Dichotomy of Critical Enquiry - Essay Example

Dichotomy of Critical Enquiry In view of the importance of success perception as a function of individual’s feelings, the need for personal appraisaland the opinion of another party in the determination of the success present two different perspectives in overall motivation of learning. As illustrated in the two scenarios of a student obtaining success in two performance settings, perceived success illustrates the importance of the learning environment to the student. In both cases of a student learning and making the presentation of the final piece of music, the threshold of success takes varied criteria as far as the outcome critique is concerned. On one hand, the student feels achieved by mere success appraisal of the individual, which is a function of a number of considerations as discussed below. Theorists of the incremental perspective of learning place meaning on the perception of learning and intelligence, where flexible notions of learning determine how an individual associates success to a task. Proponents of this perspective hold the view that students see opportunities in their own experiences and hold little credit on the views of other persons. Opinion on the evaluation outcomes does not make a huge impact on the perceptions held on individual performance. In light of the demands of learning, effort made towards a task amount to an experience rewarding enough that the opinion of an evaluator would not significantly change the overall satisfaction obtained. Incremental view of the learning process is that the opinion of the appraising individual is secondary to the essential part of the task, whether quality is achieved of otherwise (Shippensburg University 2012, para.7). Despite the demands of an appraisal likely to form part of the learning assignment, the student attaches meaning to the learning experience as opposed to appraisal. Perhaps one of the reasons why the student opts to employ personal evaluation strategy could arise from available alternatives to appraisal. The evaluation aspect by a team as an optional functionality in the determination of success upon learning the piece of music gives the student a choice of evaluation alternatives, personal appraisal included on the list of appraisal methods. In view of making choices from the different options of evaluation available to students, the students with a higher belief on their performances may opt to make the appraisal by their own volition not only demonstrate the logic of their interpretation to learning but also potential to evaluate. Despite the fact that the standard of evaluation must enable independent opinion to contribute to the quality and score of a performance, personal belief of competence also presents the student as a strong character in the learning process (Dweck 1999, p.54). However, refusal to allow independent appraisal could also indicate a weakness in the overall quality of learning, which considerably increases if an external opinion makes sense of the claimed success. The best performance appraisal happens to consider the opinion of an external evaluator, in order to point out personal weaknesses, which would otherwise remain unaccounted for due to bias. One potential source of satisfaction by mere performance and self-appraisal is perhaps due to an interaction with a flawless history with similar tasks where the student’s self-confidence demonstrates perfect achievement of learning outcomes. The experience of a flawless learning and coverage of all essential learning outcomes in past tasks poises the student to have a confidence level that even external appraisal would not find an issue to criticise (Sinha 2012, para.4). Personal competence beyond blemish enables the student to be certain of the same outcomes in subsequent learning tasks, which makes the student’s interaction with future assignments satisfactory. In view of the interaction with success, the student gains confidence that failure is not a potential outcome in challenges taken with respect to a specific nature of tasks. Assuming that the piece of music falls within a similar task in which the student performs exemplarily well, it is within logical projection of probabilities that the next task, as completed in the piece of music under consideration, reaches set standards of success. Apart from flawlessness in the approach that the student employs in learning new tasks, the apparent belief in personal judgment of success may rely on a perception of a biased appraisal system hence the expectation of a biased opinion regarding the presentation. In terms of an experience with the available appraisal team, the student may have a higher sense of credibility than the perception of the verdict expected. Perhaps weaker evaluation functionality as an option upon completion of the learning process would force appraisal lean towards personal judgment as the appraisal system of choice as opposed to when it is mandatory regardless of the biasness. In terms of the trust that the individual makes of an appraisal system, considerations of belief in self-judgment and the adjudication of another party depend on the experiences with such a system (Blackwell, Dweck and Trzesniewski 2007, p247). Past encounters with a negatively perceived system significantly reduce the trust that the student has upon which to hinge success. It therefore implies that the method of choice in cases of a biased appraisal system, coupled to the option of personal appraisal would significantly raise the perceived trust in the better bias level experienced in personal appraisal. In addition, the nature of success perception heavily depends on the origin of the task, which could be self-determined or as allocated in an assigned task. Assuming that the student who feels achieved by personal effort without assessment or appraisal obtains the task from personal curiosity, it would be understandable that the importance of an appraising figure is not considered as opposed to the case where the student gets the task allocated by an individual senior to him. The origin of the task and the predetermined performance outcomes to amount to success or failure seems to be as set by the individual, perhaps without a structured personal appraisal, as it would be for an external appraising party. As an outcome determinant, of the origin of the task as well as the motivation to accomplish the goals of the task forms different success thresholds as the appraising authority deems fit. For the student as the originator of personal assignment, it implies that the satisfaction or success gained upon completion of the task solely depends on the self-belief that the expected learning outcomes suffice. Apparently, the threshold of determining performance gradually builds from the repetition procedure employed in the learning process, where confidence gathers with regard to the quality of performance presented at the end of the task. The case of the student who feels satisfied by virtue of presenting the piece of music learnt through repetition without necessarily having an audience to appraise him illustrates an individual perception of success and achievement devoid of external opinion. With regard to outcomes of historic experiences with learning process and outcomes thereon, the student develops a perception on personal effort and confidence on the quality of effort made. Alternatively, the student may not find the need for appraisal since it is not a part of experiences, perhaps due to the learning environment where the functionality of external appraisal is absent (Born, Gais and Lucas 2006, p260). Due to the apparent lack of importance to appraisal by an external party, the student develops the feeling that the only true evaluation must be on an individual effort on the success functionality. Absence of an appraising audience may prove to be the motivation behind the satisfaction that personal effort is sufficient to feel accomplished. Alternatively, the logic behind theories supporting the intelligence quotient (IQ) measure of individual abilities must also apply in the student’s belief in personal potential to complete a task successfully. Without the reliance on the results of an evaluation system, the individual performs a task to the best ability of their intellect, which neither relies on the threshold outlined in the score allocation criteria or opinionated appraisal. The motivation to learn and carry out the learning outcomes as a factor of individual competence The student is aware of the need to learn a new task and the motivation to learn is important than the evaluation concept. Despite the usual attachment of evaluation to success of a task carried out by a learner, the individual motivation that the student obtains from completion of the task outweighs the functionality of appraisal by an external function. Performance is a factor of internal motivations as opposed to any external opinion held regarding any function from preparation to presentation. Aware of the magnitude of individual input on the interpretation of success on a task, the student proceeds to make a presentation that is satisfactory with regard to input made during the learning process. A student who opts to gain satisfaction and feel successful by performing in front of an appraising audience demonstrates the logic of evaluation as an integral part of attribution to success. It implies that the student makes the opinion of others an important part of the learning cycle. In terms of the importance of the external factors in the learning process as the student interprets the situation, it is possible that the student considers the opinion of other persons equally important as personal confidence does to the outcomes of a task (Musket and Thompson 2005, p400). Despite the fact that the student could still make a competent performance in the absence of an appraising audience, seeking the opinion of others contributes immensely to the confidence level of achieved outcomes. The meaning of an opinion delivered by the appraising party forms a part of the perceived success in the interpretation of learning procedure employed by the student. Despite the fact that the input of the student is outstandingly isolated in the learning process where repetition of the learning content makes the main input, it is evident that the opinion of an external observer makes overall success valuation as opposed to individual progress evaluation. Theorists of the entity perspective of intelligence propose the concept of the completion of a leaning task on the need by the student to prove to others that they have achieved the learning outcome. This concept fits perfectly well in that, despite the fact that the student learns the piece of music on personal effort without a visible tutor, the desire to prove to the appraising observers introduces the self-gratification that competes the success feelings. By perceiving the impact of an observer as an integral part of the perceived success, it is upon the student to ensure that the final performance takes place in front of an audience in order to gain credit. Apart from the desire to prove to others forming a part of the student’s learning trajectory, the possibility that the driving force behind portrayal before an audience depends on the need to avoid looking unintelligent (Blackwell, Dweck and Trzesniewski 2007, p246). It calls for courage to make a presentation likely to elicit negative remarks on the ability of the student, but the student ignores the remarks. The mere appearance in front of an audience accredits the student as a smart learner. However, the quality of success achieved depends on the learning outcomes as opposed to the cycle culminating in the presentation before an audience. The student who finds success by presenting before an audience obtains motivation from the self-presentation in front of people in order to establish self-esteem. The most disturbing outcome in such a setting would be failure which appraisal identifies in the presentation made. Despite the fact that the student learning process could have a compete reflection of the expected outcomes, the opinion is important in elimination of doubts of potential failure. A negative remark indicating failure of the learning process may severely injure the student’s self-esteem. The overall achievement in the presentation is the protection of self-image, which directly influences on the perception of learning. Learning makes meaning to the student if an opinion about how good they appeared to others forms part of the presentation functionality. To the student, it is important that the learning process follows outcomes as expected by others, perhaps due to lower appraisal abilities or they are compelled to believe that others perform the appraisal better. The lack of an option to complete the learning cycle upon the presentation but before a panel makes the student compelled to oblige, but the feeling of success appears to have been conditional. Apart from the fact that the student had to present before a panel of assessors as a regulation, the feeling achieved as opposed to potential feeling if presented otherwise. Entity view of success presents the learner as a weaker personality when compared to the more self-dependent individual who does not need approval of others to feel achieved. Accepting the environmental interpretation of personal effort in carrying out tasks as a part of the learning process may also form an important social integration component. In the nature of appraisal from another party, the student obtains the feeling of acceptance among the learners and experts, which raises the credentials of the performance. Feeling acknowledged improves the confidence that the individual requires to participate into the larger fraternity of learners without uncertainty of personal competence. Apparently, the level of confidence between a proponent of entity view and incremental view in establishment of success perceptions differs from the difference in inner belief that the two perspectives possess. Despite the fact that the student needs to feel comfortable at the end of the learning outcomes, it is imperative that the piece of music is learnt. The role of self-consciousness in the learning process subject to appraisal makes sense to the learning process, but the origin of appraisal needs to complement personal motivations (Dweck 1999, p.123). It is important that the learner obtain approval from inner confidence before the opinion of others forms part of the appraisal. In terms of the most important valuation threshold, satisfaction is valuable to both students irrespective of the opinion delivered by external parties. It therefore implies that the two students find motivation for learning in their settings, but in a different way. Learning outcomes determine the satisfaction that the learner obtains at the end of the learning process, which presents the interaction point for the two cases of learning. For practicality of success in life, success makes sense if the overall outcome enables the learner to improve their life, as opposed to accumulation of negative life attributes. As an illustration, if success makes one gain confidence in life, it is worth the feelings that the learner obtains at the end of the learning proves. Gaining personal confidence and self-belief is worth the effort of a task where a student approaches life differently. On the other hand, success could prove to be detrimental to the quality of life of the learner if the outcomes attract negative energy such as self-centeredness, selfishness and show-off. Important life lessons in the manner that a learner employs amassed techniques to other general life situations presents the most important task as opposed to the opinion delivered. Despite the fact that the student has the right to make success interpretations within their understanding as and the prevailing conditions, the overall attachment to intelligence and improvement of quality of life must fundamentally form the motivation to learn. References Blackwell, L., Dweck, C.S., & Trzesniewski, K., (2007) Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention, Child Development, vol. 78, no. 1, pp.246-263. Born, J., Gais, S., & Lucas, B., (2006) Sleep and learning aids memory recall, Learning and Memory, vol. 13, pp.259-262. Dweck, C. S. (1999) Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development, Philadelphia, PA: The Psychology Press. Musket, S., & Thompson, T., (2005) Does priming for mastery goals improve the performance of students with an entity view of ability? Br J Educ Psychol, vol. 75, no.3, pp.391-409. Shippensburg University (2012) Attribution theory, [online] Available from [accessed 11 July, 2012]. Sinha, S. S. (2012) Philosophy of success, [online] Available from [accessed 11 July 2012]. Read More