2. Level of English. The initial level of the majors was considerably higher than that of the non-majors, as would be [-6-] expected. One implication of this was that the same materials could not be used for both sets of students in most cases.
3. Motivation. The majors, having chosen English as their primary area of study for the next 4 years, could be assumed to be more interested in English and more highly motivated than the non-majors.
4. Homework. The English majors were much more likely to do home assignments. This was not so much a matter of intrinsic motivation as a consequence of the fact that their English courses were required. If they had failed to meet the instructor’s expectations, they would have had to repeat the course. This, in turn (depending on the number of other failures), might have set back their year of graduation. For the nonmajors, the course was not required. If they failed, they could take courses in a variety of other subjects to garner sufficient credits for graduation
Hypothesis
The gain scores of all students, regardless of method of study, would be equal.
Initial Setup