The Relationship Between Agenda Based And Habitual In Study-time Allocation:Individual Differences Perspective

The revolution of current fundamental education advocates the teaching pattern of "initiative classroom", in which students’ability of study-time allocation is conspicuously important. It is a problem faced by many students that how well allocate their study time to enhance study efficiency. Therefore, researching students’ study-time allocation is valuable for not only enriching the theory mechanism of study-time allocation but also guiding the teaching behavior.Study time allocation is the planning action of students’allocating time resources to different study tasks. It is an index of exploring Metacognition control. It reflects learners’allocation of their attention and subjective efforts. Dunlosky and Ariel (2011)think that learners’study decisions are influenced by two qualitatively different kinds of processes:agenda based and habitual, and the relationship between them has gradually become the hot point of research. Meanwhile, the researches of "individual difference" in the field of decision-making enlighten us that it is valuable to take "individual difference" into account in the study of students’study time allocation.The research procedure was same to that of Ariel and Dunlosky (2012). It contained three experiments, all of those were6X3within-subjects designs.We manipulated the presentation order and item reward to investigate students’recall performance, self-paced study and item selection. The experiment1explored the influence presentation order and item reward on study time allocation, in order to reveal the relationship between agenda-based and habitual. Pairwise comparisons were conducted to compare mean selecting proportion between the items in the left position and the high-reward items in other position, as a function of the presentation order. No significant difference occurred (ps>.05), which indicated that participants’ item selection were influenced by both an agenda to study the high-reward items and habitual processes. The experiment2and3manipulated individual cognitive ability and impulsivity, respectively, to explore the influence degree of agenda-based and habitual had on study time allocation. In experiment2, We computed correlations between CRT scores and the mean trials participants select items in the left position of the array first for study, the result showed a significant negative correlation between them, r=-0.649,p<0.0005. But there was a significant positive correlation between CRT scores and the mean trials participants select items in the high-reward position of the array first for study, r=0.570,p<0.0005. Meanwhile, the mean trials intuitive decision makers select items in the left position of the array first for study was higher than the high-reward position. F (1,42)=21.42,p<0.0005, the mean trials analytical decision makers select items in the high-reward position of the array first for study was higher than the left position, F (1,42)=6.46,p=0.015. In experiment3, We computed correlations between the levels of individual impulsivity and the mean trials participants select items in the left position of the array first for study, the result showed a significant positive correlation between them, r=0.379, p<0.05. But there was a significant negative correlation between the levels of individual impulsivity and the mean trials participants select high-reward items first for study, r=-0.344, p<0.05.Conclusions were as follows:(1) agenda-based and habitual processes did not operate in an exclusive manners.(2)Individual cognitive ability had an influence on study time allocation. Intuitive decision makers were more inclined to select items by reading habits, while analytical decision makers were more likely to construct an agenda to study the high-reward items.(3)Individual impulsively had an influence on study time allocation. The higher individual’s impulsively were, the more reading habits they used in item selection.