Self Regulation
From Jsarmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-regulated_learning
The concept of academic self-regulation and its relationship to learning has been widely explore (Ruban, McCoach, McGuire, & Reis, 2003). According to Zimmerman, (1989) self-regulation refers to �the degree that individuals are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process� (p. 329). Zimmerman (1989) identifies the hallmarks of academic self-regulation to include academic time management, practice, mastery of learning methods, goal-directedness, and a sense of self-efficacy.
Self-regulation refers to the use of processes that activate and sustain thoughts, behaviors, and affects in order to attain goals (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997). In other words, it refers to taking charge of our own learning by coordinating the thinking skills described in this chapter. Self-regulation has three components:
- Self-observation. Deliberate attention to specific aspects of one's own behaviors.
- Self-judgment. Comparing one's current progress toward a goal with a standard.
- Self-reaction. Making evaluative responses to judgments of one's own performance.
Zimmerman (1994) conceptualizes self-regulation as comprising four dimensions or areas in which students can self-regulate their activities:
- (a) motives for learning or performing
- (b) methods used
- (c) performance outcomes or target behaviors, and
- (d) environmental resources used.
To be self-regulated it is not necessary that one exert control over all dimensions; such complete control would be rare in educational settings. Rather, these are four areas in which self-regulation is possible.
Contents |
Conceptual Analysis of the Dimensions of Academic Self-Regulation
Scientific Psychological Task Self-Regulatory Self-Regulatory Questions Dimensions Conditions Attributes Processes
Why? Motive Choose to Intrinsically or Self-goals,
participate self-motivated self-efficacy,
values,attributions, etc.
How? Method Choose method Planned or Strategy use,
automatized relaxation, etc.
What? Performance Choose Self-aware of Self-monitoring,
outcomes performance performance self-judgment, action control,
outcomes outcomes volition, etc.
Where? Environmental Control social Envirorunentally Envirorunental structuring,
(social) and physical socially help seeking, etc.
setting sensitive and
resourceful
The question of what deals with students' efforts to self-regulate their academic performance outcomes. The third column in this table specifies the task conditions necessary for a student to self-regulate the particular psychological dimension in question. The question of where or with whom addresses students' efforts to self-regulate their physical and social environment in order to learn. Constructivist explanations ( Paris & Byrnes, 1989) have focused on students constructing supportive environments using their own personal theory of academic tasks, whereas social cognitive theorists have emphasized seeking social models and assistance ( Schunk, 1989; ZimmerÂman, 1989).
There is evidence that a major cause of underachievement is the inability of students to self-control themselves effectively ( Krouse & Krouse, 1981). Borkowski and Thorpe (in Schulz and Zimmerman, 1994) review this body of research indicating that underachievers are more impulsive, have lower academic goals, and are less accurate in assessing their abilities; furthermore, they are more self-critical and less self-efficaÂcious about their performance and tend to give up more easily than achievers.
In summary, academic self-regulation includes skills such as the following (McCombs, 1989; Schunk, 1994; Zimmerman, 1994):
- Valuing learning and its anticipated outcomes
- Setting performance goals
- Planning and managing time
- Holding positive beliefs about one's abilities
- Attending to and concentrating on instruction
- Effectively organizing, rehearsing, and encoding information
- Setting up a productive work environment
- Using social resources effectively
- Focusing on positive effects
- Making useful attributions for success and failure
According to Zimmerman self-judgment is essential. He states (1989) that "self-judgment refers to students' responses that involve systematically comparing their performance with a standard or goal" (p. 333).
Recently, researchers have begun to look at issues of self-regulation and its relationship with success in online learning environments (Zerr, 2007; Whipp & Chiarelli, 2004). Yet studies in this area remain few and far between (Whipp & Chiarelli 2004), and a call for more research has been issued (Hodges, 2005). It is in response to that call that this study was undertaken.
Self Regulation and Brain Research
With the advent of new and more sophisticated methods of brain research it has become possible to establish relationships between the development of self-regulation and the maturation of particular areas of the brain. It was found, for example, that relatively low levels of self-regulation in preschool age children are associated with the children not yet utilizing the areas of the brain responsible for planning and reflection (Bronson, 2000). Recent research on the brain seems to indicate that self-regulation is tied to the development of the prefrontal prefrontal /pre·fron·tal/ (-fron´t'l) situated in the anterior part of the frontal lobe or region. pre·fron·tal (pr-fr cortex which is not only important for the development of control over emotions, but also that of focused attention as well as planning and monitoring of cognitive behaviors (Davidson et. al., 2006). There is evidence that positive emotionality and negative emotionality induce different patterns of activation of the prefrontal cortex (Davidson, Jackson, & Kalin, 2000) and that this can affect levels of attention (Davidson, 1999). The fact that the same area of the brain is responsible for emotional control and for the metacognitive functions further supports the idea of the interconnection between social-emotional self-regulation and cognitive self-regulation (Blair, 2002).
Vygotsky's view of self-regulation
Vygotsky's view on self-regulation is based on his general ideas of cultural- historical nature of human development. For Vygotsky, self-regulation is not a single trait or even a combination of traits but rather a critical development signaling emergence of uniquely human set of competencies "higher mental functions". While not using the word "'self-regulation" to describe higher mental functions, Vygotsky described them though as deliberate, intentional, or volitional behaviors, as something that humans have control of Acquiring higher mental functions allows children to make a critical transition from being "slaves to the environment" to becoming "masters of their own behavior". This process requires children to master specific cultural tools--including language and other symbolic systems--which they can use to gain control over their physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning.
As it is true for all higher mental functions, children's self-regulatory abilities originate in social interactions and only later become internalized and independently used by children (Vygotsky, 1978). This means that self-regulation is not something that emerges spontaneously as the child matures but is instead taught formally or informally within the social context. Classroom presents one of the possible contexts; family and peer group provide alternative contexts for learning self-regulation. In the case when none of the social contexts support the development of self-regulatory behaviors, children continue to operate as "slaves to the environment" being guided by ever-changing external stimulation and incapable of intentional actions.
For Vygotsky, there are three critical conditions necessary for development of self-regulatory behaviors in children. First, to develop any higher mental function on the intra-subjective (individual) plane, children first have to experience it on the inter-subjective (shared) plane (Vygotsky 1978). In regard to self-regulatory behaviors--social as well as cognitive- it means that children need to have an opportunity to engage in other-regulation. Other-regulation implies that children act both as subjects of another person's regulatory behaviors (as is the case of many of their interactions with adults) and as actors regulating other person's behaviors (as might happen in the interaction with peers or younger children). A second necessary condition for emergence of self-regulation is children's learning of specific cultural tools that would allow them to eventually use self-regulatory behaviors independently. Among first such tools children learn is self-talk or "private speech". When children engage in private speech to themselves, the same words that adults once used to regulate children's behaviors, are now used by children themselves for the purposes of self-regulation. Studies of private speech have found a direct link between children's use of private speech and their self-regulatory abilities (Berk & Landau, 1993; Berk & Spuhl, 1995; Winsler, Diaz, Atencio, McCarthy, & Chabay, 2000).
The last condition is young children's engagement in well-developed make-believe play. Vygotsky's famous quote about a child standing "a head taller than himself' when engaged in highly imaginative sociodramatic play can definitely be applied to self-regulatory behaviors--in social-emotional as well as in cognitive realm. Being the "leading activity" for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children (Vygotsky, 1967; Leont'ev, 1978), play provides opportunities for children to practice self-regulatory components of multiple mental functions--from fulfilling their desires in a symbolic form while at the same time delaying gratification to beginning to develop reflective competencies while taking multiple perspectives (Elkonin, 1978).
Creating Interactive Sociocultural Environments for Self-Regulated Learning
Ronald W. Henderson & Linda Cunningham University of California, Santa Cruz
What a child can do in cooperation today he can do alone tomorrow. Therefore the only good kind of instruction is that which marches ahead of development and leads it. -- Vygotsky ( 1962, p. 104)
Self-Regulated Learning & Metacognition
Flavell (1976) first invented the term metacognition. He defined metacognition as one's knowledge regarding one's own cognition as well as control and monitor one's own cognition. The terms self-regulated learning and metacognition are interchangeable in the current discussion.
A self-regulated leaner is aware when she knows a fact or has a skill and when she does not. She views acquisition as a systematic and controllable process, and she accepts greater responsibility for her achievement. In other words, She is the initiator of the learning process. Self-regulated learning has played a part in behavioral theory, cognitive theory, social cognitive theory, and constructivism theory. In behavioral theory, regulation is through external reinforcement. In cognition theory, self-regulation is equivalent to metacognition, knowing about and regulating cognition. Social cognition theory views self-regulation as combining self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction. Constructivism theory perceives individuals as active agents who construct and reconstruct their knowledge (Davidson, K., 1995) .
Self-regulation plays a crucial role in all phases of learning and cross-domains. Schoenfeld (1987) states that self-regulation has the potential to increase the meaningfulness of students' classroom learning, and the creation of a "mathematics culture "in the classroom best fosters metacognition. Schoenfeld (1983) showed that many problem-solving errors are due to metacognitive failure rather than lack of basic mathematics knowledge. He further insists that all metacognitive strategies are illustrated in action, should be developed by students, not declared by the teachers. Study metacognitive strategies are important as well, in reading to learn and can be applied to enhance text processing ( Grow, 1996a). To teach students to become active, motivated, self-regulated learners is a continuing issue in education. Authentic and meaningful classroom activities that are relevant to real-life situations are likely to engender students' cognitive activity and conceptual change (transfer). Scaffolding, dual instructions (verbal persuasion and modeling), and teaching appropriate cognitive strategies are believed to have positive impact on increasing students' efficacy.
References
- Ruban, L., McCoach, B., McGuire, J., & Reis, S., (2003) The differential impact of academic self-regulatory methods on academic achievement among university students with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(3), 268-284.
- Whipp J. & Chiarelli S. (2004) Self-regulation in a web-based course: a case study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52(4) 5-23.
- Zerr, R., (2007) A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Online Homework in First-Semester Calculus. The Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 26(1), 55-74.
- Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 329�339.
- Zimmerman B. J., & Schunk D. H. (Eds.). ( 1989). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Springer-Verlag
- Zimmerman, B. J. (1994) Dimensions of Academic Self-Regulation: A Conceptual Framework for Education. In D. H. Schunk, D. H. & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.) Self-regulation of Learning and Performance: Issues and Educational Applications. Hillsdale, New Jersey Hove, UK, Lawrence Erlbaun Associates. p. 3-
- Schunk, D. H., Zimmerman, B. J. (Eds.). (1994) Self-regulation of Learning and Performance: Issues and Educational Applications.
Hillsdale, New Jersey Hove, UK, Lawrence Erlbaun Associates.
- Hodges, C. (2005). Self-Regulation in web based courses: a review and the need for Research. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 375-384.
