Students’ approaches to learning: a literature review

This paper provides an overview of the students' approaches to learning (SAL) literature, including a review of the models, theories, and research instruments. SAL research has developed largely in the United Kingdom and Australasia, where its concepts are widely understood by academics. Yet little research using these ideas has been done in North America. To encourage American accounting educators to redress this imbalance, the paper describes the motivations for undertaking SAL research, describes conceptions of learning, and reviews a number of inventories developed by SAL scholars for applied research in the field. In addition, this paper traces the development of SAL research in the discipline of accounting education. Finally, the paper reviews 19 extant articles to offer suggestions for future research.