European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │ Issue 12 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1117949 A REVIEW ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN TERMS OF CERTAIN FACTORS: SAMPLE OF TURKEY Gökhan Demircioğlu1i, Esra Atabay2 1 Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University, Secondary Science of Education, Turkey 2 Vakfıkebir Vocational College, Karadeniz Technical University Accounting and Tax Applications, Turkey Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to identify the effect of factors including homework assignment given within semesters, class attendance and the type of high school graduated on vocational college students’ academic achievements in the Corporate Accounting course. Design/methodology/approach: In order to determine the sample’ understanding level on the topic of stock corporations which is a subtopic in Corporate Accounting course, a test consisting of 20 multiple-choice questions was prepared by the researchers. The reliability of the test was determined as . by using the formula KR- . Causal - comparative research design was used in scope of the study. The data obtained was analyzed by using independent samples t-test, ANOVA and regression. Findings: Upon the analyses carried out, it was found out that academic achievement varies depending on the homework assignment given within the period and class attendance hours of the student. When the joint effect of the factors on academic achievement was examined, it was seen that only the homework assignment factor has a significant effect. Research limitations/implications: This study only examined the Corporate Accounting course which is studied by the students of Accounting and Tax Applications Department in one vocational college in Turkey. In this study, used Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 199 Gökhan Demircioğlu, Esra “tabay A REVIEW ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN TERMS OF CERTAIN FACTORS: SAMPLE OF TURKEY variables that are thought to be related with the academic achievement and on which unbiased data can be collected were preferred. Originality/Value: In the studies so far, the effects of the related variables on academic achievement have been examined one by one. This study determines the common effect of multiple variables used in this study called homework assignment, class attendance and the type of high school graduated on academic achievement. In this way, it will be possible to learn the variables that are more influential on academic achievement within a single study. Keywords: vocational college, academic achievement, class attendance, homework assignment 1. Introduction Academic achievement is defined as knowledge or skills learned by the students in courses and assessed with grades given by the teachers, test points or both (Kenç and Oktay, . Many factors can adversely affect students’ academic achievement. They could be grouped three categories as the student-oriented factors (i.e. socioeconomic, individual, demographic, study habit psychological, Sarıer, self-esteem, self-sufficiency, motivation, , school-based factors and environmental factors (Topçu and Uzundumlu, 2012: 52). The main determinant of academic achievement is student-centered factors and the school and environmental factors have supportive characteristics (Topçu and Uzundumlu, 2012: 57). The main aim of the Vocational Colleges in Turkey is to educate qualified intermediate labor force for the basic industrial, commercial and service sectors. For this reason, vocational education and vocational schools today has a vital prescription for all sectors. Unfortunately, in these schools, academic achievement is well below expectations. G(cenme Gençoğlu and İşseveroğlu investigated the contribution of education and training in vocational colleges to accounting profession, and they found that despite the rapid increase in numbers of vocational colleges, the success of these school students has been rapidly diminishing. Although there are the many reasons why vocational colleges are in this condition, the entrance systems without an exam, homework assignment (HA) and class attendance have been examined in this study because they is thought to be more effective than the others. One of the factors that have supportive characteristic in the academic achievement of the students is, without a doubt, HAs given during the semester. The HA is a learning tool outside of classroom that aims to have the students prepared European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 12 │ 2017 200 Gökhan Demircioğlu, Esra “tabay A REVIEW ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN TERMS OF CERTAIN FACTORS: SAMPLE OF TURKEY before the classes and to reinforce what (s)he learns after the classes and directs them to make analyses and research Yuladır and Doğan, . Though preferred at primary education level, it is seen that HAs are given at higher education levels under the names like project and research. The contribution of HA on student achievement may change depending on the teacher’s and student’s attitude towards it, and the amount and characteristic of it. Turanlı suggested that less H“ has more contribution on academic achievement. Besides, there are also findings that there is a higher positive correlation between the number of HAs and the academic achievement as the grade of classes increase (Cooper, Lindsay, Nye and Greathouse, 1998). The length of time students spend on HAs varies according to their grade level and it ranges from to minutes Turanlı, . Giving too many assignments to students may lead the students to not spare time for the out-of-school social activities and resting and cause the students to be bored of studying and classes. If the HA is perceived correctly and done promptly and conscientiously by the student, it has a positive impact on the student’s academic achievement. If the H“ is given as a punishment tool or not appropriate to the level, it lowers the student motivation and this has no impact on the academic achievement. One of the factors for the assignment to have an impact on the academic success is to ask the student to write the HA by hand. Generally, the HAs done by using a computer are based on the copypaste mentality, and the students do not spend much time to do his/her HAs. Such HAs are often perfunctory, or are directly plagiarism. As Gök (2013) stated in his study, HAs that do not encourage students to think does not have any contribution on the academic achievement. However, the HAs done by using pen-paper (by hand) may make it easy to remember, and may increase the persistence of learned information. Hence in a study conducted by Demirci (2010) on determining the internet-based H“’s impact on the students’ academic achievements, it was shown that the success rate of the students doing their HAs by using pen and paper was higher than the ones doing web-based HAs. In a study conducted by Gök (2013), he investigated that the effects of web-based and paper-based H“s on students’ achievement. “t the end of the study, he found that the HA grades of the experimental group students who did web-based HA were higher than the HA grades of the control group who did paper-based HA. However, he determined that web-based H“s did not contribute to the students’ academic achievements. In other words, there was no significant difference in success between the experimental and the control group. If a HA given for any course improves the thinking ability of the student (asking the student to find his own topic of HA, developing a problem in accordance with the HA subject etc.), its positive impact on the academic achievement is unavoidable. HAs European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 12 │ 2017 201 Gökhan Demircioğlu, Esra “tabay A REVIEW ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN TERMS OF CERTAIN FACTORS: SAMPLE OF TURKEY given in this way may both prevent the students to copy their HAs from each other and may ensure that the student makes research related to the course. The HA must be given in a way to improve the knowledge level and imagination of the student. The HAs given in this manner are not perceived as unnecessary occupation both by the student and the instructor (Ilgar, 2005:123). Another supportive factor that can be effective on the academic achievement of the students is the voluntary class attendance of the students to the course or, absenteeism. The class attendance of students at the university where this study was conducted was determined by the Senate of Karadeniz Technical University (KTU). According to the Senate of KTU, students must attend 70% of theoretical classes, and 80% of practices. Students' class attendance is followed by the instructor concerned. Sometimes, the instructor may not consider the absenteeism of the student. In this study, the preference whether to attend the class depends on the student. Class attendance is extremely important especially in courses taken for the first time and required calculations and practice. Although there are very few studies investigating the relationship between the class attendance of the students and their academic achievements, Rençber (2012) and Bostan and Karakaya (2016) emphasized the existence of a positive and high-level relationship between the class attendance of the university students to the courses and their academic achievements. On the contrary, in the study of “ltınkurt , a negative relationship between the academic performances of the students in high school level and their absence without any excuse was found. In Turkey, secondary school education covers general high school, Anatolian high school, science high school, religious high school, vocational high school, fine arts high school, and private high school and is compulsory. The students who graduate from these schools have the right to go to the university. The students who want to continue into higher education have to take the university entrance exams YGS (the transition to higher education examination) and LYS (undergraduate placement exam) given by the Assessment, Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) and get a certain score. There is an exception for vocational high school graduates. Vocational high school graduates can directly go on to higher vocational schools (two-year vocational colleges) in their respective fields of study. In other words, they can study at two-year vocational colleges without taking any exam. The students can use these rights in case they receive lower grades than the minimum grade required by the departments they would like to prefer in their university examinations. That the students matriculating without examinations dropped the educational quality of the higher institutions has been subject to much discussion. It was determined in some studies that students who European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 12 │ 2017 202 Gökhan Demircioğlu, Esra “tabay A REVIEW ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGES IN TERMS OF CERTAIN FACTORS: SAMPLE OF TURKEY are placed in vocational colleges without examination were less successful in comparison to students matriculating with 5SYM grades Karag(l, Karag(l and Doğan, Çağlar and T(reli, Kızgın, Yıldız, Sönmez and Ciloşoğlu, . In a study conducted by Demir and Çam (2006) in regard to the factors impacting the academic achievements of the students from the department of accounting, it was determined that losing the unity of purpose in-class due to the entrance systems without an examination was the third factor that affected success negatively. Kuşat (2014) compared the academic achievements of the students that matriculated to the department of accounting and tax applications in accounting and economics courses, and determined that the students matriculating with examinations had a higher success though they encountered these subjects for the first time. The students think that previous acquirement of basic accounting and mathematics will increase the success in the vocational courses significantly Kızıl, Çelik, “kman and Danışman, Kızıl and Gencer, 2016: 87). Based on the results of the studies in the literature, it is thought that the success of the students in vocational courses may be different for the students matriculating without examinations due to having lower motivation towards their courses in comparison with the students matriculating with examinations. Based on the idea that the performances of the students that deserve to enter the vocational college with an entrance exam score and the students that matriculated in this department directly without an exam may be different, the enrollment without examination (or type of high school graduated) is considered as another variable that may impact the student academic achievement. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1293 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 12 │ 2017 203