Student motivation: strategies and approaches

Self-Regulation Practice

Self-regulation is a consistent process of organizing and managing thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and environment (Ramdass, 2011). It involves setting goals, selecting appropriate learning strategies, maintaining motivation, and monitoring and evaluating academic progress. The self-regulation processes and self-beliefs also include time management, managing the environment (distractions), maintaining attention, and self-efficacy.

Students who use self-regulatory practices are higher achievers. Evidence shows that self-regulation skills and motivational beliefs correlate positively with homework activities (Ramdass, 2011). Homework assignments help at risk and struggling students develop motivation and self-regulation skills.

Self-regulation operates in the cognitive (learning strategies), motivational (self-efficacy, task value), and metacognitive (self-monitoring, self-reflection) areas of psychological functioning. Self-regulation motivation enables students to believe in their own individual capabilities. Cognitive self-regulation relates to the learning strategies and is different with each homework task. Metacognition enables goal setting and the monitoring of the learning progress.

Mastery of self-regulation depends on the belief in one's own capabilities and individual expectations of success. How a student views their own capabilities and their own expectations of success for themselves determines how well they master self-regulation skills. As a student gains confidence in their own abilities with homework assignments, they can raise their own expectations of the success they choose to achieve.

Self-regulation skills are important for academic success and are key components to professional success. Students must be motivated to use learning strategies and regulate their own performance. "Different cognitive strategies, such as rehearsal, elaboration, or organizational strategies, have been found to foster active cognitive engagement in learning and higher levels of achievement" (Pintrich, 1990).

Expectancy, a student's belief of their own abilities, is linked to the use of cognitive strategies and management efforts (Pintrich, 1990). What a student learns about their own abilities of what they can achieve will determine which cognitive strategies works best to help them learn and comprehend material. Each student learns different and the different cognitive learning strategies will work different for each student based on the individual homework assignment.

Motivation also involves intrustic value of the goals and beliefs about the importance and interests of the subject matter. Students, who are motivated to learn the material, not just have good grades, are more cognitively engaged to learn and comprehend. The more interests that plays a part of the assignments, the more a student will be motivated to engage in the cognitive learning process to comprehend more material. This becomes a key component in what they learn for professional success in later years.