Self-Regulation: Where Metacognition and Motivation Intersect

One of the most challenging issues that confronts educational researchers is explaining how students learn in self-regulated contexts, such as when studying or practicing on their own. Acquisition of skills in these demanding contexts requires more than passive compliance with prior directions; it also involves personal initiative, resourcefulness, and persistence-the motivational fire to which Yeats refers. There is evidence that proactive students often seek to create their own enriched environments for learning (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). However, learning in self-regulated contexts can be challenging for students due to (a) competing activities, such as watching television or conversing with friends, (b) insufficient knowledge about how to proceed, (c) difficulty in judging the quality of one’s learning, and (d) insufficient incentives. These attention, retention, self-awareness, and motivation issues have been studied as important attributes of selfregulated learners. Self-regulated learning refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions for attaining one’s learning goals.