The impact of personality and motivation on the development of learning strategies

Previous research showed that personality and motivation have an impact on students' learning strategies. Learning strategies change during the transition from secondary to higher education. This 5-wave longitudinal study investigates the influence of personality and motivation on the development of learning strategies during this transition in Flanders. From the beginning of the last year of secondary education up till the beginning of the second year in higher education, 630 students were administered the Short Version of the Inventory of Learning Styles. Using latent growth models, the change in learning strategies was modeled. Results indicate that students increase their deep and self-regulated learning, but we also found an increase in analyzing and lack of regulation. Students' personality and motivation were found to be important predictors for differences in growth.