Does participation in tutorial classes enhance student's performance? Evidence from an accounting course module.

Abstract

Tutorial classes provide university students with an insight into the subject and it helps them to create a close relationship with the tutorial instructor and find solutions for subject related questions via discussions. There is an increasing trend among the students in Accounting courses on participation for tutorial classes compared to normal lectures. It is quite important to the tutorial instructor to decide the number of tutorial classes to be held, methods of knowledge distribution and quality status of lectures. This paper provides an empirical evidence for the effects of participating in the tutorial classes on students· final performance in a Financial Accounting Course module of University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. For this purpose, paper uses statistical techniques (Scatter Diagram, Regression Analysis and Correlation) to identify the trend and the degree of the Co-efficient of Correlation between students· attendance for the tutorial classes and their performance on the Mid Semester and End Semester examinations. The population of the study consisted of 247 Second Year undergraduates who have already completed Financial Accounting course module recently. The data for the study were gathered through the students· attendance sheets used for tutorial classes and the results of the Mid Semester and End Semester examinations. The findings of this paper have policy implications for educators and administrators in education in applying tutorial classes as a method for increasing the academic achievement of students.