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Academic level also play a vital role and are considered an important factor in shaping epistemological beliefs (Kuhn et al., 2000). The academic level means students moving from one level to a higher one either in the same school or when moving from school to university. This has attracted interest because, as students move from one level/year to another, it is argued that their beliefs may change, it has been noted that these beliefs become more complex as they move up academically (Jehng et al., 1993; King and Kitchener, 1994; Schommer, 1990; 1993a).

Jehng et al. (1993) carried out a study on 386 graduates and undergraduates from three different colleges in central Illinois. The results of the study indicated that the graduates have significant differences in their academic level in the three dimensions of stability of knowledge, authority, and structure of knowledge, meaning that graduates seem to hold more complex epistemological beliefs than undergraduates. While the undergraduates among themselves prove that the higher levels they reach as undergraduates, the higher level of beliefs they will hold. In other words, there is also a significant difference in academic levels in the same dimensions. Further research conducted in Turkey to examine undergraduates’ academic levels resulted in confirmation that first-year undergraduates hold more sophisticated levels of beliefs in the dimension of ability to

learn than second year undergraduates but they also hold less sophisticated beliefs in stability of knowledge (Eren, 2007).

Furthermore, Marzooghi et al. (2008) found in their study that fourth-year undergraduates hold more sophisticated beliefs than first-year undergraduates in the dimension of their ability to learn and in the structure of knowledge. Another study confirms that junior undergraduates hold simpler levels of belief than seniors in the dimensions of stability of knowledge, source of knowledge and ability to learn (Ren et. al., 2009). King and Magun-Jackson (2009) claimed that the junior undergraduates hold more naïve beliefs in the dimensions of speed of learning and

stability of knowledge than seniors. Tanriverdi’s (2012) research indicated that the there is a

significant difference between first-year and third year undergraduates in the dimension of ability

academic levels. Chai et al. (2010) also found third year undergraduates hold more sophisticated beliefs than freshmen undergraduates believing that knowledge is derived from authorities’ perception and learning is an innate ability by contrast, freshmen are more likely than third year students believe that learning happened through hard work.

Unlike the above studies, a Malaysian study conducted on undergraduates studying in a College of Education at the University of Malaya, discovered that there is a significant difference in the epistemological beliefs among the first, second, third and fourth-year undergraduates in the dimensions of the speed of learning and ability to learn. In other words, sophisticated levels of epistemological belief decrease as students move to a higher academic level (Ismail et al., 2012).

There are also a few studies which have noticed the absence of the role of the academic level on the epistemological beliefs of learners. For example, Paulsen and Wells (1998) conducted a study to measure the difference between undergraduates and graduates on their epistemological beliefs focusing on their academic levels. The findings indicated that there were no significant differences in the epistemological belief dimensions of both undergraduates and graduates because their beliefs did not change significantly as they moved to a higher educational level. Another study, also carried out in Turkey, attested to the fact that there is no significant effect of academic levels on the epistemological beliefs of undergraduates (Belet and Güven, 2011).

After looking at various studies about academic levels as described in this sub-section, it can clearly be seen that the majority of studies agree that academic levels can influence the epistemological beliefs of learners as they move from the lower to the higher academic levels and that, as students move from one level to another, their beliefs regarding knowledge and learning become more complex and sophisticated.

The impact of gender, major and academic level as characteristics of individuals on their epistemological beliefs has been shown. Gender has been found to be a critical factor that distinguishes learners’ beliefs in some studies although other studies have found no impact of gender. Most of the studies looking at major found it to be an effective factor on learner’s beliefs where learners from the arts, humanities and social sciences may hold different beliefs as

compared with learners from majors of science, engineering and mathematics. Finally, academic levels of learners was found to cause them move to a higher level of beliefs as they gain more knowledge and experience over their years of study. More investigation is required to confirm the effects of these factors on the development of belief structures of learners whether by studying them separately or by finding the interaction between them. Additionally, the effects of these factors on learners’ beliefs about other disciplines should also be studied further.

Finding out the impact of different factors on epistemological beliefs is also important to determine whether these beliefs are towards knowledge in general or towards the subject domain the learners are studying. It would be interesting to know about learners’ beliefs measured if they were studying a particular subject domain, would they be the same if they were assessed while studying different disciplines. The argument about the nature of epistemological beliefs whether in general (general-domain) or across subject domains (specific-domain) will be discussed in the following section.