THE LEARNING AND STUDY STRATEGIES INVENTORY - A SOUTH-AFRICAN APPLICATION

500 disadvantaged students volunteered to complete the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory at the University of the Witwatersrand. The purpose was two-fold. Firstly, for diagnostic purposes, students and tutors were provided with learning strategy profiles. Secondly, for research purposes, results were analysed on a group and sub-group basis. This analysis revealed that the most problematic components of learning, as perceived by the students, were in the affective areas of motivation and anxiety. Test taking strategies and selecting main ideas were also perceived as weaknesses. A few differences were also found when the variables of gender, language and faculty were introduced.