CHAPTER 2

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies conducted by other
researchers that have relevance to the present study. It includes the ideas, finished thesis,
generalization or conclusions, methodologies and others.

RELATED LITERATURE
According to Palm Beach Community College (PBBC, 2008),they recommend that
students study should have at least three hours out of class for every hour spent in class. They
also said that a student must have a special place to study with plenty of room to work. And
students should not be cramped. They presuppose that study time will go better if a learner take
a few minutes at the start to straighten things up. A desk and straight-backed chair is usually
best. Dont get too comfortablea bed is a place to sleep, not to study as what they said. A
student must have everything close at hand (book, pencils, paper, coffee, dictionary, computer,
calculator, tape recorder, etc.) before starting to study. Students are not suggested to spend on
time jumping up and down to get things. The PBCC suggests also that distracting noise should
be minimized however they said that there are some people need sound and some like silence.
In this case, a learner must find what works for him or her. Culprits are family and friends.
Consider a do not disturb sign and turning on your answering machine is the way also to have
better study habits according to the PBBC.

A study conducted by University of Kentucky was to determine if the college success can
be improved with the Student Attitude Inventory (SAI). The inventory was developed in Britain
and contains 47 items which attempt to identify students in higher education on the basis of: (1)
motivation, (2) study methods, (3) examination technique, and (4) lack of distractions toward
academic work. Students in six Kentucky community colleges were asked to express their
attitudes toward study habits on the Student Attitude Inventory. There were 996 students in the
sample population (413 male and583 females). A measure of ability (composite American
College Test score) and academic performance (cumula grade-point average) were obtained for
each student sampled. The Student Attitude Inventory did contribute a statistically significant
amount of variance beyond an ability measure for males and females. (Mark E. Thompson,
2005)
According to Mark Crilly (2000), Successful students are able to balance social activities
with good study habits. A diversion from studies will alleviate stress and help prevent from
becoming fatigued. He said that a student should make sure that he must take a break for an
hour after studies to meet with friends, to play some cards, work out at the gym, or to gab with
anew acquaintance. For this way, that student will find concentration when he does study, if he
plans a social activity afterwards. He said, To develop a healthy social life, develop routine
study habits. After supper, lug your books and homework to the library, find a comfortable and
quiet niche, and study for two or three hours, taking intermittent 10 minute breaks every 45
minutes or so. Making friends with whom you share similar study habits, and share a table or a
study space with them would be a best way in developing study habits as what Mark said.

RELATED STUDIES

According to Pogue (2000), what is true about study habits was that more than thirty
years ago still rings true today-students fail because they do not know how to study. The best
advice he can give is to develop sound study skills. Its a common scene if some college
students fail to finish a passing requirement for a subject course. What is lacking is their
ignorance of developing good study habits that are necessary for good academic performance.
And to worsen their ignorance are their psychological conception of giving up so easily and the
tempting distractions of the surrounding that lead them to a zero percent possibility of creating
their own ideal habits. So, it has become a major trouble to college students who are known to
be suffocated with loads of works from school.
To elaborate more about sound study habits, Rothkopf (1982) referred to it as to whether
students study at the same time each day, whether they shut off radio, television while reading
and whether they paraphrase and write down what they have read during the practical
instructions. Study habit also describes some external activities which serve to activate and
facilitate the internal process of learning. Study habit is the daily routine of students with regards
to their academic duties and responsibilities. Each student has his own study habits varying on
his preferences with the place and time of studying, techniques in studying and more. It will
depend upon the person if he will not get bored to browse notes and can procrastinate
(postpone doing something) the distractions such as social networking, media exposure,
gaming addiction and more. So these are reasons writers and researchers set some learning
styles on related activities to effective studying.
Based on the findings of Othis (1995), effective study skills usually come down to two
factors: motivation and style. Motivation is the enthusiasm of a person to do something.
Learning style is the method used by a certain student/person to study much easier and more
efficiently. The following external activities as proposed by Rothkopf encourage students to
develop good study habits and aid efficient learning. The oldest method was created by
Robinson (1970). The SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite) is a method for active elaboration
of material that you read, say in a textbook. Reading instruments are the best sources of
information college students need when studying. Since the start of the basic education of a
person, he is tied to reading for purposes like finishing home works and making research
papers. Robinson gave a systematic way of understanding the concepts written in literary and
articles. Before reading, skim the title, pictures, introductory paragraphs and summaries
(Survey). Next is to ask questions about what you skim (Question). Third, look answers to the
questions by reading (Read). Lastly, summarize it in your own words (Recite).
In addition to Robinsons conclusion, based on the findings of Seif (1997), reading
comprehension skills are invaluable tools that contribute to better learning. They include
skimming, scanning, critical reading and inquiry reading the difference of skimming and
scanning is that skimming is the manner when you look at the main topic of the book while
scanning is the fast movement of the eye to look for the main idea of paragraphs. Critical
reading is when you state opinions about a certain paragraph while inquiry reading is the state
when you find specific information without considering any emotions. Usually, scanning and
inquiry reading are used by students to make their home works and projects. As stated by
Abderisak (2007), time is an essential key. You cannot study properly without considering it;
hence time management is most certainly a study technique in itself. Given the hectic schedules
of college students which need balance between academics and extra activities makes time
management really important. The schedule you develop should guide you in how to allocate
the available time among academic works, extracurricular activities and social life.

Based on the account of Li (2009), theres no need to force yourself to study 6 hours
every day thats sweatshop labour! Instead we recommend a consistent 3-4 hours of study
each school day as a healthy amount. That is why it is advisable to manage a schedule to
prevent overloading school works. Many students spent much time of the allotted sleeping
hours to cram their assignments that are due for tomorrow. It is unhealthy not to sleep for
enough hours because it causes tardiness and tiredness during lectures. To support Aberisaks
and Lis proposals, Landsberger (2007) noted that having a regular time and place for studying
lessons, and making decisions about priorities concerning time and goals make a good study
habit. Studying is a matter of prioritizing. If students let themselves be lured by the distractions
stated above, it will cost them no good. As mentioned by Li, there should be at least three hours
designated for studying to meet the goals of performing well in class. A student should also
choose a place conducive for a better learning. It is where students can relax and concentrate
on understanding the hand-outs and articles essential for the topic. As stressed by Zolten &
Long (1997), a student should know his personal responsibility over what one does and does
not do during his studies. When studying, one must be aware of all the dos and the donts of
learning. As cited by Landsberger, prioritization makes good habits. It should be on the mindset
of students that there are only two possible outcomes: to study and to succeed or to fail.

Based on the studies of Richards (2009), it will be a big help to divide up large tasks into
smaller ones. Lis proposal to limit study time can turn out by dividing large tasks to smaller
ones. It is best to divide tasks to specific dates depending on the proximity of the deadline. As a
result, a student can have more time to do the other requirements for other subjects. For an
easier division of tasks, Covey (2007) proposed that being organized in terms of notes, lessons
and materials makes studying less complicated. Organizing notes, lectures and other
paraphernalia can save time for studying. It is a problem to some to find the information that
they need because previous notes are not organized and are sometimes misplaced
somewhere. With the onset of the modern technologies, Liu (2005) proposed that study habits
are said to be improving because of the advent and wide use of the Internet, hypertext, and
multimedia resources which greatly affect the study habits. It is always easier to find information
from the Internet. But the main problem here is the presence of social networking sites.

Instead of adding information to the brain, students tend to read personal information
about personalities and enjoy themselves through LAN-connected online games. So,
sometimes, the Internet can be considered as a boon turning to a bane. But the above
proposals were slightly opposed by the work by Gladen (2009) which mentioned that there is no
definitive way to define good study skills. As every student is different and works well using
different strategies. However, good students are ones who have a strong work ethic, stay
organized and look for help when needed. As explained in Rothkopfs citation, each student has
its own study habits varying on preferences on different factors. As students little by little
progress and learn from their experiences, they also little by little discover their own study
habits. A certain study habit may be effective to one student but it doesnt go the same way with
another student. It is always in the perception of people that is usually hard to adjust.