An example of literature review
Of the many who have looked at the relation between age and performance in universities none has as yet produced a definite answer to the apparently simple question “Do mature students do better or wor than younger students?”
Harris (1940) in the United States found evidence to suggest that younger students tended to obtain better degree results. Similar findings have been made in Britain by Malleson(1959), Howell (1962), Barnett and Lewis(1963), McCracken(1969) and Kapur(1972), in Australia by Flecker(1959) and Sanders(1961) , in Canada by Fleming (1959), and in New Zealand by Small(1966). However, most of the studies were bad on samples of students who were generally aged between venteen and twenty-one and the correlation techniques employed meant that the relationship between age and performance really only concerned this narrow age band. As such, the results probably suggest that bright children admitted early to higher education fare better than tho who entry is delayed while they gain the necessary qualifications. This view is supporte
d by Harris (1940) who discovered that the relationship between age and performance disappeared when he controlled for intelligence. Other studies have shown that tho who gain the necessary qualifications and then delayed entry for a year or two are more successful than tho who enter directly from school (Thomas, Beeby and Oram 1939; Derbyshare Education Committee 1966).
Where studies have involved samples containing large numbers of older students the results have indicated that the relationship between age and performance is not a linear one. Philips Cullen(1955), for instance, found that tho aged twenty-four and over tended to do better than the eighteen and nineteen age group. Sanders(1961) showed that the university success rate fell until the age of twenty or twenty-one, then from about twenty-two onwards the success rate began to ri again. The problem with the two studies is that many of the older students were returning rvicemen. They were often 英语辅导班招生简章“simon cowellnormal” entrants who entry to university had been delayed by war and many had undergone some training in science or mathematics while in the armed forces. Also, while Eaton(1980) cites nine American studies which confirm the academic superiority of vetera
ns, there is some contradictory British evidence. Mountford(1957) found that ex-rvice students who entered Liverpool University between 1947 and 1949 were more likely to have to spend an extra year or more on their cours and more likeyl to fail to complete their cour.
Some studies have shown that whether mature students fare better or wor than younger students depends upon the subject being studied. Sanders(1963) has indicated that the maturity associated with increasing age and experience ems to be a positive predictor of success for some arts and social science cours. The general finding that older students do better in arts and social science and wor in science and maths is supported by Flecker(1959), Barnett, Holder and Lewis (1968), Fagin(1971)and Sharon(1971).
heterogeneousWalker’s (1975) study of mature students at Warwick University reprents the best British attempt to unravel the relationship between age and performance, he took 240 mature undergraduates who were admitted to the university between 1965 and 1971 and
compared their progress with that of all undergraduates. This gave him a reasonably large sample to work with and the timing meant that the results were not distorted by any “美味的英语returning rvicemen factor”xa. His methodology showed many other refinements. First, he excluded overas students. Such students tend to be older than average and also to fare wor academically (Woodley 1979), thus influencing any age/performance relationship. Secondly, he ud two measures of performance; the proportion of tho leaving without obtaining a degree and the degree results of tho taking final examinations. Finally, he weighted the degree class obtained according to its rarity value in each faculty.
respectful>买东西的英文The following findings achieved statistical significance:
(i) In total, mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature students.
(ii) In the arts faculty mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature
students.
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越狱台词(iii) Mature students who did not satisfy the general entrance requirements obtained better degrees than all other students.
(iv) The degree results of mature students age twenty-six to thirty were better than tho of all other mature students.
Several other differences were noted but they did not achieve statistical significance due to the small numbers involved. The mature student sample only contained thirty-tree women, twenty-six science students and thirty-ven aged over thirty. The aim of the prent study was to extend Walker’s work to all British universities so that the and other relationships could be tested out on a much larger sample of mature students.
中国英文(Woodley, 1985:152-4)
