Page 1 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 107
Self-regulated Learning: A Narrative Review
Husain Abdulhay
Payame Noor University of Qom, Iran, husainabdolhay@yahoo.com
Abstract:
Issue of self- versus other-regulation is also
diligently stressed and applied in
contemporary education so as to put person
at the helm of situation, not a pawn at the
mercy of circumstances. In the same vein,
this study aims to draw attention to a newly
developed concept of learning which
overemphasizes the role of individual
learner in attunement of his thought,
emotions and strategies to accelerate and
escalate the extent of his acquisition. To do
so, an overview of this new phenomenon
known as self-regulated learning is given at
first and evidence attesting to the
fruitfulness and utility of such strategy is
dispensed in the following.
Keywords: Self-regulated learning,
motivation, cognition, metacognition,
context
1. INTRODUCTION
Self-regulated learning (henceforth SRL)
emerged as a result of inquisitiveness into
“how students become master of their own
learning” (Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons,
1990, p.4). It has been eventuated from
inquiry into the process of learning by those
learners who have been assiduous and
triumphant in their learning despite
hindrances to their efforts (ibid).
Self-regulation has gained momentum in
educational psychology consonant with
constructivism approach to learning to
attend more to the role of individual learner
and his/her needs for better management of
his/her learning. Research in educational
domain is likewise exploiting this
advancement by highlighting all aspects of
individuals which are worth the
investigation and consideration for an
effective learning to occur. This prompted
researchers to pedagogically extend an
operational definition for self-regulated
learning.
Self-regulation has come to the fore as
learner’s responsibility for learning and
taking active role for constructing his own
knowledge is much more acknowledged and
promulgated in developmental education.
Contemporary education acknowledges the
centrality of learner and learner’s
development and seeks to lend assistance to
advance this development by considering all
aspects of learning and teaching affecting
learners’ progress. Knowledge is not any
more transmitted to acquirers; rather, it is
obtained in a way, bound and determined by
learners, to actualize this entity.
Learners are much more valued in the
contemporary educational system in so far
as their roles as the builders of knowledge
are more gratified. SRL is congruent with
constructivism and learner-centered
education. Self-regulated learning is in
parallel with constructivist view of learning
and teaching in that it puts learner at the
epicenter of learning and construction of
knowledge and, hence, it merits more heed
in contemporary education. Constructivism
underscores the importance of individual
self in building meaning (Vygotsky, 1978).
Learner acts out as an umpire of feeding
inlet of knowledge to them.
Disassociation from text-based education
and moving towards constructivism seeks
Page 2 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 108
learners to be independent self-regulative
learners and this is much sooner
accomplished in a milieu which supports
and provides sufficient altitude for learners
to experience and implement their skills and
strategies to self regulate their learning.
Teachers can provide enough leeway for
learners to participate and engage by
creating an environment which is secure to
experience and maneuver over their
learning. Cultivating a milieu which is
encouraging and motivating allow for
experiencing and implementing skills and
strategies more willingly and get feedback
for establishing and if deemed necessary
altering their strategies to learn more
effectively.
Literature aims to spur teachers and
practitioners to reckon at learners’
responsibilities and decision making,
congruent with constructivism and schism
from transmission of knowledge, rote
learning, and spoon-feeding schools of
teaching.
2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED
LITERATURE
Self-regulated learning has been in the
limelight over the last three decades. It has
grabbed attentions among academics and
psychologists. It stems from educational
psychology and percolates in educational
and non-educational studies and instruction.
SRL has attracted many fields from
psychology to mathematics, health, sport,
medic, technology, policy making, and
language education. Myriad empirical and
non empirical studies exist concerning
educational and non educational self- regulation learning.
Effect of self-regulatory strategies on
academic success has been well established
in many studies (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990;
Pintrich, 1990; Zimmerman, 1990). Self- regulated learners indulge much higher self- propulsion in their learning in comparison
with those who do not self-regulate.
Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1990) refer
to a growing body of correlational research
which denotes higher achievements with
greater usage of learning strategies by self- regulated learners than with little utilization
of self-directed learning strategies.
Wolters, A. C. (2010) in a review study
entitled the relation between the 21st Century
and self-regulated learning (SRL), with
reference to multiple studies, evinced that
however forging students into a self- regulated learner establishes the stepping- stone to volition, motivation, and self- management in them, transferable also to
contexts outside of school.
Effect of schooling on the different
dimensions of self-regulated learning has
been examined in different fields of study.
Leutwyler, Bruno & Maag Merki, Katharina
(2009) in a longitudinal study extending for
almost two years in gymnastic school
revealed significant effect of schooling on
development of self-regulatory capacity of
young learners.
Pratontep and Chinwonno (2008)
scrutinized the self-regulated learning
strategies of 30 Thai university students in a
reading comprehension program. The results
uncloaked significant differences between
the students’ English reading
comprehension, divided into upper and
lower level groups based on their
competencies in reading comprehension,
especially for the lower level group, in pre- and post-test. Students reported frequent use
of metacognitive and performance
regulation strategies through the self- regulated learning interview schedule. The
students in upper level group actively used
self-regulated learning strategies more often
than the lower level did to regulate their
Page 3 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 10
November 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 109
metacognition and performance.
Furthermore, the students’ verbal protocols
of reading unveiled the use of self-regulated
learning strategies in the performance or
volitional control phase more often than in
the forethought or self-reflection phases.
The positive effects of interventions
studies designed to promote students’ SRL
have now been well established. Training
programs are carried out and pilot tests are
conducted as part of the syllabus or running
experiments to enhance self-regulated
learning. Cleary and Zimmerman (2004)
present an anecdote of a cyclical model of
academic self-regulation in a case study
program to highlight the primary processes
and techniques used by an self-regulation
coaching (henceforth SRC) working with a
12-year-old Caucasian student and,
eventually, to empower her self-regulation
skills. The program was sprouted from
social-cognitive theory and research and
integrated many of the essential features of
the problem-solving model. Interventions
used in the Self-regulation empowerment
program (SREP) comprising making
graphic, cognitive modeling and coaching,
and structured practice sessions. The SRC
assessed Anna’s motivational profile as well
as how she used strategies to self-regulate
her learning according to triadic phases of
self-regulation and, at the end, after getting a
feeble grade in the tests she was offered an
intervention approach in an individualized
training program to teach her to set goals, to
record in person the performance processes
(i.e., strategies used) and outcomes (i.e., test
grades), and to evaluate goal progress and
strategy effectiveness. The intervention
programs at the end endorsed her improved
test score of 90 as a result of her newly
acquired study strategies.
The training program much attended to
the psychological side of Anna and
encouraged her to press in and press on by
recording and monitoring her progress with
the help of delivered self-regulation
strategies taught by her coach. Taking more
responsibility for her learning and
modifying her beliefs and motivating herself
helped Anna to elevate her grades in school.
The studies bear robust evidence of the
positive effects of SRL instructional
programs on children's academic
achievement. It must also be mentioned that
training programs will benefit more students
and even educators when they are
implemented concurrent with other
academic interventions or social programs
and when they consider all aspects of
learners (affective, cognitive, motivational
and cultural) and learning settings and self- regulation stages cannot be applied in a rigid
way to every learning activity (ibid).
Causal-effect study carried out by Liu
(2008) showed that self-regulatory capacity
of learners can predict learners’ self- perceptions in English achievement that in
practice affects their successes. This notifies
how the enrichment of self-regulatory
capacities in the forms of perceptions and
beliefs assists learners to attain success.
3. A DEFINITION OF SELF- REGULATED LEARNING
Self-regulated learning is a composite
concept encapsulating besides cognitive and
metacognitve strategy also motivation and
affection in its framework. Currently, self- regulation is recognized as an amalgamation
of cognition, metacognition, motivation and
emotion. Zimmerman (1989) posits that the
learner’s decisive self-management of
environment, behavior, and personal
processes is the most visible indicator of a
learner’s degree of self-regulation.
Self-regulated learning with its
broadened definition is “multi-component,
