Individual Difference and Change

Individual Difference Critique on Regulation of Motivation: Evaluating an Underemphasized Aspect of Self-Regulated Learning In self-regulated learning, students combine the functions of motivation, cognitive strategies, and metacognition to support their way to make achievements. To achieve educational goals, self-regulated learners have the ability to recognize what they aim, what it takes to accomplish a goal, the process they need to go through, and the control of endurance in their whole efforts. Besides those factors, regulation of motivation also plays an important role in self-regulated learning.

Motivation is important to provide the foundation to start the learning and achieving process. Motivation can be viewed as "product" or "process" (Winne & Mark, 1989 in Wolters, 2003). Wolters states, as a product, motivation means "willingness to persist in a task." As a "process," students experience different levels of motivation from many causes and conditions.

To be able to accomplish the goals, students need to maintain the motivation in high level, regain it when the motivation level drops, and rework it when it is necessary to switch from a certain angle of motivation to another one.

Wolters defines regulation of motivation as "activities through which individuals purposefully act to initiate, maintain, or supplement their willingness to start, to provide work toward, or to complete a particular activity or goal (i.e., their level of motivation)." In other words, regulation of motivation is the awareness of self-regulated learners to control and make adjustment to their type and level of motivation if necessary.

Regulation of motivation deals with the cognitive strategies learners use to build their motivation, understand factors that affect their motivation, what turns their motivation down, what may excel it, what types of motivation work in synergy to support each other, and how they can continuously rekindle the motivation throughout the efforts they perform toward the academic goals. Self-regulated learners have many options of cognitive strategies, and apply the appropriate ones when they have to deal with a lot of academic task models.

In real life, educational counselors can introduce students to those cognitive strategies, let students choose the most appropriate ones they can apply to themselves and if essential, help the students invent new ones suitable for their personalities and circumstances. Counselors may set several goals for the students and explain how they can monitor their own learning process, as educators apply various lesson plans and assessment methods in class.

Wolter suggests that it is necessary to examine "thoughts or believes that can be categorized as knowledge of motivation, when this knowledge develops, and how this knowledge influences students' cognition and motivation." Applying similar approach to introduce cognitive strategies, counselors can also introduce regulation of motivation to students.

It is necessary that learners not only understand motivation as "product" but also understand it as "process." In this case, counselors can help learners to find out how learners need to go through the uneven movement of motivation, further to fix it when something does not work well or unsuitable during the goal-achieving process. In larger scope, educators may bring this issue into class. As an alternative, counselors may also arrange counseling sessions or create students' groups where students can share ideas about goals and motivation.

In support groups, students can learn the principle of regulation of motivation in conscious way. Counselors can provide activities engaged in a learning event, such as in class. Students can attend sessions, talk, exchange views, and exchange support with others when they experience a slowdown. Students may attempt giving support or be good listeners to others. Counselors should initiate discussions and create pleasant atmosphere so that students can feel free to reveal their real thoughts and feelings without fear of judgments.

Wolters suggests some strategies for the regulation of motivation, which consist of "self-consequating, environment structuring, self-handicapping, attribution control, and emotion regulation." Counselor and instructors can break the strategies down into the level of students' motivation. In some situations, self-regulated learners understand how each strategy works well under certain circumstances, while others don't. In a support group, students can also share each other how they cope with disruptions, and reveal the different approaches they take to manage their motivation level.

On the other hand, when students feel that they make an achievement in any level, getting into the group can gain them positive respond or appreciation from other members. As positive feeling is contagious in many aspects, students who have made achievements can also initiate motivation in other members of the group. Self-regulated learners apply metacognition function to monitor their cognitive strategies, review their effectiveness in situation, and also highly-adaptive to alternative situations and change. In support groups, students interact to learn about metacognition.