Learning Processes and Academic Achievement among Secondary School Students in Barbados

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of learning processes on student achievement. One
hundred and thirty-four students from eight secondary schools in Barbados were purposively
selected and surveyed using the Inventory of Learning Processes (ILP; Schmeck, Ribich, &
Ramanaiah, 1977) subscales: fact retention, study methods, elaborative processing, and deep
processing. The results indicate that the elaborative processing subscale was the only measure
that was significantly related to student achievement in the sample. No significant differences
emerged between high and low-achieving students in terms of the learning processes they
employ. The findings suggest the importance of using higher-order learning strategies to
facilitate academic success.