Strategic knowledge and consistency in students with good and poor study skills

Abstract

Early adolescence is characterised by an increase in study requirements and the establishment of a systematic study method. However some students fail in study tasks. Teachers often attribute their difficulties to poor content knowledge or poor effort, without taking into consideration the specific role of study strategies. The present paper tests the hypothesis that poor study skills are related to students’ inadequate knowledge of good strategies and/or to their inconsistent use. From a sample of 354 students, aged between 12 and 15, on the basis of a study standardised test (AMOS 8–15; Cornoldi, De Beni, Zamperlin, & Meneghetti, 2005) we selected two groups of students, with good and poor study skills respectively, and we asked them to rate their knowledge and actual use of 22 good and 10 less adequate study strategies. We found that all students reported using strategies to a lesser extent than should be expected on the basis of their estimated importance, but they were all able to distinguish between poor and good strategies. However, students with poor study skills were less able to make this distinction and were less consistent in matching their knowledge to their use of strategies. It is concluded that strategic use and consistency play a crucial role in successful studying.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Nicolette Whitteridge for helpful comments on this paper.