Approaches to learning, course experience and examination grade among undergraduate psychology students: testing of mediator effects and construct validity
- 12 June 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Studies in Higher Education
- Vol. 32 (3), 373-388
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070701346949
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between course experience, students’ approaches to learning, effort, ability and examination grade, and to examine aspects of construct validity in the present versions of the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students in a sample of 206 undergraduate psychology students. The results showed that course experience, students’ approaches to learning and ability were significantly correlated with examination grade, whereas effort was not. Structural equation modelling showed that a surface approach mediated the relationship between course experience and academic achievement, whereas ability remained an independent predictor of achievement. These findings indicate that both ability and approaches to learning have considerable independent effects on academic achievement, and that the students’ perceptions of the learning environment are important sources of approaches to learning.This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- Epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning: Their change through secondary school and their influence on academic performanceBritish Journal of Educational Psychology, 2005
- Quality of Learning on an MBA Programme: The impact of approaches to learning on academic performanceEducational Psychology, 2003
- Assessing the Teaching Quality of Accounting Programmes: An evaluation of the Course Experience QuestionnaireAssessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2003
- Personality and approaches to learning as predictors of academic achievementEuropean Journal of Personality, 2003
- Personal understanding and target understanding: Mapping influences on the outcomes of learningBritish Journal of Educational Psychology, 2002
- Validation of a Norwegian Version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST): Application of structural equation modellingScandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2001
- Predicting Introductory Psychology Test Scores: An Engaging and Useful TopicTeaching of Psychology, 1994
- Comparative fit indexes in structural models.Psychological Bulletin, 1990
- Approaches to learning, evaluations of teaching, and preferences for contrasting academic environmentsHigher Education, 1990
- The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986