Previous studies of "the Chinese learner" have confounded the effects of culture and context or have used heterogeneous samples of students. In this study, 134 British students and 207 students from mainland China following 1-year postgraduate programmes at six British business schools completed the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)…

The Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) measures orientations to learning in higher education. Two studies used different forms of the ASI to investigate possible gender variation in approaches to studying. No consistent evidence of significant difference between men and women on individual items, subscales, or learning orientations was found.…

Comparison of 149 deaf and 121 hearing college students on the Approaches to Studying Inventory found the impact of deafness relatively slight. Discriminant analysis indicated deaf students, especially those who preferred sign communication, had more difficulty with relating ideas on different topics although they were more likely to adopt a…

Comparison of the study skills of 38 adult and 60 traditional-age college students in the same course found that older students had significantly higher scores on meaning orientation and lower scores on reproducing orientation and had persistence and educational attainment at least as high as that of traditional-age students. (Author/MSE)

Analysis of literature concerning approaches to studying in higher education suggests that these vary systematically from one culture to another. Two common orientations are distinguished: comprehension of meaning of learning materials, and reproduction of them. The former is consistent and coherent, the latter fragmented and variable according to…

Research suggests mature college students use more desirable approaches to academic learning, adopting a deep approach (meaning orientation) more often and a surface approach less often than younger students. Explanations include motivation by intrinsic goals; acquisition of a surface approach by younger students in secondary education; and…

Identifies problems with the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) as a survey instrument for use with non-Western students. A study using ASI attempted to examine the effects of secondary educational experiences on Fiji college students' study habits. Responses suggested the students were influenced by an acquiescent response bias. (MJP)