Mindsets and Self-Concepts About Self-Regulated Learning: Their Relationships With Emotions, Strategy Knowledge, and Academic Achievement

Abstract

Being a self-regulated learner and believing that deliberate strategy use might be an effective way of overcoming learning challenges is important for achieving academic success. Learners' self-theories about their abilities might explain why some students are more inclined to engage in self-regulated learning (SRL) than others. This study aims to investigate the relationships between students' mindsets and self-concepts about SRL and their correlation with enjoyment, boredom, strategy knowledge, and academic achievements. As covariates, we included gender, age, and academic track. We surveyed 244 students (46.3% female) from the lower secondary school level with a mean age of 14.57 years. The results revealed that mindsets about SRL support more adaptive learning emotions (i.e., higher enjoyment and lower boredom) and positively relate to students' strategy knowledge. The students' self-concepts about SRL are positively related to their enjoyment and academic achievements. Gender-specific differences between the students revealed a disadvantage for the boys, who had lower self-concepts about SRL, lower strategy knowledge, and lower academic achievements in comparison to the girls. Furthermore, the study also revealed that students in the lower academic track adhered more to a fixed mindset about SRL and had lower strategy knowledge than their peers in the higher academic track. Finally, we found an indirect relationship between mindset about SRL and academic achievement via self-concepts about SRL. Overall, our results emphasize the importance of students' mindsets and self-concepts about SRL for their learning and academic achievements.

Digital re‐attributional feedback in high school mathematics education and its effect on motivation and achievement

“…Often, students spend a lot of time (effort) studying but not using optimal learning strategies (Dunlosky et al, 2013). Furthermore, the student's mindset has an influence on student's self‐regulated learning (Karlen et al, 2021). Individualized re‐attributional feedback could be more helpful when combined with learning strategy feedback and/or mindset growth in the future.…”

How Motivated are Teachers to Promote Self-Regulated Learning? A Latent Profile Analysis in the Context of Expectancy-Value Theory

“…Implicit theories seem to be influential for these two profiles in particular. Therefore, in addition to the practical implications already described, professional development programs should also address implicit theories of the malleability of SRL given that such theories are critical predictors of motivation and SRL behaviour (Burnette et al, 2013;Karlen et al, 2021) and, therefore, the promotion of SRL in class. In this context, Vosniadou et al (2020) refer to conceptual change research, which finds that professional development programs can initiate possible changes in existing implicit theories by making participants aware of the theories and allowing them to discuss and reflect on them.…”

Effectiveness of Self-Regulated Learning Intervention on Foreign Language Learning at Tertiary Level: A Systematic Review

“…In addition, SRL has been relevant to other positive outcomes, for example, higher levels of critical thinking and problem-solving competence. However, despite the importance of SRL in higher education, many students struggle to develop effective academic self-regulation skills (Anthonysamy et al, 2020;Karlen et al, 2021). Therefore, it is critical for instructors and educational institutions to provide sufficient support and training programs to direct students to cultivate and improve their SRL skills.…”