Impact of the intrinsic motivation on the academic performance through voluntary assignments: An empirical analysis

The students academic performance is a key aspect for all agents involved in a higher education quality program. However, there is no unanimity on how to measure it. Some professionals choose assessing only cognitive aspects while others lean towards assessing the acquisition of certain skills. The need to train increasingly adapted professionals in order to respond to the companies’ demands and being able to compete internationally in a global labour market requires a kind of training that goes beyond memorizing. Critical and logical thinking are amongst written language skills demanded in the field of Social Sciences. The objective of this study is to empirically demonstrate the impact of voluntary assignments on the academic performance of students. Our hypothesis is that students who complete high quality voluntary assignments are those more motivated and, therefore, those with higher grades. An experiment with students from the "Financial Accounting II" during the academic year of 2012/13 at the Business and Economics School of the UCM was carried out. A series of voluntary assessments involving the preparation of accounting essays were proposed in order to develop skills and competencies as a complement to the lessons included in the curriculum of the subject. At the end of the course, the carrying-out or not of the essay together with its critical, reflective quality and style, were compared. Our findings show a relationship between the voluntarily presented papers of quality and the final grade obtained throughout the course. These results show that the students intrinsic motivation is a key element in their academic performance. On the other hand, the teachers role focuses on being a motivating element through the learning process.

Motivation and Vocabulary Breadth in CLIL and EFL Contexts. Different age, Same Time of Exposure

Numerous studies have found a positive connection between learners’ motivation towards foreign language and foreign language achievement. The present study examines the role of motivation in receptive vocabulary breadth (size) of two groups of Spanish learners of different ages, but all with 734 hours of instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL): a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) group in primary education and a non-CLIL (or EFL) group in secondary education. Most students in both groups were found to be highly motivated. The primary CLIL group slightly overcame the secondary non-CLIL group with respect to the mean general motivation but this is a non-significant difference. The secondary group surpass significantly the primary group in receptive vocabulary size. No relationship between the receptive vocabulary knowledge and general motivation is found in the primary CLIL group. On the other hand, a positive significant connection, although a very small one, is identified for the secondary non-CLIL group. We will discuss on the type of test, the age of students and the type of instruction as variables that could be influencing the results.

Market reforms and privatisation in the English National Health Service

The article examines developments in the marketisation and privatisation of the English National Health Service, primarily since 1997. It explores the use of competition and contracting out in ancillary services and the levering into public services of private finance for capital developments through the Private Finance Initiative. A substantial part of the article examines the repeated restructuring of the health service as a market in clinical services, initially as an internal market but subsequently as a market increasing opened up to private sector involvement. Some of the implications of market processes for NHS staff and for increased privatisation are discussed. The article examines one episode of popular resistance to these developments, namely the movement of opposition to the 2011 health and social care legislative proposals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these system reforms for the founding principles of the NHS and the sustainability of the service.

the social economy as an alternative of self employment. profile of the entrepreneur in the andalusian labour companies

This paper provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the profile of the entrepreneur who decides to start business through a labor society in the context of the Autonomous Community of Andalucia. Thus, first the Social Economy is presented as an important alternative to creating and promoting employment, which seeks to combine economic and social objectives in the development of activities. Subsequently, focusing on labor companies, updated its importance in the regional economy for later data and through the analysis of two samples are available, set the attributes or most significant characteristics of these entrepreneurs.