside the classroom. Some of the assignments that are done as a part of classroom work in the learning environment are called class assignments, and others are taken home by the learner so that they can benefit from parents’ assistance in addition to teacher support. Thus, part of the learner's time outside the school environment is devoted to homework. In general, homework is an important principle in the teaching-learning process. Researchers believe that classroom assignments provide learners with the opportunity to practice more on the concepts presented in class. Teachers also use classroom assignments to help learners learn and engage after class time, and parents become aware of their children's learning process. This research has been conducted to examine the effect of type of structured and semi-structured tasks on the behavioral engagement and motivational engagement of students in Educational Sciences in academic year of 2016-2017.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population included all the students of Bu-Ali Sina university in the field educational science in academic year of 2016-2017. Of these, 30 students were selected through a random sampling procedure and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (15 per group). A group with structured task and another with semi-structured assignments. Data was collected by Thinou's Engagement Questionnaire (2009). Validity of this questionnaire has been obtained  through content validity and formalism, and  reliability of the questionnaire in the internal consistency of the questionnaire, using Cronbach's alpha was 0.96 and in the sub-components this value for behavioral involvement was 0.90 and motivational engagement 0.92. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics including frequency, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics including independent sample t-test and covariance analysis test were used.

The results revealed that there is no difference between the type of structured and semi-structured tasks and student motivational and behavioral engagement.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be said that both types of tasks, semi-structured and structured, provide engaging conditions for learners. Semi-structured tasks, due to their greater degree of independence and identity, lead to learners’ commitment, satisfaction and the structure of the learner's intellectual control. Structured assignments, due to their features such as regularity and similarity to the structure of long-term memory, as well as careful planning and scheduling, make people less stressed make them do their homework without ambiguity, and as a result, the person does the without worrying about running out of time. They also increase a person's emotional involvement.