University students’ beliefs about learning and knowledge and their approaches to learning

Abstract

The paper University Students’ Beliefs About Learning and Knowledge and Their Approaches to Learning by Snežana Mirkov presents the results of research based on SAL (Students’ Approaches to Learning) perspective and understanding of the multidimensional nature of epistemological beliefs. Its starting point is a learning model where the factors of personality and situational factors are connected in such a way as to create three approaches to learning: surface approach, deep approach, and achievement approach. It was presumed that different beliefs about learning and knowledge lead to different ways of performing academic tasks in higher education. The results regarding relations of some beliefs with particular goals that students set and specific cognitive and metacognitive strategies they adopt in learning were analysed in a broader context. Certain beliefs, through the goals related to mastering, influence of deep processing, and accordingly, academic achievement. The author concludes that changes in teaching style directed to perfection of a learning process can influence the development of sophisticated beliefs if the students are assisted in becoming aware of their own beliefs and reinterpreting them in the context of their own educational experiences.