Learning to Learn: A Qualitative Exploration of the Learning Habits of Grade 5

Abstract

Learning habits developed during the elementary years influence how learners organize tasks, sustain attention, respond to difficulties, and progressively assume responsibility for their own learning. While studies on self-regulated learning have established the importance of planning, monitoring, strategy use, motivation, and reflection, fewer studies have examined how elementary learners themselves describe the everyday habits through which these processes are enacted in authentic school and home contexts. This qualitative study explores the learning habits of Grade 5 learners at Baculod Elementary School in Cauayan City, Isabela, Philippines. Specifically, it seeks to understand the routines and strategies learners employ in accomplishing academic tasks, the factors that support or constrain their learning habits, the ways they respond to learning difficulties, and the meanings they attach to habits they perceive as helpful to their learning. A qualitative descriptive approach is proposed, using purposive sampling and age-appropriate semi-structured interviews with Grade 5 learners. Data will be analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis involving familiarization, coding, construction and refinement of themes, and interpretive synthesis. The inquiry is anchored in self-regulated learning theory while remaining open to contextually grounded practices that may extend beyond conventional classifications of learning strategies. The study is expected to provide a learner-centered understanding of learning habits and generate implications for classroom instruction, home-school support, and interventions designed to strengthen independent and reflective learning among upper elementary pupils.