A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES ON THE ACQUISITION OF INTENDED AND UNINTENDED LEARNING CONTENT

Abstract

This study sought to determine the effect of specific objectives on the acquisition of intend­ed and unintended learning content. It has hypothesized that the experimental and control groups would not differ in their acquisition of intended and unintended learning. The subjects were 82 undergraduates randomly assigned to the experimental (E) and Control (C) groups.The post-test only control group design was employed whereby the E group had specific ob­jectives inserted in their typed lecture. The C group received the same lecture without any objec­tives. After 2 hours study of the lecture material, a teacher-made post-test, the items of which were partly referenced to the specific objectives, was administered to the two groups. Using ANOVA to analyse the post-test data, the E groups performed significantly better in the test items referenced to the objectives. But the control excelled in the items not referenced to the ob­jectives. The implications of the study are highlighted.