A survey of the perceptions of study skills of twelfth-grade students in the state of Nebraska

In recent years, educators have been criticized by their peers, parents of students, and the public for not teaching students study skills in an organized, systematic manner. Because study skills are considered such an important part of academic and career success, the current status of study skills in Nebraska was examined, including (1) the perception of current, ideal, and actual levels of study skills, (2) methods used to learn study skills, and (3) courses in which study skills were included. The population of the study consisted of twelfth-grade students who attended accredited Nebraska public schools during the 1987-1988 school year. A stratified random sample of students was drawn from this population. The sample was drawn from schools that agreed to allow their senior class to become part of the study. A survey instrument was developed specifically for this study; 269 surveys were mailed and 261 usable surveys were returned. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, analyses of variance, and multiple t tests were used to calculate and examine comparisons of twelfth-grade students\u27 perceptions of their current, ideal, and actual levels of the following skills: listening, taking notes, time management, textbook techniques, and test-taking skills. Relationships between current and actual responses of the students suggested that students may have been unaware of the disparity between what they currently perceived their skills to have been and what actually existed. Relationships between ideal and actual responses were statistically significant. Students viewed study skills as ideally important and their actual usage of study skills closely reflected that thought. Based on the actual responses of students, listening was considered the most used skill and notetaking ranked second. Students were also asked to identify the courses in which they learned study skills and what methods were used to learn study skills. English and social studies courses were identified as the content areas where most students learned study skills. Students ranked teacher instruction as the number one method of study