Learning strategies and general cognitive ability as predictors of gender- specific academic achievement

Abstract

Recent research has revealed that learning behavior is associated with academic achievement at the college level, but the impact of specific learning strategies on academic success as well as gender differences therein are still not clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the incremental contribution of learning strategies over general cognitive ability in the prediction of academic achievement. The relationship between these variables was examined by correlation analyses. A set of t-tests was used to test for gender differences in learning strategies, whereas structural equation modeling as well as multi-group analyses were applied to investigate the incremental contribution of learning strategies for male and female students’ academic performance. The sample consisted of 461 students (mean age = 21.2 years, SD = 3.2). Correlation analyses revealed that general cognitive ability as well as the learning strategies effort, attention, and learning environment were positively correlated with academic achievement. Gender differences were found in the reported application of many learning strategies. Importantly, the prediction of achievement in structural equation modeling revealed that only effort explained incremental variance (10%) over general cognitive ability. Results of multi-group analyses showed no gender differences in this prediction model. This finding provides further knowledge regarding gender differences in learning research and the specific role of learning strategies for academic achievement. The incremental assessment of learning strategy use as well as gender-differences in their predictive value contributes to the understanding and improvement of successful academic development.

University students’ conceptions of learning across multiple domains

“…Several studies (see i.e., Duckworth & Seligman, 2006;Ruffing, Wach, Spinath, Brünken, & Karbach, 2015) have suggested that female students earn substantially higher grades than male students (Diseth, Meland, & Johan, 2014). Female students have different study habits compared to males (e.g., Robbins et al, 2004).…”

Predicting students’ learning strategies: The contribution of chronotype over personality

“…The sample investigated in this study was part of the second panel wave of the Study on Individual and Organizational Influences on Study Performance in Teacher Education (SioS; Kaub et al, 2012;Reichl, Wach, Spinath, Brünken & Karbach, 2014;Ruffing et al, 2014). This German research project aims to investigate professional competencies in teacher education and therefore runs a longitudinal assessment over 6 years also administering a control group of psychology students.…”

“…Therefore, a number of studies have aimed at identifying predictors for individual differences in these abilities (e.g., Donche, De Maeyer, Coertjens, Van Daal, & Van Petegem, 2013) as well as at examining between-group differences (e.g., gender differences; Ruffing, Wach, Spinath, Brünken, & Karbach, 2014) or designing interventions in order to improve the way students approach learning and study processes (for an overview, see Hattie, Biggs, & Purdie, 1996). Still, there are many unanswered questions regarding university students' learning strategy use and the comparability of previous findings is limited, partly because of the heterogeneity of theoretical perspectives, measurement instruments and terminologies adopted in prior studies (for a review, see Entwistle & McCune, 2004).…”

Impact of Non-Cognitive Factors on First-Year Performance

“…In the few studies that attempt to combine non-cognitive factors alongside cognitive ability in an effort to explain college GPA, it has been shown that non-cognitive factors such as study skills and effort explain significant variance in college GPA beyond cognitive ability [8], [9] . One study has shown that learning skills and study strategies alone can provide a 10% increase in predictive validity when added to cognitive-only models of academic performance [9] .…”

“…One study has shown that learning skills and study strategies alone can provide a 10% increase in predictive validity when added to cognitive-only models of academic performance [9] . Similarly, a recent meta-analysis showed that non-cognitive factors such as conscientiousness, test anxiety, and academic self-efficacy can explain as much variance in college GPA as high school GPA and SAT scores [10] .…”