Influence of Competence-Oriented Instruction on the Learning Outcomes, Motivation, and Multicultural Literacy of Middle School Students Learning Geography
 

Author: Hsu-Hsien Kao (Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology), Po-Sheng Huang (Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education & Empower Vocational Education Research Center, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 68, No. 4
Date：December 2023
Pages：157-189
DOI：https://doi.org/10.6209/JORIES.202312_68(4).0006

Abstract：

Teaching geography in Taiwanese junior high schools has long been centered around memorization-based knowledge. With limited class hours and the pressure of entrance exams, geography is often misconstrued as a subject that merely necessitates the rote memorization of its content. This misunderstanding leads to diminished motivation and interest in learning. Generally, geography places a strong emphasis on the integration of real-world spaces and requires an understanding of numerous concepts through the observation of phenomena and causal relationships. In addition to providing fundamental knowledge, geography fosters the abilities of value judgment and problem-solving and increases students’ awareness of local and global problems. As a subject that closely relates to daily life and holds affective and practical value, geography is both meaningful and valuable in terms of skill development. To address challenges in the teaching environment, many studies have incorporated several instructional strategies into geography education with the aim of enhancing students’ motivation and their perception of the value of learning geography. Over the past five years, due to the Curriculum Guidelines of 12-Year Basic Education, Taiwan has advocated for a competence-oriented approach to education. This approach can be used to cultivate the competencies necessary for students to adapt to the rapidly changing future environment. Competence refers to the combination of knowledge, skills, or abilities required to meet specific task expectations. It involves the application of these attributes in real-world scenarios to effectively perform complex tasks that meet the standards of success within these contexts. Competence orientation is an instructional approach that focuses on equipping students with the capability to actively respond to new information and unfamiliar environments rather than merely focusing on the delivery of content knowledge. Competence-oriented education involves a curriculum and instructional approach that centers around students, enabling them to apply what they have learned in relevant contexts through action and practice. Competence-oriented education not only emphasizes the acquisition of knowledge and skills but also places a strong emphasis on contextualized learning, providing meaningful learning experiences that contribute to the development of core competencies and transferable learning. Competence-oriented instruction is used to implement competence-oriented education. However, several gaps exist in the research on competence-oriented geography education. First, the majority of studies on this subject have employed an action-research or qualitative design, with few rigorous, quantitative experimental studies having been conducted. Second, research has primarily focused on investigating the influence of competence-oriented instruction on learning outcomes, learning motivation, and attitudes related to geography; it has generally neglected to explore other core competencies in geography. Third, few studies have specifically focused on competence-oriented instruction in the ninth-grade world regional geography curriculum in junior high schools. Because the content characteristics vary with each unit, a unique approach must be employed to incorporate competence-oriented instruction in this curriculum. Therefore, additional research efforts are required to explore competence-oriented geography instruction across different grade levels and geography units. This study investigated the influence of competence-oriented instruction on the learning outcomes, motivation, and multicultural literacy of ninth-grade geography students. A total of 6 classes comprising 109 students were divided into an experimental group (55 students in 3 classes) and a control group (54 students in 3 classes). In the experimental group, geography was taught through a competence-oriented approach, whereas in the control group, geography was taught through a traditional didactic approach. The curriculum focused on the ninth-grade world regional geography units of “Oceania Islands” and “Australia” and spanned a duration of 3 weeks. The competence-oriented geography approach involved four instructional processes, namely introducing scenarios, engaging in inquiry tasks, presenting outcomes, and reflecting on concepts, as part of the curriculum design. By contrast, the traditional lecture-based geography approach followed a curriculum design involving four instructional processes: initiating motivation, delivering explanations, evaluating performance, and summarizing and reviewing. Nonequivalent pretest-posttest designs were used to evaluate the outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. A self-developed geography achievement test was conducted to evaluate the learning outcomes. The ARCS Learning Motivation Scale was used to measure students’ learning motivation in terms of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, and the multicultural literacy scale was used to evaluate students’ multicultural literacy in terms of multicultural awareness, cross-cultural abilities, and global citizenship reflection. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with the students to gain insights into their perspectives on competence-oriented geography instruction. The results of this study indicated the following. First, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in terms of the overall learning outcomes, particularly in areas related to knowledge comprehension-based and analysis application-based test items, indicating that competence-oriented instruction can enhance the geography learning outcomes of students. According to the results of the qualitative interviews, the students perceived competence-oriented geography instruction to foster multiple-perspective thinking rather than rote memorization. Through learning processes that involved peer discussions, the students were able to deepen their understanding and overcome learning difficulties, resulting in improved performance on exams. Second, no significant differences were observed between the experimental group and the control group in terms of total motivation scores and the dimensions of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Nevertheless, the qualitative data indicated that the experimental group exhibited an overall positive attitude toward the competence-oriented geography instruction. They perceived the content to be more comprehensive and felt more engaged in the classroom. Through peer discussions, the students experienced increased motivation for learning and an elevated sense of participation in class. They appreciated the incorporation of inquiry and practical elements that increased their interest in the content. In addition, the competence-oriented approach facilitated autonomous learning outside the classroom. Third, despite the absence of significant improvements in multicultural literacy in the two groups, the qualitative interviews revealed that the two groups exhibited a high degree of acceptance for individuals of different cultural backgrounds. They also expressed willingness to engage with local residents to better understand their customs and cultures. Fourth, the qualitative interviews revealed that the students had varying levels of understanding regarding competence-oriented instruction. Many students viewed competence-oriented curriculum and instruction as closely related to their daily lives, thus providing them with a broader and more diverse range of learning experiences, which in turn increased their classroom engagement. By contrast, some junior high school students perceived the concept of competence primarily through their assessment of competence-oriented items, which might have led them to develop misconceptions. Given the findings of this study, recommendations were formulated for curriculum design and instructional practices within the context of competence-oriented instruction.

Keywords：geography teaching, multicultural literacy, competence-oriented instruction, learning achievement, learning motivation

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