Abstract
M.Ed.
Different colleges of education experience problems with first year students who seem
to be battling hard to meet the academic demands of courses offered. For example,
about 45% of these students fail education (pedagogics) every year. This situation is
brought about by many factors, some of which are linguistic incompetence and poor
study skills. Linguistic incompetence influences reading and comprehension skills. What
these students think they hear from lecturers' presentation is not always what the lecturer
intended to convey. When such students are given a task, they fail to interpret the task
since successful interpretation relies heavily on one's understanding and knowledge of
the language.
Furthermore first year students are characterized by a lack of good study skills. The
phenomenon "study skills" embraces reading skills. Reading is not only a fundamental
tool for school learning but it is a survival skill in this modern era. A student studies a
text with the aim of learning or extracting meaning from it. Learning only becomes
successful if the learner has good reading skills, high order conceptual skills, thinking and
evaluation skills.
This study was undertaken with the aim of identifying and discussing study skills required
for effective learning at higher education level. One class was selected as a microcosm
of the college representing all first year students. Participants were observed in their
natural setting with an aim of constructing and describing the total phenomenon focusing
on study skills.