Students’ self-directed learning behavior: Cross cultural research (Thailand and Australia)

Abstract

This study aimed to examine students’ self-directed learning and to compare the difference between Thai and Australian students. The participants consisted of two hundred undergraduate students from Thailand and Australia. The instrument used in this study was an online self-directed learning questionnaire which comprised of 25 items assessing eight factors related to self-directed learning readiness based on Guglielmino. The English-version of the online questionnaire was administered to Australian students, while the Thai-version was used for Thai students. Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that the average score on self-directed learning of Thai students was M = 3.17 (SD = 0.34), while the average score of Australian students was M = 3.74 (SD = 0.43). Considering each factor of self-directed learning, it was found that the Australian students had better scores on openness to learning opportunities (M = 4.19, SD = 0.68), initiative and independence in learning (M = 4.09, SD = 0.68), creativity (M = 3.97, SD = 0.79) and all other categories except for providing positive orientation to the future. Students had high scores on providing positive orientation to the future (M = 3.75, SD = 0.68), love of learning (M = 3.28, SD = 0.57) and self-concept as effective behaviors (M = 3.24, SD = 0.60). The Australian students scored higher self-directed learning than the Thai students at a statistically significant level of .05.