Understanding the relationships between academic literacy, motivation and learning strategies in first year students.

Given the importance of academic writing in learning, assessment and the development of an academic identity it is crucial that educators understand the development of these skills. The importance of promoting deep learning is well recognised and so it is surprising that little work has explored the relationship between academic reading and writing and learning strategies. We report findings from the initial phase of a longitudinal study of first year students (n=77) from Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health programmes. Towards the end of the first semester students completed a survey that measured self-efficacy in academic reading and writing, learning strategies, motivational goals and understanding of academic writing. There was a highly significant, positive correlation between reading and writing self-efficacy (p