The influence of teaching learning techniques on students' long-term learning behavior

This study explored students' learning behavior before and after participating in an introduction to learning how to learn. This four-week intervention included the Massive Open Online Course Learning How to Learn, further discussions on the content of this MOOC, and hands-on practice using learning platforms. Its purpose was to investigate whether any changes in learning behavior remain observable during the next semester and whether proficiency in the target language would be significantly higher than in a control group. Analyses of students' questionnaires before the intervention and at the end of the second semester, observations of students' study behavior during the second semester, and students' academic performances during the two semesters were collected. At the end of the study period, students of the experimental group reported cramming less, using more learning techniques, redoing exercises with answers covered, and spacing repetitions more often instead of massing. Students' online study behavior verified their answers to the questionnaire and showed a more efficient use of the learning platforms. Students also benefited from this intervention by scoring higher in the final proficiency test of the second semester.