College Students' Study Strategies as a Function of Testing: An Investigation into Metacognitive Self-Regulation

ABSTRACTWe conducted the present study to investigate whether college students adjust their study strategies to meet the cognitive demands of testing, a metacognitive self-regulatory skill. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two testing conditions. In one condition we told participants to study for a test that required deep-level cognitive processing and in the other to study for a test that required surface-level cognitive processing. Results suggested that college students adjust their study strategies so that they are in line with the cognitive processing demands of tests and that performance is mediated by the study strategies that are used.

[1]  Gilbert Sax,et al.  AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF RECALL AND MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT , 1968 .

[2]  Young,et al.  Self-Regulation Behaviors in Underprepared (Developmental) and Regular Admission College Students , 1998, Contemporary educational psychology.

[3]  Douglas J. Hacker,et al.  Metacognition in educational theory and practice. , 1998 .

[4]  John Biggs,et al.  Study Process Questionnaire Manual. Student Approaches to Learning and Studying. , 1987 .

[5]  John Biggs,et al.  INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP DIFFERENCES IN STUDY PROCESSES , 1978 .

[6]  B. Zimmerman.  A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. , 1989 .

[7]  C. Violato,et al.  A validity study of Biggs' three-factor model of learning approaches: a confirmatory factor analysis employing a Canadian sample , 1994 .

[8]  Carol VanZile-Tamsen,et al.  The Differential Impact of Motivation on the Self-Regulated Strategy Use of High- and Low-Achieving College Students. , 1999 .

[9]  G. Meyer.  The effect of recall and recognition on the examination set in classroom situations. , 1936 .

[10]  E. Tulving.  Elements of episodic memory , 1983 .

[11]  Michael Prosser,et al.  Students' experiences in studying for multiple choice question examinations , 1994 .

[12]  Philip H. Winne,et al.  Studying as self-regulated learning. , 1998 .

[13]  F. Marton,et al.  Approaches to learning , 2003 .

[14]  Neil Salkind,et al.  Using SPSS for Windows: Analyzing and Understanding Data with Disk , 1997 .

[15]  Test mode, test instructions, and retention , 1979 .

[16]  J. Surber.  The effect of test expectation, subject matter, and passage length on study tactics and retention , 1992 .

[17]  Margaret Ross,et al.  Teachers' Choices of Test-Item Formats for Classes With Diverse Achievement Levels , 1998 .

[18]  A. Ralph Hakstian.  The Effects of Type of Examination Anticipated on Test Preparation and Performance. , 1971 .

[19]  B. Zimmerman.  Developing self-fulfilling cycles of academic regulation: An analysis of exemplary instructional models. , 1998 .

[20]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Impact of Self-Regulatory Influences on Writing Course Attainment , 1994 .

[21]  G. Meyer.  An experimental study of the old and new types of examination , 1934 .

[22]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Construct Validation of a Strategy Model of Student Self-Regulated Learning , 1988 .

[23]  G. d'Ydewalle,et al.  Study time and test performance as a function of test expectations , 1983 .

[24]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Handbook of self-regulation , 2000 .

[25]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Student Differences in Self-Regulated Learning: Relating Grade, Sex, and Giftedness to Self-Efficacy and Strategy Use. , 1990 .

[26]  John D. Bransford,et al.  Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing , 1977 .

[27]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Self-regulated learning : from teaching to self-reflective practice , 1998 .

[28]  B. Zimmerman.  Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. , 2000 .

[29]  C. Carver,et al.  Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior , 1981 .

[30]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Self-Motivation for Academic Attainment: The Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Personal Goal Setting , 1992, American Educational Research Journal.

[31]  P. Pintrich.  The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. , 2000 .

[32]  F. Marton,et al.  The Experience of Learning , 1984 .

[33]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theory, research, and practice. , 1989 .

[34]  R. Feldt,et al.  Effect of Test Expectancy on Preferred Study Strategy Use and Test Performance , 1989, Perceptual and motor skills.

[35]  J. Biggs.  THE ROLE OF METALEARNING IN STUDY PROCESSES , 1985 .

[36]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Preparing for Examinations: The interplay of memorising and understanding, and the development of knowledge objects , 2003 .

[37]  B. Zimmerman.  Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: Which Are the Key Subprocesses?. , 1986 .

[38]  Focusing Students: Three Approaches for Learning Through Evaluation , 1999 .

[39]  D. Schunk.  Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Regulated Learning , 1989 .

[40]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of Pro-cessing: A Framework for Memory Research , 1975 .

[41]  Paul W. Foos,et al.  Test Performance as a Function of Expected Form and Difficulty , 1992 .

[42]  Mary Lundeberg,et al.  Do Laboratory Findings on Test Expectancy Generalize to Classroom Outcomes? , 1991 .