النوع والتخصص والمستوى الدراسي كمنبئات بالتوجهات الأكاديمية لدى طلبة جامعة الملك فيصل Gender, Specialization, and Level of Study as Predictors of Academic Orientations among King Faisal University Students

The current research aimed at identifying the profiles of academic orientations that can be distinguished among university students, and to detect the differences in their academic orientations according to gender, specialization and level of study, and the ability of these variables to predict academic orientations. The sample consisted of (368) male and female students. The researcher used the academic orientations’ scale. The results of the cluster analysis distinguished three groups of academic directions (low, medium, high), their percent were (27.72%, 40.76%, 31.52%)of the sample. The results showed that there were significant differences between male and female in the variables of tendency to reading, academic self-efficacy, and crystallization of academic interest, creative expression, and the total score in favor of females. While there were no significant differences in trust in the educational environment. Moreover, the results indicated that there were no significant differences among the students of the scientific and literary sections on all the variables of academic orientations and the overall score. Also, there were significant differences between the first and fourth levels in the academic self-efficacy, the crystallization of academic interest, the creative expression, and the total score in favor of the fourth level. While there were no significant differences in the tendency to reading and trust in the educational environment.Additionally, the results of the multiple regression analysis showed that the gender model and the study level were able to predict about 46% of the overall variation in academic orientation. The researcher recommended to provide programs to develop positive academic orientations and modify the negative academic orientations among university students.