engleski

Cognitive and motivational factors in self-regulation of learning and coping with school failure

The main objective of this thesis was to investigate how students’ cognitive beliefs and motivational characteristics affect their learning and coping strategies, and academic achievement. In order to achieve this objective, an elaborate and valid Croatian measure of self-regulation in learning was developed and administrated to the sample of 461 children and young adolescents (243 girls and 218 boys). The sample was obtained from two suburban public elementary schools in the northwest of Croatia. The students ranged from 11 to 14 years of age (upper elementary school equivalent) with the mean of 12.68 years (SD = 1.15), and were attending upper elementary school grades (from the fifth to the eighth grade). The constructed measures represented motivational and cognitive components of self- regulated learning, including Control Beliefs Scales (CBS), Test Anxiety Scales (TAS), Academic Self-Efficacy Scales (ASE), Goal Orientation Scales (GOS), Motivational Strategies Scales (MSS), Academic Coping Strategies Scales (ACSS) and Learning Strategies Scales (LSS). After the discriminant and convergent characteristics of learning and coping strategies were analysed, the results clearly indicated that learning and coping strategies loaded onto two different factors in a way that does not reflect learning and coping conceptualisation and distinction, but distinctive proactive and defensive approaches to self-regulation. In addition to that, exploratory factor analysis revealed that all components of self-regulated learning are related to one of the two functional self-regulation patterns. The proactive self-regulation pattern includes proactive control beliefs, academic self efficacy, learning goal orientation, motivational strategies for promoting learning process, (meta)cognitive control circle strategies, deep cognitive processing and problem focused coping strategy. The defensive self-regulation pattern includes defensive control beliefs, anxiety, performance goals, non-academic goals, motivational strategies for protecting self-esteem, surface cognitive processing strategies and emotion/ego-protecting coping strategies. Mediational analysis revealed that cognition and motivation components have indirect effects upon school achievement and that they are fully mediated by coping and learning strategies. The results indicated that control beliefs, test anxiety, academic self-efficacy, goal orientations and motivational strategies are important predictors of self-regulatory strategies, such as learning and coping strategies, which in turn affect students’ academic achievement. The results were interpreted in the context of previous research findings. Limitations of this study and directions for further research were also discussed.

Cognition; motivation; self-regulation; learning; coping; school failure

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