This article describes the historical origins and development of a series of well-known study strategy inventories and seeks to identify their conceptual bases. The theories and evidence influencing the development of 6 contrasting instruments are considered before examining empirical evidence of similarities and differences between the measurement instruments. This analysis is tackled in three stages, looking first at inventories developed in the 1970s and 1980s that focused mainly on motivation, study methods, and learning processes. The more recent work that brought in mental models, metacognition, and self-regulation is then introduced, leading to a concluding section that discusses the conceptual bases of the whole set of inventories. The trends found in this research area are described and used to explore the current confusion of overlapping terms describing apparently similar aspects of learning and studying in higher education.KEY WORDS: approaches to studying; study strategy inventory; student learning; higher education; university.There has recently been an upsurge in interest in describing and measuring the study strategies of students in higher education. This development can be attributed, in part, to the increasing requirements on universities to justify public funding by demonstrating effectiveness and efficiency in their teaching. Moreover, convincing empirical evidence is increasingly being sought to inform policy decisions, some of which relate to the training

The development of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) is reported, which incorporates a revised version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. This questionnaire was completed by three separate samples; /284 mainly first-year students from six British universities, 466 first-year students from a Scottish technological university; and 219 students from a 'historically disadvantaged' South African university. Analyses of these data were designed to explore the patterns of response found in sub-groups which varied in terms of their levels of attainment and contexts. Maximum likelihood analysis of the largest sample confirmed the expected three factors ofdeep, surface apathetic, and strategic approaches to studying, and almost identical patterns were also found in the other two samples, and in students having contrasting levels of attainment. There were, however, some interesting minor differences in the South African sample. Ksmeans relocation cluster analysis was then carried out on the largest sample and produced clusters with generally coherent patterns of response. However, one persistent low attainment cluster showed unexpected, dissonant patterns of response, combining moderately high scores on the sub-scales of both deep and surface apathetic approaches, associated with low scores on the strategic approach.

A real rollercoaster of confidence and emotions': learning to be a university student, Studies in Higher Education, 33:5, 567-581, Accounts of emotion and affect have gained popularity in studies of learning. This article draws on qualitative research with a group of non-traditional students entering an elite university in the UK to illustrate how being and becoming a university student is an intrinsically emotional process. It argues that feelings of loss and dislocation are inherent to the students' experiences of entering university, and that 'coming to know' a new community of practice is an emotional process that can incorporate feelings of alienation and exclusion, as well as of excitement and exhilaration. A broader understanding of how students learn then depends not just upon the individual's emotional commitment to developing a new learning identity, but on the emotional interaction between the student and the learning environment of the university. IntroductionIndividuals entering higher education, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds, often have to adapt to changed ways of learning in order to get the greatest benefit from their course. But universities too must adapt to the changing needs of the 'new' learners, and questions are being asked about the role of university culture in supporting or impeding learning. It is becoming clear that learning is a profoundly reflexive and emotional construct, that entails the undoing of earlier learning as students enter a new environment with different subjects, learning approaches and teaching styles. In addition, learning does not take place within the realm of individual cognition. The entire person, group or even organisation is part of the learning process, and universities can influence a student's learning through an environment that encourages an active learner approach (Zepke, Leach, and Prebble 2006). These accounts of learning open up the emotional dimensions of individual (and organisational) learning, and draw attention to the complex nature of the learning process. Some learning can involve upsetting experiences, leading to feelings of psychological vulnerability and insecurity. Other learning experiences are positive and can engender feelings of hopeful anticipation, exhilaration and discovery (Griffiths, Winstanley, and Gabriel 2005, 275).In this article we examine some of the theoretical and empirical issues surrounding the powerful emotional component of learning amongst higher education students, based on the experiences of a sample of non-traditional students who entered an 'elite' Scottish university directly from further education colleges.

The paper presents research findings on students' experiences of the provision both of guidance and feedback, and with respect to examinations as well as coursework assignments. In the work reported, a first-and a final-year bioscience course unit were surveyed in each of three contrasting university departments by means of questionnaires and interviews. The resulting data-set comprised 782 completed student questionnaires and 23 group interviews with a total of 69 students. While the questionnaire data provided a robust overall picture of the students' perceptions of guidance and feedback across the six units, the interview data made possible a much finer-grained analysis of their experiences. At the core of this analysis was a guidance and feedback loop, within which six interrelated steps have been picked out, beginning with the students' prior experiences of cognate assessments and closing with the potential of what has been learned from a given task to feed forward into subsequent work. This analytical framework brings into sharper relief the hitherto neglected role of exam-related guidance and feedback in helping to facilitate high-quality learning (e.g. through anticipatory and intrinsic feedback). And by pinpointing potential troublespots, the framework can serve as a valuable diagnostic tool, helping course teams to enhance the effectiveness of provision.

Findings are presented from an ongoing study of three final-year, honourslevel course units in the biosciences with a combined intake of 85 students. The data on which the analysis draws comprise semi-structured interviews with students together with findings from an Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire. The investigation forms part of a wider project concerned with the enhancement of teaching-learning environments in undergraduate courses in contrasting subject areas. The findings presented in the paper focus on two interrelated aspects of the students' experiences within the teaching-learning environments represented by the three course settings. First, salient aspects of high-quality undergraduate-level learning are identified in the form of the students' evolving grasp of characteristic ways of thinking and practising in the subject. These ways of thinking and practising in the biosciences were evident in the students' engagement with the research literature and with experimental data, and in their efforts to master the requirements and conventions of the subject for written and oral discourse. The second part of the analyses focuses on the teaching-learning environments represented by the three course settings. It was found that, despite taking markedly different forms in the three settings, the teaching-learning and assessment strategies pursued appeared to be broadly congruent with the promotion of ways of thinking and practising in the subject. The quality of feedback to students also seemed pivotal, but needed to be understood in terms of the interplay of various factors, including opportunities for intrinsic as well as extrinsic feedback. Finally, the later years of undergraduate studies had called for a significant process of adjustment on the students' part to a step-change in study demands.