Study Skills among High School Students: An Exploratory Study of Private High Schools in Albania

Abstract

A good education can be provided through the committment and action of students, teachers and administrators. Students’ effective learning can be encouraged and enhanced through the development of the students’ organization skills. Evidence shows that many high school students fail to do well academically because of a lack of their study skills. This work is conducted to report on an exploratory study of six schools in Albania where their key characteristics are found to be important to these schools’ success. The data are obtained from a close-ended survey in a Likert type scale with adequate validity and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha=.88). The sample consisted of N=255, 11th and 12th grade students (N=116 male, 45.5% and N=138 female, 54.1%) from eight high schools in Albania. Results showed that, female students were significantly different from male students on: I take notes as I read textbook assignments (p<.01); When I don’t understand something, I get help from my classmates, toturs and instructors (p = .025); and I can easily identify what I have learned and what I have not yet learned before I take a test (p = .018). We found no correlation between parental education level, number of children in the family and students’ study skills. At the end implications and recommendations of these findings are discussed for further research on the study skills of high school students.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p17