Why do students often fail to use learning strategies that experts have found effective? An intra-individual analysis

Abstract

Researchers have suggested that students often fail to use learning strategies that experts have found to be effective. The purpose of the present study was to obtain empirical evidence relating to this point, and to explore factors that may account for this phenomenon by focusing on 3 hypotheses: (a) a cost priority hypothesis, (b) an exam priority hypothesis, and (c) a hypothesis relating to a perception gap in effective learning strategies. In order to address methodological issues identified in previously published studies, both students' and experts' ratings were analyzed based on intra-individual variability in learning strategies. Self-reported data on math learning strategies obtained from Japanese secondary school students (TV = 715) indicated that the students indeed did not necessarily use effective learning strategies that had been identified by the experts' ratings (TV = 4). Further analysis indicated that there was a gap between the students and the experts with regard to their perception of effective learning strategies; this provided supportive evidence for the perception gap hypothesis. The present findings suggest the importance of explicitly instructing students in effective learning strategies.