Relations between teachers' writing and portfolio practices and students' self-regulated learning.

Abstract

Contemporary views of learning stress the need for students to develop skills and attitudes associated with intentional, self-regulated learning (SRL), an approach to learning that is metacognitive, intrinsically motivated, and strategic. My study investigated relations between students' SRL and particular features of writing and portfolio activities in their classrooms. Participants were teachers and students in grade 2 and 3 classrooms in a suburban school district near Vancouver, BC. Data were collected in three phases. Phase 1 surveyed teachers regarding their writing and portfolio practices. Based on these data, five classrooms were selected: three reflected practices consistent with those hypothesized to promote SRL and two reflected practices believed to curtail it. Observations in the five selected classrooms corroborated and enriched the questionnaire data. In Phase 2, students in these five classrooms responded to two questionnaires: one regarding their perceptions of writing and portfolio practices in their classrooms; the second, their beliefs, values and expectations regarding writing. One high- and one low-achieving writer in each class was selected for indepth study in Phase 3. During Phase 3, these students were observed and interviewed during regularly scheduled portfolio and writing activities, and instances of SRL were documented. Analyses of Phase 1 data revealed a wide range of process writing and portfolio practices across classrooms, challenging assumptions that using these innovations will automatically promote the kinds of teaching and learning associated with SRL. Analyses of Phase 2 and 3 data indicated that these varied implementations influenced students' perceptions of control and support, their motivational orientations and, subsequently, their SRL. Finally, analyses of data from Phases 2 and 3 reveal both mastery and helpless motivational patterns among grade 2 and 3 students, and evidence that they deliberately align behavior to be consistent with their motivations. These findings challenge previous research that suggests children under age ten are invulnerable to maladaptive motivational responses and lack the cognitive sophistication required for SRL.