College Students’ Use of Self-Regulatory Prompts in Online Vocabulary Learning
Open AccessThis study of college students’ use of self-regulatory prompts (SRP) is primarily situated within the social cognitive theory and Zimmerman’s theoretical framework of self-regulation. Three crucial self-regulated constructs were integrated into self-regulatory prompts (SRP): goal setting, metacognitive monitoring, and self-evaluation. A total of 508 students from 12 classes across five sites in China were involved in a 10-week online English vocabulary learning module. Approximately half were randomly assigned to complete the SRP (treatment) or to the control group who did not receive them. A mixed-method design, self-regulation surveys, weekly SRP-embedded reflections, and individual interviews were employed to elicit a comprehensive picture of college students’ self-regulatory processes and developmental trajectory, and their perspectives on the SRP. The results of this study reveal that the use of SRP not only successfully activated students’ self-regulatory behaviors and enhanced their self-regulation, but further influenced their learning experience and outcomes. This teaching experiment has led to desirable learning outcomes, such as increased SRL knowledge, enhanced self-regulation, improved SRL behaviors and strategy use, and increased learning motivation, self-efficacy for learning, and self-satisfaction. The qualitative findings contribute to the current literature by demonstrating the dynamic developmental trajectory and implicit learning mechanism of each targeted SRL process in online contexts. These fruitful findings may provide more empirical evidence and support to enrich the current literature on self-regulation in online contexts and shed new light on the complementarity of the concepts of language learning strategies and self-regulation. The conceptual framework of the development of college students’ self-regulatory processes was established and suggestions for further SRL research are provided.
- All rights reserved
Notice to Authors
If you are the author of this work and you have any questions about the information on this page, please use the Contact form to get in touch with us.