Classroom and Individual Differences in Early Adolescents' Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning

Abstract

The relations between classroom experience and individual differences in motivation and self-regulated learning were examined in a correlational study of seventh graders (N = 100, mean age = 12.3 years) from a middle school in the Midwest. Motivational beliefs (intrinsic value, self-efficacy, and test anxiety) and self-regulated learning (cognitive strategy use and self-regulation) were assessed in the fall and spring of the school year using a reliable and valid self-report measure, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Classroom experience was measured with students'perceptions of productive classroom work teacher effectiveness, and cooperative work. Results showed thatpositive motivational beliefs were positively related to higher levels ofself-regulated learning. Classroom differences also were related to motivation and self-regulated learning. Intrinsic value later in the year was more strongly related to classroom experience than intrinsic value early in the year, whereas test anxiety was more traitlike, showing a stronger relation to earlieranxiety than to classroom experience. Self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use, and self-regulation were related to both early individual difference measures as well as classroom experience. Results are discussed in terms of the reciprocal relations between motivation and self-regulated learning as well as the implications for education.