Self Regulated Learning, Metacognition & Metacognitive Skills

Introduction Four-step plan outlined that can help learners to increase their success in learning: 1. Spend enough time 2. Build up an integrated knowledge base 3. Develop a range of strategies suitable for the present course 4. Believe that they can succeed if they stick to steps 1 through 3

Helps learners become self-regulated because - gives them a clear plan for improving their success in learning, & - helps them understand the important relationship between knowledge, strategies & motivation. Without self-regulatory skills, learners are at greater risk of dropping out or failing because they attribute their learning problems to lack of ability. (Graham, 1991)

Self Regulated Learning ~PART I~ Self Regulated Learning

Definitions of Self-Regulation in Learning Self-regulation refers to learners' ability to understand & control their learning. (Schunk & Zimmerman; 1994) The learner’s ability to make adjustment in their own learning processes in response to their perception of feedback regarding their status of learning. (Graham & Harris, 1992)

A self-regulated learner is a person who is self-motivated, one who has takes the initiative, one who has a clear idea of what he wants to learn, & one who has his own plan for pursuing & achieving his goal. (Nunan, 1989)

Conclusion: These types of learners… know their needs work productively can learn both inside & outside the classroom learn with active thinking towards the achievement of their objectives.

Concept of Self-Regulation in Learning Will Skill Knowledge base Motivation Strategies Self-efficacy Feedback Deliberate practice Attribution

The ‘Will’ to Learn Motivation includes Attribution Self-efficacy Goal orientations Intrinsic motivation Hope Perceived control modified by Teacher

Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed effort is initiated & sustained. Different types of motivational beliefs: - self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) - attributions (Weiner, 1986) - goal orientations (Dweck & Leggett, 1988) - intrinsic motivation (Kohn, 1993) - hope (Synder, 1995) - perceived control (Deci & Ryan, 1987)

~Self-efficacy~ The degree to which individuals possess confidence in their ability to achieve a specific goal. Compared with students who doubt their learning capabilities, those with high self-efficacy for accomplishing a task participate more readily, work harder, & persist longer when they encounter difficulties. (Bandura, 1977)

High self-efficacy affects: - engagement - persistence - goal setting - various aspects of performance E.g., the amount of strategies used & the degree to which students monitor their learning

4 factors that can affect the relative strength of one’s self-efficacy judgements (Pajares, 1996): 1. The current skill level such as the availability of knowledge & strategies 2. The intentional & unintentional modeling from skilled peers or teachers 3. The verbal influence 4. One’s current psychological state

~Attribution~ Fundamental interpretations learners provide themselves to explain their academic success & failure. E.g., many college students who struggle in calculus attribute their failure to low ability rather than lack of relevant knowledge, strategies, or practice.

3 fundamental dimension of attributional responses (Weiner, 1986): a) locus of control - internal vs. external causes b) stability - short vs. longstanding effects c) controllability - controllable vs. uncontrollable. Different attributions elicit a variety of distinct emotions in learners. E.g., attributing failure to a teacher (i.e., an uncontrollable, external, unstable cause) is less debilitating than attributing failure to low ability (i.e., an uncontrollable, internal, stable cause).

Negative attribution styles Can be changed by - Low grades - Less help seeking - Vaguer goals Poorer use of learning strategies Lower performance expectations Aware of their attributions & guided by knowledgeable teachers

The ‘Skill’ to Learn 2 aspects: - knowledge base - strategies These two aspects can give impact & changes on the learners.

~Knowledge base~ An important for effective learning. Ways to organize the knowledge base to improve teaching, e.g.: - the use of concept maps - structured problems - opportunities for group-based learning Effective teachers also emphasize the role of planned practice, including daily reading, completion of in-class projects, homework & expert modeling.

Skill development & expertise is strongly related to the time & efficiency deliberate practice - the more one practices, the better one gets, regardless on initial talent & ability. Initial differences due to talent & ability decrease over time as a function of practice. - highly talented individuals lose their edge over time if they do not practice compared to less talented individuals.

~Strategies~ Refer to learning tactics used intentionally to accomplish a specific goal or purpose. Essential to effective learning: - enable learners to use their limited cognitive resources more efficiently, - approach problems more systematically, & - increase positive motivational beliefs such as self-efficacy

Motivation & Strategy Use in the Self-Regulation Process Motivation & strategies each contribute to academic success at all age levels. - motivational variables often referred to as the will component of learning - strategies referred to as the skill component Learners need both the will & the skill to succeed in learning.

Contribution of the ‘will’ & the ‘skill’ in academic learning: 1. Through mutual interchange between will (i.e., self-efficacy) & skill (i.e., strategy instruction) components. - self-efficacy ↑, learners are more suitable to use strategies. - strategy instruction ↑, students become more self-efficacious.

2. Through mutual interchange between will components. - E.g., higher self-efficacy is related to adaptive attributional responses such as increased effort & strategy use. 3. Through a joint exchange between skill components. - E.g., gaining of new knowledge typically increases the efficiency of strategy use.

How to Improve Self-regulation in Learning? Attributional retraining Modeling Informational feedback

~Modeling~ The process of intentionally demonstrating & describing the component parts of a skill to a novice of student. Peer models: the most effective because they are most similar to the individual observing the model. Teacher models: the only person in the classroom who adequately can model a complex procedure. Modeling increases strategy use & self-efficacy. (Schunk, 1989)

Seven-steps plan of effective modeling: 1. Create a rationale for the new learning skill. 2. Model the procedure in its entirety while the students observe. 3. Model component parts of the task. 4. Make explicit the otherwise tacit strategies you use to solve problems. 5. Allow students to practice component steps under teacher guidance. 6. Allow students to practice the entire procedure under teacher guidance. 7. Have the student engage in self-directed performance of the task.

How to Improve Self-regulation in Learning? Effective modeling provide provide practice Rationale demonstrate Component make explicit Model all give Component Component Example Supervised practice all Strategies demonstrate Example Model part Unsupervised practice Model part

~Feedback~ Refers to explicit information provided about the process & products of their work. Types of feedback: 1. Teacher’s feedback - improves performance & self-efficacy 2. Student’s feedback - equally effective in many situations 3. Self-generated feedback - enables students to self-regulate their performance without teacher or peer-model assistance

~Attributional retraining~ Refers to helping individuals better understand their attributional responses & develop responses that encourage task engagement. Attributional retraining programs: 1. Individuals are taught how to identify undesirable behaviours, e.g. task avoidance 2. Attribution underlying avoidant behaviour are evaluated 3. Alternative attributions are explored 4. Favourable attributional patterns are implemented.

Metacognition & Metacognitive Skills ~PART II~ Metacognition & Metacognitive Skills

Definition of Metacognition Knowledge and awareness of cognitive processes – our thoughts about thinking. Being aware of one’s own cognitive processes or knowing about what one knows. What we know or don’t know and regulating how we go about learning. Essential skill for learning to learn. Enable us to be successful learners; associated with intelligence.

Meta-Attention: The Development of Attention Strategies Meta attention develops naturally Teachers effort can enhance it – students become more self-regulated Older children are more aware of the importance of attention – better at directing attention toward important information – better at ignoring distracting and irrelevant stimuli (Berk, 2001)

Metamemory: The Development of Memory Strategies Older children and adults are much better than young children at using strategies for remembering information. (Short, Schatschneider & Friebert, 1993) Older learners are more aware of their memory limitations. (Everson &Tobias, 1998) Instruction can make students aware of their memory capacities and the importance of matching strategies to the demand of a task

Metacognition in the Information Processing Model rehearsal attention perception response SENSORY MEMORY LONG-TERM MEMORY WORKING MEMORY rehearsal encoding STIMULI from the environment retrieval (lost) Forgotten (perhaps recoverable) (lost)

Development of Metacognition CHILDREN (Flavell, 1971) – metacognition is quite limited Metamemory ~ knowledge about the way memory works Little monitoring on the way they use language, form concepts, solve problems etc. 3& 4 yr: easier to remember a small set of pictures than large set 6 yr: know that familiar items are easier to remember than unfamiliar ones 8 yr: easier to remember a series of words-part of a narrative rather than a list

Preschoolers: wildly optimistic in memory estimation. Grow older: estimates become modest; actual memory spans increase. College student: realistic in their estimation Metacomprehension ~ accessing whether you understand what you are reading / what is being said to you & your knowledge & thoughts about comprehension. Awareness of countering difficulty in comprehension develops with age (Markman) Good & poor students differ their ability to assess their metacomprehension.

ELDER (Lovelace and Marsh, 1985) Metamemory ~ person’s ability to predict – item would be recalled at a later time IF memory Accuracy in predicting which specific items will be recalled & which will be forgotten – two groups are not differ Ability to predict total number of items recall – differ Young adults are accurate Elder people overestimate their recall

Metacognition in Self Regulation Regulation of Cognition Knowledge of Cognition Knowledge Base Knowledge Of Memory Evaluation Planning Conditional Knowledge (when, where, why) Monitoring Strategies

Metacognition is important for 2 reasons Use knowledge & strategies much more efficiently ~ high level students – engage in deeper processing & learn more without effort ~ balance for average or low ability awareness is high, students perform faster & more efficient. Understand the role of metacognition in self-regulation by: ~ teacher discuss the importance of metacognition knowledge ~ teacher construct their own metacognition ~ group discussion

The Importance of Metacognition Create effective learning environment Enhance accurate perception Regulate the flow of information through working memory (Schraw & Moshman, 1995) Influences the meaningfulness of encoding (Bruning et. al., 1999)

Metacognitive Knowledge: acquired knowledge about cognitive process PERSON: everything that one could come to believe about oneself & others as learners or cognitive process. (intra&inter individuals & universals) TASK: know whether or not a task calls for deliberate learning – have knowledge of task demands – relate with knowledge about the information involve in a cognitive enterprise STRATEGY: strategies that can be used effectively in the accomplishment of certain cognitive tasks. (Flavell, 1979, 1981a, 1981b)

Metacognitive Regulation Metacognitive experiences – use of metacognive strategies or regulation ~ sequential processes that one uses to control cognitive activities – ensure that cognitive goal has been met ~ help to regulate and oversee learning.

Metacognitive Skills Def: ~ self-assessment ability to assess one’s own cognition ~ self management – ability to manage one’s further cognitive development Importance: teachers with metacognitive functioning – helping learners in develop skills in metacognition ~ use of specific techniques (concept map) = more aware & understand ~metacognition and constructivism = development of skills

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