Bad Study Habits of EFL Learners as Indicators of their Poor Performance: A Case of the University of Bisha

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the study habits of the college students of English, and examine their role on the their performance as assessed by the instructors. The study was intended to be a preliminary and exploratory one and to be followed by a more at a larger scale study. The participants were 150 students distributed between males (60%) and females (40%). They were selected purposefully representing the different academic years from the Departments of English, Colleges of Sciences and Arts, University of Bisha, An-namas, KAS. Three different tools were used to collect the data: a self-prepared 19-item survey questionnaire, informal observations, and informal meetings with the instructors of the intended groups. The percentile and frequency techniques were used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that the majority of the students, boys in particular, devoted less time to their study, revised less frequently, never took notes, did not plan their study time, and study mainly to take examinations or please parents. They studied alone in their rooms and rarely study at library. All this corresponded with the instructors' assessment that the participants’ performance was below the expectations. Though this was true of both genders, females, however, did better than males in many of these respects. Their study habits were less negative; they were more motivated and therefore their performance was reported to be better than those of the males. The study concluded with some recommendations and suggestions for future actions.