Learning strategies in secondary education: a study about the variation in their developmental level for spanish students

Abstract

In recent years learning strategies have become one of the topics that aroused great interest among scholars in the field of educational psychology. This interest has determined them to conduct researches focused on exploring their impact on the academic achievement, the learning of a second language and their link with the teaching style. Nonetheless, less attention has been paid to other aspects that can explain their development during secondary education. This study aims to know if the use level of the learning strategies varies according to the grade, gender and the type of school that students attend. Therefore we applied a Learning Strategies Questionnaire to a total of 355 secondary students (185 boys, 170 girls) of the first (n= 157) and fourth grade (n=198) from six schools with different ownership –public, private and State subsidised– in Lugo (Spain). Our results reveal that students have an adequate level of learning strategies. Notwithstanding, first graders show a higher global competence of their use than fourth graders (p˂.001). Concretely, the first ones obtain higher levels in the scales of motivation (p˂.001), attitude (p˂.05), thought formulation (p˂.001), transference (p˂.001), critical thinking (p˂.001), reflexion (p˂.01), planning (p˂.001) and evaluation (p˂.05). On the other hand, male students reflect better emotional control than female (p˂.001). In contrast, female students show a better level of organization (p˂.001) and evaluation (p˂.01). Lastly, students in public schools show a lower general competence level in the use of their learning strategies than their counterparts in State subsidised (p˂.01) and private schools (p˂.05). We can conclude that secondary students’ learning strategies worsen as they advance in their academic path. These data indicate that teachers not only rethink their pedagogical practices, but they also review the didactical materials employed in their classes; mainly in public schools. Besides, it would be convenient to carry out concrete actions in order to improve the learning strategies, e.g. through workshops on study techniques. In this case, the person in charge bears in mind that students, according to their gender, have different necessities and should conduct personalized actions taking into account their particular gaps.