The nature of change in deep and surface study approaches: A study of student characteristics over time and across subjects.

This thesis was concerned with persistence and change in Entwistle's Approaches to Studying, the Deep and Surface Study Approaches. Approaches to Studying were seen as part person-dependent and part context-dependent: the former implying persistence and the latter change. Therefore, it was hypothesised that these two aspects might interact differently when contexts, for example, subject disciplines studied, were not the same. In which case it was hypothesised that a context of exposure to a specialised subject discipline may arguably confirm or modify the student's personal approach. To explore this possibility in the first instance the association between Study Approach and choice of subsequent specialisation was investigated after which this association was followed through A-level specialisation contexts which were congruent or incongruent with the earlier expressed choice, with the expectation that the association (found) between Study Approach and choice would, (1) intensify in congruent contexts (2) weaken in incongruent contexts At O-level it was found that Study Approach is associated with expressed choice of A-level specialisation, but one year later when Study Approach was re-tested, contrary to expectations this association did not intensify or weaken in contexts of specialisation that were congruent and not congruent, respectively, with the expressed choice. Linked with the one significant result, an overall increase in the use of surface approach over time, these outcomes suggest a need for an investigation into links between teaching approaches in Sri Lankan A-level classes and study approaches