This study intended to examine how the application of the job search-based reading counseling program affects elementary school fourth graders’ career development and achievement motivation improvement.
Based on the above study goal, it has establi...
This study intended to examine how the application of the job search-based reading counseling program affects elementary school fourth graders’ career development and achievement motivation improvement.
Based on the above study goal, it has established the following study questions.
1. Does the job search-based reading counseling program had a significant effect on elementary school students’ career development?
2. Does the job search-based reading counseling program had a significant effect on elementary school students’ achievement motivation improvement?
The study subjects selected to solve the above study questions are 56 fourth graders (28 boys, 28 girls) residing in Daejeon-si. Among them, 28 students (15 boys, 13 girls) in the researcher’s class are chosen to be in an experimental group while 28 students (13 boys, 15 girls) in another class was assigned to a control group.
The selected study subjects were allotted in the experimental and control groups, and the job search-oriented reading counseling program was conducted to the experimental group for 10 weeks between pre- and post-tests. The program used in this article referred to the job search-oriented career education program for elementary school students developed by Jo Bung-hwan (2006). It also referred to and applied the program developed in a paper titled as ‘A Study on the Effect of the Reading Therapy Program on Junior High School Students’ Career Maturity Improvement’ by Lee Sang-hae (2006). In this article, the execution of the job search-oriented reading counseling program is the independent variable, and the career development and achievement motivation are set as dependent variables accordingly.
In order to check if the experimental and control groups are identical, t-test (Independent samples t-test) was conducted on the pre-test scores of career development and achievement motivation. The data collected through survey were analyzed statistically with SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science).
The results gained through the process stated above were as follows.
First, according to the result of t-test (Independent samples t-test) performed to examine if there is a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores measured before and after the execution of the program, it is proved that there exists a significant difference in all the sub-areas of career development including the relationship between career and learning, the use and application of career information, recognition on the relationship between career, self, and social relations, and academic and job search. This result suggested that the group program was effective in improving all the areas of career development such as career and learning, the use and application of career information, recognition on the relationship between career, self, and social relations, and academic and job search.
Second, according to the result of t-test (Independent samples t-test) performed to examine if there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores of achievement motivation measured before and after the execution of the program, there exists a significant difference in all the sub-areas except for the independence spirit: confidence, future-orientedness, a sense of responsibility, an adventurous spirit, and task-orientedness. Therefore, the job search-oriented reading counseling program can be said to be effective in improving confidence, future-orientedness, a sense of responsibility, an adventurous spirit, and task-orientedness among the sub-areas of achievement motivation.
Accordingly, the job search-oriented reading counseling program for elementary school students were effective in improving all the sub-areas of elementary school fourth graders’ career development including the relationship between career and learning, the use and application of career information, recognition on the relationship between career, self, and social relations, and academic and job search. Moreover, it was turned out to be effective in improving confidence, future-orientedness, a sense of responsibility, an adventurous spirit, and task-orientedness but an independence spirit among the sub-areas of achievement motivation.