THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.5 Approach to study
2.5.3 Strategic learning
Strategic or pragmatic learning is a contingency approach to study. This approach uses a hybrid of both deep and surface approach attributes. It is driven by search for goals. Students may study to answer written assignments, succeed in examinations and meet employers‘ requirements for qualifications. Students who use this approach are speedy-focusers (Carnwell and Harrington 2001). They spot and spasmodically engage with material and focus quickly on aspects of content that address their goal.
They view knowledge as given and prefer no dialogue, unstructured materials and a passive tutor role. They succeed but with limited understanding of the course content (Landbeck and Mugler 2000; Venter 2003).
Learning approaches have motivation and strategy elements which are related. On the one hand, deep approach students try to understand a topic if it is of interest to them or if they see its relevance to their professional roles. On the other hand, a surface approach is associated with an extrinsic motivation. For example, in courses that are not directly relevant to them, students adopt a surface approach and aim to remember the bare essentials to scrape a pass. Approaches to study are not stable like learning styles. Instead the approach adopted varies with and depends on the student‘s motivation and the prevailing teaching context. Extrinsic motivation, reproductive assessment questions, formal teaching, a focus on transmitting information and/or excessively heavy workload have all been shown to make the adoption of a surface approach (Kember 1995).
Kember (1995) cites Ramsden and Entwistle (1981) who found that surface learning approach strongly distinguished between persisters and non-persisters on educational
programmes. Surface learners focus on the text and employ reproductive orientation and memorize facts for recall during assessment. Such memorized material is soon forgotten once the examination is over. However, where material is relevant to a student‘s job a deep approach is adopted and it is remembered.
Students who use a deep approach concentrate on the meaning underlying a text because they see its relevance to their needs and find it of interest. According to Kember (1995) there is a strong affinity between the deep/surface dichotomy of learning approaches and the underlying assumptions of the distinction between andragogy and pedagogy central to adult learning theory (Knowles 1984). While andragogy recognizes that adult learners are capable of self-direction and through experience, capable of determining their own learning needs, pedagogy places the responsibility of determining course content in the hands of teachers and then expects students to acquire the defined knowledge. The two constructs are different.
Andragogical assumptions lead to a deep approach while pedagogy is associated with a surface approach.
Ramsden and Entwistle (1983) found that intrinsic motivation is related to deep while extrinsic motivation is linked to surface approach. Intrinsic motivation refers to the interest students have in the subject matter for its own sake. Extrinsic motivation is concerned with the student‘s commitment to obtaining a qualification.
Extrinsic motivation is driven by career opportunities barred by lack of qualifications, promotion and financial rewards on course completion, family rivalries to obtain qualifications and/or students being of a suitable age to benefit from extra qualifications. Intrinsic motivation has an attitudinal aspect and also influences and/or is influenced by the course evaluation facet of the academic component. If the subject matter gels with the student‘s interests and career needs, then intrinsic motivation will be heightened (Kember 1995).
Students that enrol on a programme because the employers require some qualification in order to promote them tend to adopt a surface approach and memorize facts which are important hoping to use them in answering examination questions. Kember (1995) cites Knowles (1984) advocating that adult learners should be viewed as unique individuals that are able to determine the relevance of subject matter and skills. Interest in the subject matter for its own sake leads adult students to search for meaning. Intrinsic motivation is particularly important to adult learners.
Use of English as a second language makes some adult students less confident and capable of using the language of instruction. Any student who has to think consciously about deciphering the language of the text finds it hard to discern the meaning behind the reading. Such students operate at sentence or even word level rather than examining a coherent passage. Second language speakers often find studying more difficult. Enthusiasm for wide and extensive reading distinguishes between deep and surface learners (Kember 1995).
The approach to study theory is based on the assumption that students‘ need for support and guidance is as important as the approach to study that they adopt.
Students regard their approach to study and access to support as a coping strategy.
While coping strategies result in an enjoyable learning experience for some adults, for others the use of coping strategies reflects a need to adapt their approach to study.
To them, access to support is viewed as compensation for factors that may hamper their progress (Carnwell and Harrington 2001).
Adults‘ coping with DL depends on enjoyment of learning, intrinsic value and perceived importance of learning. Their conception of learning ranges from increasing one‘s knowledge, memorising and reproducing, applying, understanding , seeing things differently and changing the person (Landbeck and Mugler 2000;
Bontempi 2003 ). While the first three aspects of learning are reproductive, the last
three are transformative in nature. DL students‘ approaches to study depend on the motivation for learning and their previous learning experience. Apart from culture, adult learners‘ approaches are influenced by curriculum design and previous teachers‘ expectations, philosophy and assessment requirements. DL students use any among: deep, surface and strategic approaches to study (Carnwell and Harrington 2001; Blunt and Yang 2002; Venter 2003). More effective learning takes place if the learner is actively involved and understands what must be learnt.
Entwistle and Ramsden (1983) drew from the Gothenburg Research Group which emphasized the role of content and context in studying and revealed that only the approach of a student to a particular task can be regarded as being consistently deep.
The conception of a single ideal approach to studying as being universally applicable in different courses and subject areas is of dubious practical value to lecturers and students. The way forward is to look at the key points that provide a basis for identifying major aspects of how students learn in different subjects. Approaches to learning are often influenced by the teaching and learning environment. The way a subject is taught has a strong influence on the quality of learning for students. The use of technology to augment the student experience is now ubiquitous in higher education and improvements in student completion rate of programmes are achieved using a blended approach to study (Entwistle and Ramsden 1983; Kember et al 2008;
Buckley et al 2010).
This theory reveals that adult learners need both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, academic guidance, feedback and re-assurance. It illuminates the need for this study as it indicates that approaches used by adults can reveal the shortcomings in DL support systems. The concepts of deep and surface learning are attractive because of their influence in teaching and learning today. Deep approach produces high quality learning outcomes while a surface approach results in lower quality outcomes. If DL is to encourage the development of quality learning outcomes in students, such as
deep learning, understanding, independent learning, critical and creative thinking, problem solving and other lifelong learning attributes, there is need to create contexts that discourage surface, and encourage deep approach to learning (Tam 1999) which has constructivist ideas. I explored support structures and strategies used by adults to study in order to cope with DL.