Internal Dynamics of Study Group on Students' Academic Performance : Influence of Collaborative Learning Contexts on Academic Performance

The book is aimed at finding out the influence of the dynamics of study groups on students' academic performance. Results of the study show that there is a strong positive relationship between the internal dynamics of the group students' belong to and their academic performance. However, the independent variables do not affect performance in English and Mathematics unless there is academic effort. A significant relationship was found between students' self-concept of academic ability and the effort the put into their learning; that is, the number of hours they spend to study during the week and at weekends. The overall results of the study show that the internal dynamics of the groups that students belong to can boost or deflate their confidence in their ability to achieve success; this self-confidence also spurs them on to study hard and eventually do well. Thus the internal dynamics can affect academic performance only when self-efficacy is boosted and when academic effort is also increased.