Chapter 12: Integration Of Socialization Influences and the Development of Self-Regulated Learning Skills: A Social-Cognitive Perspective

All teachers encounter students who struggle to learn concepts taught and/ or who underperform. Although the potential causes of student learning difficulties tend to include multiple factors, (such as weak academic skills or prior knowledge; poor critical reasoning or other underdeveloped cognitive abilities; and weak social-emotional skills), researchers have increasingly focused on the influence of student motivation and self-regulated learning (SRL) skills as well as the sociocultural contexts within which these regulatory skills are developed (Cleary, Velardi, & Schnaidman, 2017; Hadwin & Oshige, 2011; McInerney & King, 2017). This upsurge in research on SRL, which can be defined as a process through which individuals purposefully and strategically manage and direct themselves in the pursuit of goals, has been fueled by several factors. SRL is highly applicable to various domains, contexts, and tasks (Artino, Cleary, Dong, Hemmer, & Durning, 2014; Cleary, 2015; Kolovelonis, Goudas, & Dermitzaki, 2010) and has shown strong linkages to achievement and performance outcomes (Cleary & Kitsantas, 2017; Schunk & Greene, 2017). This construct has also been recognized as a key mechanism for overcoming the many academic, social-emotional, and behavioral challenges that students encounter, such as transitioning between elementary, middle, and high school; establishing friendships; developing a personal identity; or engaging in vocational or post-secondary planning (Cleary, 2018; Grolnick & Raftery-Helmer, 2015).