Reviews commercially available instruments to assess students' study skills/habits/behavior, finding that none completely meets the standards set by the American Psychological Association or the American Educational Research Association. Offers guidance on selecting and applying these instruments in college settings. (DMM)

Discusses materials used for teaching of English-as-a-Second-Language study skills. It is suggested that for ESL study skills materials to be effective, their development should have as a starting point the development of the learners' underlying study competence. (six references) (JL)

Finds that, in a multicomponent, computer-supported study environment, students using the computer study tools demonstrated a substantial performance advantage; however, they limited their activities almost exclusively to reviewing multiple-choice questions, and tended to be students with higher grade point averages who were prone to use…

Memory and study skill instruction can powerfully affect middle school students' classroom performance. Students should be taught to improve their study skills by increasing their knowledge about memory, their awareness of their own memory processes, and their use of effective memory strategies. At the middle level, concrete demonstrations,…

Explores task, person, and strategy variables as determinants of strategy use in college students, drawing upon study strategy, metacognition, and attribution research literatures. Finds that the college students reported using more than eight strategies per student on the average. (MG)

Discusses essential learning techniques (homework, studying, and notetaking) that students need to facilitate their own learning and improve their academic performance. Teachers can help students develop these skills by defining specific skills, selecting a few examples to illustrate them, critiquing or correcting imperfect examples, providing…

In this study, 48 college students studied quietly for 20 minutes before taking a questionnaire that assessed their motivational regulation, goal orientations, and use of cognitive strategies during that study session. Students who exercised greater motivational regulations were more likely to exhibit adaptive motivational and cognitive…

Describes how college-reading and study-skills instructors can use the Internet as an extension of classroom activities. Discusses teaching students to use the computer, to search the Internet, to read the sources critically, to communicate, and to write opinion papers. Notes two useful articles that deal with instructional applications of the…

This study examined the learning tactics and knowledge representations used by five high school students with blindness while attempting to acquire information from text (presented in either Braille or audiotape). Tactics included re-reading; summarizing in writing, mentally, or orally; identifying ideas; and elaborating with mental images.…

Examines metamemory for categorized lists of items among college students. Judgments of learning (JOLs) were obtained either immediately after study or following a brief delay. Results indicate that delayed JOLs were more accurate than immediate JOLs only when knowledge based cues were used. Indicates that the phrasing of metamemory cues can have…

Presents research findings that evaluate the study skills, academic performance, and retention of students who participated in an Excellence-Commitment-and-Effective-Learning (ExCEL) group. Results indicate that the ExCEL groups appear to have enhanced the participants' study skills, GPAs, and social and cultural adjustment during the first year.…

The purpose of the present study was to examine gender differences in the self-handicapping tendencies of a sample of 337 Australian school attending adolescents, who were aged between 15 and 19 years. Self-handicapping, as measured by the shortened Self-Handicapping Scale, was examined in relation to self-esteem, performance attributions, coping…

Profile analysis was used to compare the study skills of academically struggling college students to their normal-achieving counter parts using the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI; Weinstein & Palmer, 2002). Comparisons were made between: (a) students with high versus low GPAs; (b) students with a documented learning disability…

I tested whether students' scores on the semester's first exam would change their reported use of textbook pedagogical aids during the course of the semester. I assessed 240 introductory psychology undergraduates early and late in the semester. The reported use of aids did not positively relate to student performance on any exams and showed only…

College students increasingly bring complex issues to campus and choose to manage their academic careers and personal lives in a variety of ways. Yet, these strategies for dealing with personal and academic challenges are the fundamental issues that colleges and universities need to explore in order to help their students succeed. This study…