Improving academic competence in adults: A review of recent research.

Abstract

A cursory examination of previous reviews of the efficacy of programs designed to improve academic competence suggests that the closer one scrutinizes the literature, the less favorable the results appear. In contrast to this unfortunate trend, the outcomes of studies published from 1974 to 1978 were quite favorable, based on a box-score tabulation and an analysis of more than a dozen well-controlled investigations. Although five key methodological exigencies were noted, the evidence indicates that structured multicomponent interventions, particularly those incorporating both study skills and self-control training, often produce substantial gains in academic performance and behaviors relative to comparison and control conditions. Discussion emphasizes the importance of using methodological refinements in future research and conducting further analyses of planning, problem solving, and choice as treatment adjuncts. Finally, a three-component motivational -study skills -selfregulatory skills model is proposed as a potentially heuristic description of the process of improving academic competence.Virtually all colleges and universities offer students several types of services that share the goal of improving academic competence (Entwisle, 1960; Richards, in press). If we tentatively define academic competence as the ability to efficiently obtain high grades, then we must marvel at the diversity of the means to achieve that end promulgated since the late 1920s. Published accounts have considered the virtues of providing detailed written materials or bibliotherapy ; peer monitoring

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