Proficiency at academic studying》.pdf

CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 13, 265-215 (1988) Proficiency at Academic Studying JOHN W. THOMAS Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development This article presents a hypothetical model, based largely on extant laboratory research, of (a) attributes of proficiency at academic studying, and (b) course features that should act to promote and support students’ engagement in sustained self-directed learning. This ideal model is contrasted with normative study behav- ior as indexed by results from a recent survey of adolescents’ study activities. Principles regarding the way in which course demands and supports act to inhibit study proficiency in academic settings are discussed. o 1988 Academic PXSS, 1~. It is only recently that psychologists and educators have come to real- ize that academic studying in general, and study proficiency in particular, cannot be adequately described on the basis of existing research and theory. Although research on prose learning, reading comprehension, and memory have provided information on methods that facilitate learning from text and on ways that expert studiers differ from novices, most of the available research involves supervised, well-defined tasks. Academic studying, on the other hand, can be characterized as an isolated and individual activity that takes place in a relatively ill-defined