Self-regulated learning: a new concept embraced by researchers, policy makers, educators, teachers, and students

Self-regulated learning (SRL) includes the cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, motivational, and emotional/affective aspects of learning. It is, therefore, an extraordinary umbrella under which a considerable number of variables that influence learning (e.g., self-efficacy, volition, cognitive strategies) are studied within a comprehensive and holistic approach. For that reason, SRL has become one of the most important areas of research within educational psychology. In this paper, six models of SRL are analyzed and compared; that is, Zimmerman; Boekaerts; Winne and Hadwin; Pintrich; Efklides; and Hadwin, Jarvela and Miller. First, each model is explored in detail in the following aspects: (a) history and development, (b) description of the model (including the model figures), (c) empirical support, and (d) instruments constructed based on the model. Then, the models are compared in a number of aspects: (a) citations, (b) phases and subprocesses, (c) how they conceptualize (meta)cognition, motivation and emotion, (d) top–down/bottom–up, (e) automaticity, and (f) context. In the discussion, the empirical evidence from the existing SRL meta-analyses is examined and implications for education are extracted. Further, four future lines of research are proposed. The review reaches two main conclusions. First, the SRL models form an integrative and coherent framework from which to conduct research and on which students can be taught to be more strategic and successful. Second, based on the available meta-analytic evidence, there are differential effects of SRL models in light of differences in students’ developmental stages or educational levels. Thus, scholars and teachers need to start applying these differential effects of the SRL models and theories to enhance students’ learning and SRL skills.

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A Review of Self-regulated Learning: Six Models and Four Directions for Research.

As part of a long-term project aimed at designing classroom interventions to motivate language learners, we have searched for a motivation model that could serve as a theoretical basis for the methodological applications. We have found that none of the existing models we considered were entirely adequate for our purpose for three reasons: (1) they did not provide a sufficiently comprehensive and detailed summary of all the relevant motivational influences on classroom behaviour; (2) they tended to focus on how and why people choose certain courses of action, while ignoring or playing down the importance of motivational sources of executing goal-directed behaviour; and (3) they did not do justice to the fact that motivation is not static but dynamically evolving and changing in time, making it necessary for motivation constructs to contain a featured temporal axis. Consequently, partly inspired by Heckhausen and Kuhl's 'Action Control Theory', we have developed a new 'Process Model of L2 Motivation', which is intended both to account for the dynamics of motivational change in time and to synthesise many of the most important motivational conceptualisations to date. In this paper we describe the main components of this model, also listing a number of its limitations which need to be resolved in future research.

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Motivation in action: A process model of L2 motivation

The purpose of this review was to (a) overview prior knowledge research and its role in student performance, and (b) examine the effects of prior knowledge in relation to the method of assessment. We selected 183 articles, books, papers, and research reports related to prior knowledge. While prior knowledge generally had positive effects on students' performance, the effects varied by assessment method. More specifically, prior knowledge was more likely to have negative or no effects on performance when flawed assessment measures were used. However, in some studies, flawed methods yielded informative results. Thus, in educational research the implications of assessment measures must be considered when examining the effects of prior knowledge.

The Relation Between Assessment Practices and Outcomes of Studies: The Case of Research on Prior Knowledge

Questions connected with the regulation of one's own cognitive processes attract increasing numbers of researchers in psychology, as evidenced by the several different models of self-regulation that have been developed over the past two decades. The aim of this article was to present and compare the latest models of self-regulated learning (SRL), including those by Boekaerts, Borkowski, Pintrich, Winne and Zimmerman. The models were compared on four criteria (i.e. background theories, definitions of SRL, components included in the models and empirical work). The results show that theoretical background is an important differentiating feature. The two models that resembled each other more than any other two models (i.e. Pintrich and Zimmerman) were inspired by the same background theory (i.e. social cognitive theory). On the other hand, the models that differed most from the other models (i.e. Borkowski and Winne) were also theoretically the farthest removed ones.

Models of self-regulated learning: a review

Motivated learning: bias in appraisals

Motivation in theories of learning

Publisher Summary This chapter attempts to adapt the telic dominance scale (TDS) to the phenomenological field of 12 year-old Dutch-speaking pupils. Reversal theorists claim that the metamotivational states identified in the theory should be seen as the reflection of alternative interpretations that a person can give to aspects of his or her environment. The result of this interpretation process is visualized as an individual's attunement to one of two possible wavelengths. At any given moment an individual is more likely to be switched on to one of these wavelengths. This degree of dominance of one metamotivational state over the other can be measured by the TDS. The dominance pattern revealed by the TDS is regarded by Apter and his co-workers as a relatively stable characteristic of the individual. Telic dominance is measured by means of a forced-choice measurement technique and by means of an attractiveness indication of both the telic and the paratelic alternatives. Pupils appraise learning situations differently and that their motivation and commitment is at variance. The N-TDS with its forced-choice and Likert-type scoring system offers an opportunity to tease out the differential effect of (1) commitment reflected in choice of action and (2) commitment reflected in involvement, attractiveness, and challenge appraisals.

Chapter 20 The Assessment of Telic Dominance in Primary School Pupils

Publisher Summary Reversal theory holds that there are two optimal states of arousal and that the metamotivational modes that underlie them are mutually exclusive, i.e., at all times an individual is situated somewhere along the telic or the paratelic curve and this position may or may not be optimal. Reversals are not seen as gradual changes but are associated with sudden changes in the individual's perception of internal and external cues. Dominance refers to the frequency of time spent in one of the two modes. It is an organization principle situated high-up in the information processing system, which influences appraisal processes. A state of high emotionality is seen as a sub-optimal state of arousal, hence it is postulated that a person in a telic state of mind will try to reduce arousal or avoid arousal-increasing stimuli so as to reach the goal and achieve a state of optimal arousal (relaxation through accomplishment).

Monique Boekaerts

Papers

Motivated learning: bias in appraisals

Motivation in theories of learning

Chapter 20 The Assessment of Telic Dominance in Primary School Pupils

Chapter 21 Are There Two Types of Arousal Avoidance