Keywords
male students
Puerto Rico
Spanish languange competencies
university studies
How to Cite
Abstract
This article presents the findings of a research study that examined the relationship between two independent variables (students‘ grade average in Spanish language subject matter and students‘ perceptions of the study of the Spanish language) and one dependent variable (students‘ intentions to continue studying at institutions of higher education) among 711 students. The sample was representative of the twelfth grade male and female students enrolled in the public school system of Puerto Rico between January and May of 2012. The study explored whether a poor grade (average of C, D or F) in Spanish language classes (coded as regular, deficient or unacceptable command of the Spanish language competencies) and whether a negative perception of the study of the Spanish language could explain the lower proportion of registered male students in higher education in Puerto Rico. Data was gathered by means of a questionnaire. Six hypotheses about the relationship between variables were analyzed using chi-square tests of independence and logistic regression analyses. The findings demonstrate that students‘ intentions to continue their studies at institutions of higher education were not independent of a poor grade average in Spanish language classes, while students‘ intentions were independent of a negative perception of the study of the Spanish language. The findings also showed that students with a grade average of A or B in Spanish subject matter was two times more likely to continue studying at institutions of higher education. The findings lead to the conclusion that a poor command of Spanish language competencies is a factor that may explain in part the lower proportion of male students enrolled at institutions of higher education, a phenomenon occurring on the Island since the 1980s.
How to cite:
Estrada-Fernández, A., Rosado-González, R., & Rodríguez-Arocho, W. (2015). La relación entre intención de seguir estudios universitarios y competencias lingüísticas en estudiantes de cuarto año de escuela superior pública en Puerto Rico. Pedagogía, 48(1), 72-97. Retrieved from https://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/educacion/article/view/16309
References
Andreano, J. M. & Cahill, L. (2009). Sex influences on the neurobiology of learning and memory. Learning Memory, 16, 248-266.
Ávila, R. (2005). La lengua y los hablantes. México: Trillas.
Bernstein, B. (1990, 1998). Poder, educación y conciencia. Barcelona, España: El Roure.
Bonilla-Rodríguez, V. E., López de Méndez, A., Cintrón-Rodríguez, M. E., Ramírez-Pagán, S., & Román-Oyola, R. (2005). Feminización de la matrícula
de educación superior en Puerto Rico. Río Piedras, PR: Centro de Investigaciones Educativas, UPR, Recinto de Río Piedras.
Bringas de la Peña, F., Curel-Viñambres, C. & Secunza-Aranguran, E. (2008). Las competencias básicas en el área de la lengua castellana y literatura.
Cantabria, España: Consejería de Educación.
Brunner, J. J. & Ferrada-Hurtado, R. (Eds.). (2011). Educación superior en Iberoamérica. Chile: CINDA.
Burman, D. D. (2010). Gender differences in language abilities: evidence from brain imaging. Education.com (Gender differences Special Edition). Recuperado de http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Gender_Differences/
Burman, D. D., Bitan, T. & Booth, J. R. (2008). Sex differences in neural processing of language among children. Neuropsychologia, 46, 1349-1362.
Cassany, D. & López Ferrero, C. (2010). De la universidad al mundo laboral: Continuidad y contraste entre las prácticas letradas académicas y profesionales.
En G. Parodi (Ed.), Alfabetización académica y profesional en el siglo XXI: leer y escribir desde las disciplinas (pp. 347-374.). Barcelona, España: Planeta Ariel.
Chien, C-L. (2012). Women in higher education. París, Francia: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Recuperado de http://scholarships.mk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=260%3A2012-11-23-13-25-14&catid=83%3A-2&Itemid=84〈=en
Consejo de Educación Superior de Puerto Rico (CESPR). (2005). Matrícula y grados conferidos en las instituciones de educación superior de Puerto Rico: años académicos 1995-96 al 2000-01. San Juan, PR: Autor.
Ellis, L., Hershberger, S., Field, E., Wersinger, S., Pellis, S., Geary, D., Palmer, C., Hoyenga, K., Hetsroni, A. & Karadi, K. (2008). Sex differences: Summarizing more than a century of scientific research. Nueva York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Espinosa Gangas, J. & Robles Centeno, P. (2012). Deserción de los estudiantes masculinos en la educación superior de Puerto Rico: transición inmediata de varones y féminas a la educación superior. San Juan, PR: Consejo de Educación de Puerto Rico.
Estrada-Fernández, A. & Rosado-González, R. (2013). Factores que afectan la baja proporción de estudiantes varones en la educación superior en Puerto Rico: La perspectiva de estudiantes de 4to año de escuela superior. San Juan, PR: Consejo de Educación de Puerto Rico. Recuperado de http://www2.pr.gov/agencias/cepr/inicio/publicaciones/Publicaciones/Inv%20Aileen%20Estrada%20baja%20proporcion%20de%20estudiantes.pdf
Fiske, E. (2012). Atlas mundial de la igualdad del género en la eduación. París, Francia: UNESCO. Recuperado de http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/unesco-gender-education-atlas-2012-spa.pdf
González-Acosta, E. (2006). Trastorno de déficit de atención e hiperactividad en el salón de clases (Tesis doctoral). Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Recuperado de http://www.biblioteca.ucm.es/tesis/ucm-t29215.pdf
Goo, S. (2015). The skills Americans say kids need to succeed in life. Pew Research Center. Recuperado de http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2015/02/19/skills-for-success/
Lee, C. D. & Smagorinsky, P. (Eds.). (2000). Vygotskian perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry. Nueva York: Cambridge University Press.
Loveless, T. (2015). Girls, boys, and reading. The 2015 Brown Center Report on American Education: How well are American students learning, 3(4). Washington, D.C.: Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings Institution. Recuperado de http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2015/03/BCR/2015-Brown-Center-Report_FINAL.pdf?la=en
Luria, A. R. (1982). Language and cognition. Nueva York: John Wiley & Sons.
Macedo, D. (2005). Lengua, ideología y poder: La hegemonía del inglés. Barcelona, España: Graó.
Martínez, A., Quintero, G. & Ruiz, J. (2013). La importancia del lenguaje en los procesos de aprendizaje. Revista Vanguardia Psicológica, 4(1), 17-30. Recuperado de http://umb.edu.co:82/revp/index.php/vanguardiapsicologica/article/download/81/119
Piaget, J. (1926, 1959). The language and thought of the child (Traducido del francés). Nueva York: Harcourt Brace.
Posner, M. I. & Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Educating the human brain. Washington, D.C.: American Psycological Association.
Rodríguez-Arocho, W. C. (2003).La relación entre funciones ejecutivas y lenguaje: Una propuesta para estudiar su relación. Perspectivas Psicológicas, 3(4), 41-48.
Rodríguez-Arocho, W. C. (2004). Desarrollo de funciones ejecutivas y su relación con el lenguaje: En busca de un enfoque integrado para su investigación. Ciencias de la Conducta, 19(1), 1-18.
Rodríguez-Arocho, W. C. (2014). El lugar de la afectividad en la psicología de Vygotski: Reflexividad histórica y reivindicación. Propósitos y Representaciones, 1(2), 105-129.
Silvestri, A. & Blanck, G. (1993). Bajtín y Vigotski: la organización semiótica de la conciencia. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Anthropos.
Smagorinsky, P. (2011). Vygotski and literacy research: A methodological framework. Países Bajos: Sense Publishers.
Sommers, C. H. (2013, 13 de septiembre). How to make school better for boys. The Atlantic. Recuperado de http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/how-to-make-school-better-for-boys/279635/
Vygotski, L. (1934, 2010). Pensamiento y lenguaje. Barcelona: Paidós.
Wells, G. (2000). Dialogic inquiry in education: Building on the legacy of Vygotsky. En C. D. Lee & P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry (pp. 51-85). Nueva York: Cambridge University Press.
Whitmire, R. (2010). Why boys fail, saving our sons from an educational system that‘s leaving them behind. Nueva York, NY: American Management Association.
The contents published in the Puerto Rico Journal of Education is freely distributed under open access practices, in accordance with the Creative Commons license, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Through these principles, the journal and its authors allow readers to access, reproduce and share articles in full text. Users should give credit to authors in a reasonable way without suggesting they have their support. Under no circumstances, readers may make use of the contents for commercial purposes. The authors retain copyright on their works.