Instructional Dissent as an Expression of Students' Academic Orientations and Beliefs about Education

This purpose of this study was to examine how students' academic orientations toward learning and general beliefs about education (i.e., academic entitlement, learning orientation, grade orientation, academic locus of control, academic self-efficacy) predict the use of instructional dissent (i.e., expressive dissent, rhetorical dissent, vengeful dissent) in a college class. Participants were 222 students who reported on their perceived academic orientations and educational beliefs in tandem with their dissent behavior in a current college class. Results of a canonical correlation revealed that (a) when students were academically entitled, grade orientated, and lacked academic self-efficacy, they communicated more expressive and vengeful dissent, but (b) when students were learning oriented, they communicated more rhetorical dissent.