The effect of study strategies on learning from text

doi:10.1016/0959-4752(94)90026-4

Learning and Instruction

Volume 4, Issue 3, 1994, Pages 253-271

https://doi.org/10.1016/0959-4752(94)90026-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study focuses on study strategies used spontaneously by high-school graduates when learning from text in a medical school entrance examination. The effectiveness of these strategies was assessed in terms of success in qualitatively different essay-type tasks. All subjects (N = 503) were given a short questionnaire about the strategies they used when learning from text, and their test results were analyzed. In addition, notes of a sample of 200 subjects were analyzed. The first hypothesis was that any strategy aimed at learning a minor detail enhances its learning, whereas a central idea is learned regardless of strategies. The second hypothesis was that underlining is related to success in a task requiring synthesis of the text. Third, concept mapping was hypothesized to be successful in a task which calls for critical review of the learned materials. The results supported all hypotheses.

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An eye movement analysis of highlighting and graphic organizer study aids for learning from expository text
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Citation Excerpt :
Importantly, several studies have found that highlighting text is among the most common study techniques. For example, in a survey of more than 500 medical students on spontaneous study strategies conducted by Lonka, Lindblom-YlÄnne, and Maury (1994), students reported the following study techniques as the most commonly used ones: underlining (88% of participants), note-taking (68% of participants), and defining concepts (49% of participants). Similarly, Wade, Trathen, and Schraw (1990) found that when college students were asked to study a text by using whatever technique they knew, most students employed some form of highlighting followed by verbatim note-taking.
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The effect of study strategies on learning from text

Abstract

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Learning and Instruction

Contemporary Educational Psychology

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

Contemporary Educational Psychology

Effects of verbal-graphic note-taking strategies on writing

Cognitive psychology and its implications

The psychology of written composition

Note taking and passage style

Journal of Educational Psychology

The nature of expertise

Learning strategy research

Strategies for discourse comprehension

The mind's new science. A history of the cognitive revolution

Explaining science: A cognitive approach

Learning theory and the study of instruction

Annual Review of Psychology

An analysis of self-reported study strategies and achievement

Underlining can make a difference — sometimes

The Journal of Educational Research

Applying log-linear models in educational research

Australian Journal of Education

Cognitive aspects of autonomous note taking: Control processes, learning strategies, and prior knowledge

Educational Psychologist

Note-taking functions and techniques

Journal of Educational Psychology