Promoting Effective Task Interpretation as an Important Work Habit: A Key to Successful Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In this article we argue that to be successful in an academic arena, students must adopt a consistent approach to completing academic work (i.e., a work habit) that includes very carefully interpreting the demands of tasks that are presented to them in schools. To clarify why task interpretation is so critical to student success, and is thus an important instructional objective for teachers, we begin by presenting two vignettes illustrating links between task interpretation and students’ successful engagement in academic work. Then, we take a step back to describe what we mean by academic work and engagement and to explain how and why students’ knowledge about, conceptions of, and interpretations of tasks are so foundational to performance. We also describe how students’ task interpretation breaks down and why such breakdowns often occur. Finally, we close by advancing practical suggestions for teachers regarding how to structure activities, instruction, and evaluation to promote students’ adoption of task interpretation as an important work habit in the pursuit of effective learning. Sally is teaching a ninth grade English class. Her goal is for students to learn how to write various kinds of paragraphs. After showing some examples and talking with the class about the structure of a narrative paragraph, Sally asks the students to write one themselves. She writes the assignment on the chalkboard as she explains it to the class but notices that quite a number of students start talking to each other while her back is turned. As students work on the assignment, Sally circulates around the room. She reexplains the task to some students and reminds others to focus on their work. She notices that many students seem lost and that only a few students are doing a good job of following her very detailed instructions. Amy is an eighth grade student taking science. One day, Amy arrives home with her science textbook and instructions to answer the questions at the end of Chapter 6. Amy sits down, turns her book to the end of the chapter, finds the first question and looks for key words. She then searches for those key words in the chapter to find information relevant to the question. She copies the information word for word onto a piece of paper, then moves onto the remaining questions. When she is challenged by her teacher the next day, who asks if she has answered the questions in her own words, Amy replies that she does not need to understand the information. She shows her teacher how she has received 100% on each of her previous homework assignments, which she completed in the same way.

A Qualitative Account of The Nature and Use of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Strategies Employed by University Students

“…The informants reported using a number of strategies that emphasize meta-cognitive regulation (Butler & Cartier, 2004;Zimmerman, 1986 (Butler & Cartier, 2004). Besides, they also reported using self-evaluative and self-corrective strategies (Weinstein, et al, 2011;Zimmerman, 2000).…”

Process-oriented design principles for promoting self-regulated learning in primary teacher education

“…Butler and Cartier (2004) distinguish three interrelated characteristics within tasks: task purpose (goals), task structures and task components. To be successful, students must have productive metacognitive knowledge about tasks concerning each of these components.…”

“…As part of the knowledge that they construct, students develop metacognitive knowledge, which influences their approaches to academic tasks (Butler & Cartier, 2004). Metacognitive regulation activities are those thinking activities that students use to decide on learning contexts, to exert control over their processing and affective activities and to steer the course and outcomes of their learning (Vermunt & Verloop, 1999).…”

“…The first process involves learners' judgements and evaluations of their performance of the task. One of the principles within this process is to help students clarify what good performance is, using task requirements (Butler, 2002;Butler & Cartier, 2004;Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). Another principle is to facilitate the development of self-assessment.…”

L’autorégulation de l’apprentissage et la collaboration dans le développement professionnel des enseignants

“…Ils mettent en oeuvre ces stratégies, réfléchissent à leur succès, et ajustent leurs approches sur la base du progrès perçu. Finalement, les apprenants autorégulés gèrent non seulement leur apprentissage, mais aussi leurs environnements, leurs ressources, leurs émotions, et leur motivation pour s'aider à atteindre leurs objectifs (Butler et Cartier, 2004 ;Corno, 1994 ;Pintrich, 2000).…”