Self-Regulated Learning Among Low Achievers: Its Relationships With Psychological Attributes And School Climate
Loading...
Date
2016-08
Authors
Supramaniam, Kalaiselvi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The Malaysian Education Ministry has prioritized the issues of low achievers to ensure the well-being of these students in particular and the productivity of the nation in general. This study explored the self-regulated learning of low achievers and its relationships with psychological attributes and school climate. Exploratory Case Study was conducted on six low achievers. The qualitative findings showed that low achievers do use strategies in learning, for instance, rehearsal and help seeking strategies. However, they seldom employ strategies that require higher order thinking skills (HOTs) such as critical thinking and meta-cognitive skills. The findings also suggested low achievers are less strategic in learning, used lesser amount of strategies and were less competent in executing strategies that involved higher order thinking. There are also variations in low achievers’ self-regulated learning by gender and academic performance. This exploratory study also unveiled factors that influenced low achievers’ self-regulated learning behaviors. The two main factors that emerged from the qualitative data were psychological attributes and school climate. In order to further investigate and triangulate the qualitative findings, a Quantitative Correlational Study was conducted on 450 low achievers sampled from five national schools. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-Test, ANOVA, Pearson’s Correlation, Multiple Regression) were employed to analyze the obtained data. Quantitative analysis revealed that low achievers usage of strategies differed by types of strategies and there were significant differences according to students’ academic performance [F(2,447) =18.879, p<.05] and gender [t(448) =3.640, p<.05). Person-Product Moment Coefficient showed that self-
regulated learning was significantly and positively related to psychological attributes (r=.762, p<.01) and school climate (r=.68, p<.01). Multiple regression further showed both psychological attributes and school climate accounted for 61% of the variance in low achievers’ self-regulated learning. Motivational beliefs [F(1,444)=531.822, p<.05), student-teacher interaction [F(2,443)=332.165,p<.05] and peer-learning relationship [F(3,442) = 228.316, p<.05) were significant predictors of self-regulated learning among low achievers. This showed that motivational beliefs and school climate are factors influencing low achievers’ self-regulated learning. The implication of the study is that schools need to focus on motivational beliefs, student-teacher interaction and peer-learning relationship in order to produce low achievers who are independent at learning and enable them to achieve their own potentials in academic.
Description
Keywords
Self-regulated learning of low achievers and its relationships , with psychological attributes and school climate.