Students' Perceptions of Locus of Control in College Classrooms and Their Global Appraisals of College Instruction

In this study students' perceptions of locus of control were conceived of as their perceptions of their roles in making decisions in the classroom. Data obtained in 47 college classrooms suggest that the extent to which students' perceived actual locus of control coincided with their preferred locus with respect to decisions about the sequence in which subject matter was considered and the selection of the instructional materials was positively correlated with their appraisals of the over-all effectiveness of the instruction. The extent to which they agreed with decisions made in the classroom also correlated positively with these appraisals.