The Relationship Between Learning Approaches And Academic Achievement Among Intec Students, Uitm Shah Alam

Malaysian universities nowadays aspire to produce graduates who are knowledgeable, equipped with problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Hence, educators are constantly striving to find teaching strategies that inculcate meaningful learning among their students, so that they are ready to join the workforce and solve real-world problems. Nevertheless, most students often emphasise on memorising rather than understand what they are learning. Therefore, to what extend students' learning approaches could enhance their academic performance? The main aim of this study was to examine the influence of three different learning approaches which are Deep Approach, Surface Approach and Strategic Approach on students' academic achievement among the American Programme students of International Education College (INTEC), UiTM Shah Alam. The study also investigated the relationship between the variables involved and determined the predictors of academic achievement. The design of this research is descriptive in nature and questionnaires were used to obtain information on students' preferred learning approaches and their level of academic achievement. A total of 233 students responded to the questionnaire. The findings show that students are more prone to use Deep Approach to studying. The findings also revealed that there is an inverse relationship between Surface Approach and academic achievement. Implications for teaching and learning were also discussed. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Faculty of Education, University Technology MARA, Malaysia.