Teaching study strategies may raise language test scores and make students more confident

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   1,780 students in 16 studies of second or foreign language learning, mostly English. Ten studies had university students and six had school pupils.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students were taught to plan, check and reflect on their own learning. They were compared with other groups that did not get these lessons. Programmes ran for 9 to 80 hours in total, mostly in ordinary classes.

3. 03

   What happened

   Compared with the other groups, test results improved a lot, and strategy use and confidence improved by a medium amount. The abstract and results give different sizes. The test-results figure also hints that small studies with weak results are missing.

What the review found

1. HelpedGoals

   Across 13 comparisons, teaching study skills lifted test results more than other groups did.

   • Action: Learn better study strategiestested

   Pooled analysis of 13 studies · vs groups that did not get the lessons · ⚠ signs that small negative studies went unpublished; results look too good to be true; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. HelpedGoals

   In 6 comparisons, teaching study skills led to more strategy use than other groups.

   • Action: Learn better study strategiestested

   Pooled analysis of 6 studies · vs groups that did not get the lessons · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. HelpedMotivation

   In 5 comparisons, teaching study skills made students more sure of their language skills than other groups did.

   • Action: Learn better study strategiestested

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies · vs groups that did not get the lessons · they rated themselves · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited; mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source