Do Learning And Study Skills Affect Academic Performance? An Empirical Investigation

Universities and colleges are very interested in understanding the factors that influence their students academic performance. This paper describes a study that was conducted at a mid-sized public university in the mid-south, USA, to examine this issue. In this study, the 10-scale, Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) (Weinstein et al., 1987) assessment device was administered to 107 students to measure receptivity to several skills and strategies that purportedly enhance a students ability to learn and successfully perform in an academic setting. The results of this study showed that the LASSI scales dealing with attitude, concentration, information processing skill, motivation, self-testing and review techniques, use of study support techniques, time management, and effective test-taking strategies all correlated positively (with statistical significance) to student GPA. There were also statistically significant differences between males and females in their mean scores for several of the above mentioned LASSI scales. Every LASSI subscale, where females significantly outscored males, positively correlated with superior academic performance (i.e., GPA). However, after controlling for variance explained by the LASSI scores, there were no statistically significant correlations between gender and academic performance. The primary conclusion from this study is that contrary to prior research that suggests that females predominantly outperform males in academics, such differences can be better explained by mediating variables such as learning and study strategies. This debunking of the female stereotype of superior academic performance merely because of gender has pedagogical implications.