Studying orientations and performance on verbal fluency tasks in a second language

Abstract

Previous research has shown that studying orientations are important factors in determining academic performance. The main purpose of this study was to investigate how Greek students' approaches to studying in combination with gender, academic discipline, and professional degree in English affect performance on verbal fluency tasks in English as a second language (L2). Participants were undergraduate students from a medium-sized University in central Greece. Verbal fluency in English was measured by students' answers in phonological, syntactical, and semantic tasks. Approaches to studying were assessed by a shorten version of Entwistle and Tait's (The Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, 1995, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh) "Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory." Females performed better than males on syntactical tasks, students from Exact Sciences performed better than students from Pure Sciences on phonological tasks, and subjects who had a professional degree performed better than those who did not, in all verbal fluency tasks. Approaches to studying, alone or in combination with students' sex and professional degree in L2, affected students' performance only on syntactical L2 tasks but not on phonological or semantic tasks. Results are discussed in terms of further study and their implications for L2 learning. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.