Abstract
The learning approaches consist of students’ learning intentions and strategies to learn. The ramification of their different learning approaches ends in various academic achievements. Their learning approaches mediate the impacts of students’ epistemological beliefs, learning conceptions, personality, and ability to learn on their academic achievements. Apart from personal variables, differences in students’ socioeconomic background, gender, disciplines of study, duration of experience in education, teaching approaches, and teaching methods produce differences in students’ learning approaches. The cultural and social differences produce specific personal attributes in students that impact learning approaches. Therefore, this study explored the impacts of Pakistani university students’ socioeconomic background, gender, study disciplines, and university education experience on their learning approaches. The sample of this study comprised 488 university students. The sampling technique to select this sample was a convenient non-probability sampling technique. The structural equation modeling approach was used to calculate the direct and total effects of students’ socioeconomic background, gender, disciplines of study, and duration of university education experience on their learning approaches. The Pakistani university students’ socioeconomic classes, disciplines of study, and duration of university education experience have significant direct and total effects on their learning approaches. The variable gender did not cause a significant direct or total effect on Pakistani university students’ learning approaches. The study contributed knowledge regarding factors that impact university students ‘learning approaches in the context of Pakistan.
Highlights
The learning approaches emphasize students’ learning context understand their academic behaviors and achievements (Evans & Vermunt, 2013)
Different studies have corroborated a strong tendency for surface learning approach in male students compared to female students (Chiou et al, 2011; Ismail et al, 2013)
The results of different studies have indicated that female students are more likely to have a surface learning approach than male students (Sadler‐Smith, 1996)
Summary
The learning approaches emphasize students’ learning context understand their academic behaviors and achievements (Evans & Vermunt, 2013). Social and cultural values determine students’ epistemological and learning beliefs, and the epistemological and learning beliefs shape students’ learning approaches (Biggs, 1998; Richardson, 2010). The structure of the deep, surface and strategic learning approaches may differ in students of different cultures (Kember, 1996; Kember & Gow, 1990; Richardson, 1994). It is acknowledged that some critical factors in the development of learning approaches are; the disciplines of study (Nelson Laird et al, 2008), gender (Cano, 2005), students’ current semester or year of education (Ismail et al, 2013), and socioeconomic background (Cano & Cardelle-Elawar, 2008). Assessment approaches, teaching approaches, and course perceptions regulate students’ learning approaches (Beausaert et al, 2013; Price et al, 2011; Scouller, 1998)
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