Self-Regulation in School

Abstract

Successful self-regulation depends on the ability to regulate the self both motivationally and emotionally in order to protect the self and the learning process against competing personal needs as well as situational distractions. Successful self-regulation further requires students to adequately use metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies to organize the learning process efficiently. The studies presented in this dissertation focus on students' strategies for regulating themselves in order to protect the learning process in school (Study I and Study II) and on students' metacognitive strategies for organizing the learning process for a test (Study III).One very important issue of self-regulation is protecting the learning process against internal and external distractions including distracting or deactivating emotions such as anxiety or boredom. Coping successfully with such negative emotions is an important component of self-regulation. Study I focused on the exploration of different strategies for coping with boredom as boredom is one of the most common negative emotions experienced by students in school. Two dimensions of coping, namely approach- versus avoidance-oriented coping and cognitive- versus behavioral-oriented coping were targeted with a questionnaire newly developed for the study. Based on the answers of 976 students (51% female) from grades 5 to 10, confirmatory factor analysis verified the structure of the coping with boredom scales. Following scale verification, latent profile analysis identified 3 different boredom-coping groups: Reappraisers, Criticizers, and Evaders. In a further step, differences between these three groups regarding frequency of boredom experiences, academic achievement, and further emotional, motivational, and cognitive aspects of academic achievement situations, were analyzed. Reappraisers favored cognitive-approach strategies and reported being bored less frequently, they further experienced the most positive pattern of emotional, motivational, and cognitive outcomes as compared to the other two groups. Study II similarly focused on students' self-regulation skills in terms of protecting the self against experiences of boredom, which could lead to a deactivation of the learning process. Students' use of boredom-related coping strategies, as assessed using both trait- and state-based methods, were explored in order to extend the results of Study I. A self-report questionnaire administered to 537 grade 11 students (55% female) assessed the same trait-based dimensions of coping relevant to boredom as were assessed in Study I, namely approach- versus avoidance-oriented and cognitive- versus behavior-oriented coping strategies. Additionally, 79 participants completed structured, state-based coping measures over a two-week period via the experience sampling method to assess boredom-related coping behaviors. Analyses of trait measures showed participants differed based on two overall approaches to coping with boredom; this was consistent with the Reappraisers and Evaders found in Study I. Further, results also showed that Reappraisers experienced lower boredom levels when assessed using either trait- or state-based methods.Students' metacognitive skills of self-regulated learning were the focus for Study III. Therefore, students' occupation with thoughts about a test was explored; in particular their use of metacognitive strategies as assessed using the experience sampling method. Altogether 70 grade 11 students (59% female) completed structured, state-based measures over a two-week period up until the day before the test via the experience sampling method. Results showed that students think more often about the test in learning related situations than they do during their leisure time. Students also apply metacognitive strategies more often as the date of the test draws nearer. This finding underpins students' self-regulatory ability to preserve their motivational and cognitive resources as well as highlights the goal-oriented nature of situated learning behaviors. Both the frequency with which students think about the test as well as the growth of this frequency toward the test is positively related to test performance. Amongst the specific metacognitive strategies, monitoring was the only one shown to be related directly to test performance.Two major conclusions can be drawn from the results of the presented studies: First, generally speaking, students possess the ability to influence their learning process in a self-regulated manner and are able to improve their learning results through use of appropriate strategies. Second, however, students do not employ effective strategies in every situation, thus underpinning the importance of examining situational influences on regulation behavior in addition to dispositional aspects.