Influencing children’s self efficacy and self regulation of reading and writing

Schunk, D. H., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2007). Influencing children's self-efficacy and self-regulation of reading and writing through modeling. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23(1), 7-25.

Background

The authors established self-efficacy and self-regulation as two key cognitive and motivational influences in developing children’s reading and writing skills. They posited teacher modelling as a means to enhance learners’ perceptions of their own ability to learn (self-efficacy) and their ability to control their own feelings and actions that affect their learning (self-regulation).

Aims

This is a review of two research studies that supported the belief that self-efficacy and self-regulation are important influences on reading and writing performance.

Sample

Fourth- and fifth-grade children with low reading comprehension abilities but not excessive decoding difficulties participated in the first study. School children, who had been receiving remedial instruction in an elementary school, participated in the second study.

Method

In the first study, the participants were assigned to one of three treatment conditions during instruction, namely, learning with a process goal, a product goal or a general goal. The product-goal children were told to try to answer questions. The general-goal students were encouraged to do their best. The process-goal children were advised to apply a response strategy. The strategy comprised five steps: read the questions; read the passage to get the main idea; think about what the ideas have in common; come up with an appropriate title; and reread the story if you do not know how to respond to the questions. A teacher role-modelled this response strategy for all process-goal children with a comprehension exercise for 35 minutes daily over 15 consecutive school days.

In the second study, which examined the effect of feedback on learning, the first group of participants received only modelled strategy instruction on reading while the second group received modelled strategy instruction with feedback.

Findings

Post-test results in the first study indicated that children who had learnt with the process- and product-goals showed higher self-efficacy for answering comprehension questions than did the general-goal students. Secondly, the process-goal learners showed the highest reading comprehension performance. Thirdly, a teacher modelling with practice during reading and writing instruction allowed learners to apply the strategies learnt effectively. Results of the second study showed that participants who received modelled strategy instruction with feedback demonstrated greater improvement in self-efficacy and self-regulatory competence.

Implications

The authors felt that teachers needed to teach learners self-regulation skills and provide students with opportunities to practise and apply them in reading and writing activities. Differentiated instruction should be encouraged to cater to students with varying learning abilities and self-regulation capabilities.

Original article retrieved from Google scholar.