Article 3:
Relevance of Study Skills, Attitudes and Behaviors for First-Year Freshmen
by Lynne Stamoulis, Ed.D.,
Texas A&M International University

In the spring of 2007, Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) completed a year-long Foundations of Excellence® self study, which culminated in a set of recommendations to strengthen its First-Year Experience for incoming freshmen. Among the many recommendations made by the Foundations of Excellence self study group were to enroll incoming freshmen into learning communities, to articulate overall student learning outcomes for the First-Year Experience, and to develop an assessment plan to determine the extent to which first-year students were achieving those outcomes.

For TAMIU, the term, "First-Year Experience" includes, but goes beyond the required freshman seminar and courses linked to it in the learning communities, to include all coursework and experiences, in and outside of the classroom. Eight student learning outcomes, aligned with TAMIU's Principles of Undergraduate Learning, were articulated for the First-Year Experience. One of the First-Year Experience learning outcomes was that students would "improve specific attitudes and behaviors that lead to academic success."

In the inaugural year of the first-year learning communities at TAMIU (2007-2008), the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) was utilized to explore linkages between study skills, attitudes and strategies, freshman academic success, and first-year retention; and to measure student gains in study skills, attitudes and strategies over the course of the First-Year Experience.  The LASSI was administered twice to the same cohort of first-year freshmen:  once early in their first semester of enrollment (Fall 2007), and once again at the end of their first academic year (Spring, 2008).

The LASSI consists of ten scales:  Anxiety, Attitude, Concentration, Information Processing, Motivation, Selecting Main Ideas, Self Testing, Study Aids, Test Strategies and Time Management.  It is important to note that the LASSI is not a performance-based assessment, but a perceptual survey where students complete Likert-type scales indicating the extent to which statements in the inventory are "typical" of them.  Each LASSI scale consists of the combined scores of eight questionnaire items, which are spread randomly throughout the inventory.

The LASSI pretest was administered to 436 TAMIU First-Year freshmen enrolled in the UNIV 1101 freshman seminar in October of 2007.  Students were directed to the testing center to take the inventory in its on-line administration mode.  The LASSI post-test was administered to 447 First-Year freshmen enrolled in the second semester of the freshman seminar, UNIV 1102, in late April and early May of 2008. The researcher was able to match pre- and post-test records of 334 First-Year freshmen to determine gains in study skills, attitudes and behaviors over the course of the first year of academic study.

Higher LASSI Scores Are Associated with Higher Academic Achievement

The LASSI pretest scores of 431 First-Year TAMIU freshmen were compared to the grades they earned that same semester (Fall 2007).  Although there was no significant difference between the LASSI scale scores of students whose semester grade point averages were below a 2.0, and those students whose averages were 2.0 to 2.99, the LASSI scale scores of students who averaged at least a 3.0 were significantly higher than those of students in either of the other two grade categories.  Although causality cannot be inferred, higher scores on some of the LASSI scales are associated with better academic performance among TAMIU freshmen, and higher LASSI scores appear to be useful predictors of academic achievement above a 3.0.

• 48.5% of the students who scored above the group average on the Anxiety Scale went on to earn a 3.0 average or above for their Fall semester grades, compared to only 34.7% of the students who scored at or below the group average on the Anxiety Scale (p = .006).
• 50.6% of the students who scored above the group average on the Attitude Scale attained a Fall semester GPA of 3.0 or above, compared to only 30.8% of the students who scored at or below the group average on the Attitude Scale (p = .000)
• 48.5% of those students who scored above the group average on the Concentration Scale earned Fall semester grades averaging at least 3.0, compared to only 35.4% of the students who scored at or below the group average (p = .008).
• 46.9% of the students who scored above the group average on the Information Processing Scale earned Fall grades averaging at least 3.0, compared to only 36.6% of the students who scored at or below the average (p = .039).
• 54% of those students who scored above the group average on the Motivation Scale earned Fall semester grades averaging at least 3.0, compared to only 29.2% of those students who scored at or below the group average (p = .000).
• There were no significant differences between those scoring above or below average on the Self Testing, Select Main Ideas, or Study Aids scales when it came to earning a Fall semester GPA of at least 3.0.
• 47.9% of the students who scored above the group average on the Time Management Scale earned a Fall semester GPA of at least 3.0, compared to only 34% of the students who scored at or below average on that scale (.005).
• 49.1% of the students who scored above the group average on the Test Strategies Scale achieved a Fall semester GPA of at least 3.0, compared to only 33.8% of the students who scored at or below the group average (.002).

Higher LASSI Scores Are Associated with Student Persistence

First-Year persistence patterns were examined.  Students in the Fall 2007 first-year freshman cohort who dropped out of TAMIU before the fall of 2008 had significantly different scores on seven LASSI items, than students in the same cohort who persisted.  First-Year freshman behaviors which seem to signal high risk of attrition include:

• Not setting goals for the grades wanted in classes,
• Worrying when taking tests and allowing that worry to interfere with concentration,
• Worrying about flunking out of school,
• Getting distracted from one’s studies,
• Not setting aside more time to study subjects that are difficult,
• Getting behind in class assignments, and
• Going to one’s instructors for help when having trouble with class work.

Green indicates the score is more desirable, whether higher or lower.

LASSI items are scored on a five-point Likert-type scale, where students are asked to pick a point along the scale which is a, "Not at all typical of me," b, "Not very typical of me," c, "Somewhat typical of me," d, "Fairly typical of me," or e, "Very much typical of me;" These scales are either ascending, where a = 1 and e = 5, or descending, where a = 5 and e = 1.

LASSI Pre- and Post-Test as a Measure of Value Added by the First-Year Experience

Details about TAMIU first-year freshman gains on the LASSI scales over the 2007-2008 academic year are provided in a set of tables in Appendix A.  In these tables, the LASSI scale score information is banded in yellow, followed by information on each of the eight inventory items which contributed to the scale score.  Mean differences are given (column 6), along with statistical significance (column 9), and effect size (column 10).  In the tables, statistical significance is indicated by a green border around the cell, and effect size of .20 or larger is indicated by a red border around the cell. 

Effect size is a standardized measure (the mean difference of scores divided by the standard deviation) of the extent to which two means are different (lack of overlap given error margins).  It is a statistical convention to show the possible effect of an intervention on mean scores (.20 is small, .50 is medium, and .80 is large).

Given that the 2007-2008 academic year administration of the LASSI was TAMIU's first use of the inventory to measure value added by the First-Year Experience, it is impossible to be certain if changes are due to student maturation or something intentional in the First-Year Experience. Having established these 2007-2008 scores as benchmarks, however, will allow TAMIU to interpret future changes more precisely.  First-year students who entered TAMIU Fall 2008 will take their LASSI post-test in late April of 2009.  Their gains in study skills, attitudes and behaviors will be compared to those of the 2007 cohort, whose results are reported here.

Changes over the 2007-2008 academic year indicate some possible early successes of the First-Year Experience.

• The largest positive effect (.28) of the First-Year Experience was to reduce students' anxiety about their academic performance or about approaching academic tasks.
• The next largest positive effect (.22) was to improve the test strategies of students, followed by improving their ability to select main ideas (.18), and to concentrate (.14).
• Somewhat disturbing and worth examining was that the First-Year Experience had a negative effect (-.21) on students' attitudes about academic work.

TAMIU will strive for significant differences and medium-to-large effect sizes in all ten of the LASSI scales.  Ongoing administration of the LASSI as an assessment tool will help TAMIU continually sharpen the focus and effectiveness of instruction and support services for first-year students to enable them to build stronger study skills, attitudes and strategies.  This study suggests that strengthening the study skills, attitudes and strategies of first-year students will pay high dividends when it comes to their persistence and academic achievement.

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