الملخص الإنجليزي
The present investigation sought to examine the study skills and habits of Omani EFL students enrolled in the College of Education and Islamic Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Five specific research questions were addressed:
1. What are the most and the least common study skills/habits of the Omani students enrolled in the EFL program of the College of Education at SQU?
2. Are there any differences between the male and the female students in their study skills/habits?
3. To what extent do the identified study skills/habits vary according to the instructional levels of the learners?
4. Is there a relationship between the study skills/habits and the achievement of Omani college students of EFL?
5. Is there a significant difference between high-achievers and low-achievers in their study skills/habits?
The sample of the study consisted of 222 Omani EFL students: 56 students from the first semester, 72 students from the third semester, 50 students from the fifth semester, and 44 students from the seventh semester. The instruments used were an open-ended questionnaire and an adapted inventory about study skills and habits related to studying English as a foreign language. The validation of both instruments was established through repeated reviews by different judges (EFL educators). The reliability of the inventory was determined through Chronbach's Alpha Coefficient. The value of internal consistency reliability was 90, which is a high index. The data of the open-ended questionnaire was analyzed qualitatively. The data obtained from the inventory was subjected to different statistical techniques, namely descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, correlation, and regression. The main results of the study were as follows:
1. The subjects used study skills/habits to significantly varying degrees. The most common categories of study skills/habits among Omani EFL college students were "motivation and attitude about studying", "environment" and "reading skills." The least common -study skills/habits categories were: "using the library", "time control and concentration" and "taking and studying notes".
2. There were differences between males and females on only two categories of study skills/habits. These categories were: "motivation and attitude about studying" and "time
control and concentration". 3. The subjects showed significant differences across their
instructional levels on six categories of study skills/habits. These categories were: 1) motivation and attitude about studying, 2) vocabulary and word skills; 3) time control and concentration, 4) reading skills, 5) using
the library, 6) writing practice. 4. There were significant correlations between four categories
of study skills/habits and the subjects' achievement in English language courses. These categories were: 1) motivation and attitude about studying, 2) memory training, 3) test-preparation and test-taking, 4) writing practice. The most important of these study skills/habits was "motivation and attitude about studying" which was
found to be the most powerful predictor of English GPA. 5. The high-achieving and the low-achieving groups were
significantly different from each other on five out of the 13 categories of study skills/habits. These categories were: 1) motivation and attitude about studying, 2) reading practice, 3) memory training, 4) test-preparation and test-taking, 5) writing practice.
Among the research and educational implications are: 1- the need to further investigate study skills/habits among
students in different colleges and programs by using different data collection techniques;
2- the need to systematically train EFL students to become
independent learners; 3- the need to set up a university-level learning center that
would help all students with their study skills.
