Introduction: Using Qualitative Methods to Enrich Understandings of Self-Regulated Learning

Abstract

The articles appearing in this special issue of the Educational Psychologist were originally presented in a symposium at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. They reflect a growing interest among “students” of self-regulated learning in finding ways to study this phenomenon in real contexts and real time, in events rather than as aptitudes. Theorists have used the term self-regulated learning (SRL) to describe independent, academically effective forms of learning that involve metacognition, intrinsic motivation, and strategic action. The preponderance of research over the past quarter century has measured SRL as an aptitude. Increasingly, SRL theorists and researchers are emphasizing the need for research in educational psychology in general, and SRL in particular, to attend to the role of context in shaping students’ cognitions and motivations. Meyer and Turner described how they use discourse analysis to examine the influence of teachers’ talk and actions on upper elementary students’ motivation and self-regulation in mathematics classrooms.