THE ROLE OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF STUDY STRATEGY AND PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES IN STRATEGY USE

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing upon study strategy, metacognition, and attribution research literatures, the present study explored task, person, and strategy variables as determinants of strategy use. College students read and were tested over an expository passage and then were asked to report the strategies they used and their perceptions of themselves and of the strategies. The college students in the present study reported using a large number of strategies, more than eight per student on average. Reported use of skimming, anticipating the test, and selective rereading strategies predicted students’ performance on a short‐answer test. Reported use of each of these strategies was significantly predicted by one or more of the following factors: general knowledge of the strategy, specific strategy attributes, perceived learner attributes, match between strategy and learner attributes, and strategy efficacy.