Effects of Learning Strategies in Accounting: A Case Study of a Malaysian Pre- University Student
Sunway College, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Research has shown that learning strategies affect a student’s academic performance. Motivated by the need to further understand the effects of learning strategies on a student’s performance in an assessment, the study adopted a case study design to provide an explanation from the perspective of a single subject of study, who was an Accounting student in a pre-university level. Data were collected from multiple sources of evidence, namely verbal interviews, the subject's work (artefacts of answer transcripts), as well as tests such as Learning Style Inventory Test and Multiple Intelligence Test. Findings indicated that the subject’s ineffective learning strategies had a major effect on his examination performance, due to a knowledge gap as a result of his inability to focus and remember important information. Minor factors contributing to his underperformance included high school-college transition challenges, inadequate sleep, absence of lecture note-taking and exam stress. The findings provide insights for future research to match a student’s learning strategies with his or her academic performance in similar contexts. The findings also imply that the mapping of students’ learning strategies to their academic performance can be a crucial tool to improve students' learning.
KEYWORDS
Learning strategies, academic performance, accounting, pre-university