Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: An Overview - Zimmerman - 2002 - Article

What is this article about?

In contemporary society, there are a lot of distractions. Think for example about smartphones, computers, and tablets. They are all means of distraction. As a result of all these sources of distraction, it is not surprising to find that many students have not learned to self-regulate their academic studying well.

In this study, Zimmerman discusses how students can use self-regulation as a means to compensate for their individual differences in learning. He also defines the essential qualities of academic self-regulation, describes the structure and function of self-regulatory processes. Finally, an overview is provided of methods for guiding students to learn on their own.

How do students use self-regulation as a means to compensate for individual differences in learning?

Since the beginning of the 20th century the topic of individual differences in educational functioning gained widespread interest. While it was already widely acknowledged that students differ, little was known how to overcome these differences so that each students could optimally benefit from the curriculum of the school. During the late 1970's and early 1980's, a new perspective on individual differences emerged, that still plays an important role nowadays. Since then, researchers attribute (partly) individual differences in learning to students' lack of self-regulation. Important aspects herein are metacognition and social cognition. Metacognition refers to the awareness of and knowledge about one's one thinking. Social cognition refers to the social influences on children's development of self-regulation. Most importantly appears to be setting specific and proximal goals for themselves. In addition, simply asking students to self-record some aspects of their learning already showed "spontaneous" improvements. These effects are called reactivity. Thus, this perspective focuses on what students need to know about themselves in order to manage their limitations during efforts to learn.

What are the essential qualities of academic self-regulation?

Self-regulation is not a mental ability or an academic performance skill. Instead, it is the self-directive process by which learners transform their mental abilities into academic skills. It is a proactive process. In this section, the following essential qualities of academic self-regulation are mentioned:

• Self-regulated learning involves more than detailed knowledge of a skill. It involves self-awareness, self-motivation, as well as behavioral skills to implement that knowledge accordingly.  
• Self-regulation is not a single trait that one possesses or lacks. Instead, it involves the use of several, specific processes that one must adapt personally to each learning task. The following processes are identified:
  1. Setting specific approximate goals.
  2. Adopting strategies for reaching those goals.
  3. Monitoring one's performance for signs of progress.
  4. Restructuring one's physical and social context in order to make it compatible with the goal.
  5. Managing time effectively.  
  6. Self-evaluating one's methods.
  7. Attributing causes to results.
  8. Adapting future methods
• The quality of self-regulated learning depends on several underlying beliefs, such as perceived efficacy and intrinsic interest.

What is the structure and function of self-regulation?

In this section, the central question is: How do students combine specific learning processes, level of self-awareness, and motivational beliefs as a means to self-regulated learning? According to social learning psychologists, the structure of self-regulation can be viewed in terms of three cyclical phases:

1. Forethought phase
   1. Task analysis (goal setting, strategic planning)
   2. Self-motivation beliefs (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, intrinsic interest / value, learning goal orientation)
2. Performance phase
   1. Self-control (imagery, self-instruction, attention focusing, task strategies)
   2. Self-observation (self-recording, self-experimentation)
3. Self-reflection phase
   1. Self-judgement (self-evaluation, causal attribution)
   2. Self-reaction (self-satisfaction / affect, adaptive, defensive

Briefly, the forethought phase refers to processes and beliefs that occur prior to the efforts to learn. The performance phase refers to processes and beliefs that occur during the efforts to learn. Lastly, the self-reflection phase refers to processes and beliefs that occur after the efforts to learn.
There is a clear distinction between the self-regulation profile of novices compared to that of experts. Novices fail to engage in high-quality forethought. Instead, they attempt to self-regulate their learning in a reactive manner. More specifically, they fail to set specific learning goals for themselves but rather rely on comparison with others to assess their learning effectiveness.

Which methods are there for guiding students to learn on their own?

Although prior research has shown strong support for the importance of students' use of self-regulatory processes, few teachers actually prepare students effectively to learn on their own. For example, students are rarely given choices regarding academic tasks to pursue or methods for carrying out complex assignments. Further, in contrast to a commonly held belief, self-regulation is not asocial in nature and origin. Instead, each self-regulatory process, for instance goal setting, strategy use, or self-evaluation, can be learned via instruction and modeling by others (parents, teachers, coaches, peers). Students that use self-regulatory process often seek out help from others to improve their learning. As such, teaching these self-regulated learning processes is especially relevant in an era where these essential qualities for lifelong learning are distressingly absent.