Learning strategies and self-efficacy as predictors of academic performance: a preliminary study

Abstract

Empirical research supports the idea that differences in academic performance among students are largely due to their different learning and study strategies. The strategies, in turn, affect the self-efficacy of the students. Two hundred university students were recruited to participate in this study by completing a revised Chinese version of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, on examining the extended relationship among the three components. Two major findings are observed. First, there were important differences among different study strategies used by university students with high academic achievement and those with low academic achievement. Second, the variable of self-efficacy was equally important to differentiate high academic-achieving students from low academic-achieving students at the university level.

Keywords:

• academic performance
• higher education
• learning and study strategies
• self-efficacy
• Learning and Study Strategies Inventory

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Katherine Leung and Walker Wong for their assistance in the present study and the constructive comments from Lee Harvey and two anonymous reviewers.