چكيده لاتين :
Introduction
Faculty-student interaction is an important factor affecting student’s
academic life. It is in fact a form of academic involvement and a means for
the students to socialize integrate in the university environment and could
thus affect their development and learning (Chang, 2005; Kim & Sax,
2014). The study shows that efforts to improve student–faculty interaction
will benefit all students, and improving these relationships would lead to
more outcomes in terms of classroom engagement and cognitive skills
(Kim & Lundberg, 2016).
The associations between student–faculty interaction and students’
outcomes could be explained based on Astin’s (1984), Tinto’s (1997), and
Weidman’s (1989) models for the socialization process of university
students. Accordingly, interactions between students and faculty can
promote greater levels of academic engagement for students, which in turn
leads to larger gains in academic outcomes (Kim & Lundberg, 2016).
During the process of socialization, students acquire knowledge and skills
that affect them as members of their academic society (Weidman, 1989).
The faculty in this process, help students to develop networks that provide
access to resources, guide them and introduce them to academic norms and
values (Cole & Griffin, 2013).
Nevertheless, a review of the literature suggests that no study has
examined the associations between Faculty-student interaction, students’
academic self-challenge, sense of belonging, classroom engagement, and
their cognitive skills in an Iranian academic context. Accordingly, the
purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between
faculty–student interactions and the development of students’ cognitive
skills, mediated by classroom engagement, sense of belonging, and
academic self-challenge using a structural equation modeling (SEM).
Hypotheses
The present study aims to examine the mediating roles of students’
academic self-challenge, sense of belonging, and classroom engagement in their cognitive skills development. Accordingly, the following
hypotheses were tested:
1. Faculty-student interaction affects students’ cognitive skills.
2. Faculty-student interaction affects students’ classroom
engagement.
3. Faculty-student interaction affects students’ academic selfchallenge.
4. Faculty-student interaction affects students’ sense of belonging.
5. Academic self-challenge has a mediating effect on the students’
classroom engagement.
6. Sense of belonging has a mediating effect on students’ classroom
engagement.
7. Classroom engagement has a mediating effect on students’
cognitive skills.
Methods
The study adopted a descriptive correlational design to verify the stated
hypotheses.
Participants and Procedures
Participants were 415 undergraduate students from 10 faculties of
Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman during the 2017-2018 academic
year. The instrument used was a 27-item questionnaire designed by the
University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (2014) to
assess the relationships between faculty–student interaction, the
development of cognitive skills, classroom engagement, sense of
belonging and academic self-challenge. The instrument reliability was
measured through internal consistency method and the Cronbach’ alpha
coefficient, estimated to be 0.89. In addition, the construct validity of the
instrument was confirmed through exploratory and confirmatory factor
analyses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) in Amos Graphics
modeling software (version 23) was used for data analysis.
Results
The findings showed that faculty-student interaction is a proper
predictor for the development of students’ cognitive skills, and their
classroom engagement, academic self-challenge and sense of belonging.
The results also showed a positive and significant relationship between
faculty-student interaction and the development of the students’ cognitive
skills, mediated by classroom engagement. Neverthless, the effect of
faculty-student interactions on classroom engagement, mediated by
academic self-challenge and sense of belonging, was not significant.
Discussion and Conclusion
Previous research revealed that faculty-student interactions contribute
to the development of students’ outcomes (Kim & Sax, 2014; Cox et al.
2010). The current study also suggested that faculty-student interaction is
associated with the students’ cognitive skills. This finding is consistent
with those of Kim and Lundberg (2016), Crombie et al. (2003), Gasiewski
et al. (2012), Guiffrida et al. (2013), Kim and Sax (2011), Umbach and
Wawrzynski (2005), and Kim et al. (2015). The results also suggested a
significant association between faculty-student interaction and the
development of students’ cognitive skills, mediated by classroom
engagement. This finding is congruent with those of Cole (2007), Kuh and
Hu (2001), and Pascarella and Terenzini (2005).
One of the main contributions of this study is the finding that in Iranian
academic context, faculty-student interaction, mediated by classroom
engagement, could increase the students’ cognitive skills. Accordingly, we
recommend future studies to concentrate on the effects of other
psychological or sociological elements while exploring the contributions
of student–faculty interaction to academic outcomes. Moreover, the issue
of faculty-student interactions could be pursued in future research,
considering demographic differences, such as gender, and academic
discipline among students.
In conclusion, the results shed light on the effects of the student–faculty
interaction on students’ academic self-challenge, sense of belonging,
classroom engagement, and cognitive skills in an Iranian academic
context. These findings have important implications for the role of facultystudent interaction in increasing and development of academic outcomes
of students. The findings also have implications for curriculum planners
in universities to consider the faculty-student interaction as a pivotal
variable that could affect curriculum elements such as the teachinglearning process and evaluation strategies.
