A review of existing research suggests that the self-system—which includes constructs such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, motivation and attributional beliefs—is a complex, interdependent system that supports both metacognitive functions and academic performance (McCombs, 1986). Hence, there is a relation between self-systems and Flavell (1978) and Pinard's (1991) person variable, a component of knowledge of metacognition. The development of attributional beliefs is closely tied to attitudes about self-efficacy (Harter, 1982), self-esteem (Carr & Borkowski, 1987) and intrinsic motivation (Watkins, 1984). Self esteem and other self-system constructs, in turn, predict achievement (Marsh, 1986; Oka & Paris, 1987).
The importance of the self-system is evident as it appears to underlie the development of the metacognitive system and helps to determine the quality of academic achievement. There are a number of factors that might influence a child’s cognitive development and belief system and these include parental, societal and school influences. These sources of influence may have an effect on the child’s self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation for success, both explicitly and implicitly. But despite contributions from a number of such extraneous factors, children are nonetheless largely responsible for their own cognitive development (McCombs, 1987). McCombs has outlined several general principles that relate to the emergence of self-regulated behaviour. First, it is proposed that children have an inherent, intrinsic motivation for self-determination and self-development (McCombs, 1987; Deci & Ryan, 1985). Children will hence work autonomously in order to achieve these two goals. It is this inherent need to learn and achieve self-determination that promotes learning through the development of cognitive, motivation and affective processes.
Children’s achievement of self-determination and self-control is determined by the interacting components of the self and the metacognitive systems. McCombs suggests that the goal of self-directed achievement is attained by fostering positive attribution belief patterns which, in turn, maximizes self-worth. Metacognitive and cognitive processes are believed to thrive on these functional attribution patterns. Hence, children who develop a positive attribution prosper whereas those who fail to develop positive attributions are in jeopardy of developing dysfunctional self and metacognitive systems (McCombs, 1987).
Self Determination through Self-Worth.
A sense of control over experience is one way that individuals achieve self-determination. According to Covington (1985), self-worth is maintained by the manipulation of attributional beliefs about the sources and causes of success and failure. The self-worth theory assumes that society equates human value with ability (Borkowski et. al., 1990) hence accordingly failure becomes something to avoid because it suggests low ability. Children who believe that failure is due to a lack of effort are more likely to increase efforts and persist in their attempts to obtain their goals (Dweck, 1975; Rotter, 1966; Weiner & Kukla, 1970) whereas children who believe that failure is due to low ability are likely to believe that effort is useless in the face of inevitable failure.
Self Efficacy and the Self-System. One’s self-efficacy, that is, the expectations that people hold about their abilities to accomplish certain tasks, is another factor that may influence self-regulation. Bandura (1986, 1997) has argued that whether or not people will undertake particular actions in the environment, attempt to perform particular tasks, or strive to meet specific goals depends on whether or not they believe they will be efficacious in performing these actions under the given circumstances. Self-efficacy beliefs are conceptualized as highly specific control related beliefs which concern one’s ability to produce a particular outcome at a particular time. The stronger one’s perceived self efficacy, the more one will exert effort and persist at a task. Thus, for example, faced with a challenging intellectual task, the student who believes he has the capabilities to perform it effectively will be more likely to undertake it and to persist at the task than will the student who has doubts about his ability to perform it successfully. Self-efficacy beliefs have been partially explored in the context of childhood socialization (Bandura, 1986, 1997) because it is believed that early experiences with success and failure lead people to develop fairly stable conceptions of their self- efficacy in different domains.
Although the self-system provides the necessary motivation and affective states to foster a child’s progress toward self-determination, it is the metacognitive systems that oversee the means to reach that goal. In order for the metacognitive systems to work properly, children must have adequate information about both strategic knowledge and metacognitive activity. Hence, positive attributions or high motivation to succeed would be of little use to an individual who does not have the necessary accompanying strategic knowledge and metacognitive skills. But in the presence of strategic knowledge and metacognitive skills, motivation and affective states are very advantageous in promoting progress towards self-determination.
References
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundation of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Bandura, A. (l997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Borkowski, J., Carr, M., & Rellinger, E. (1990). Self-regulated cognition: Interdependence of metacognition, attributions, and self-esteem. In Bean Fly Jones & L. Idol (Eds.). Dimensions of thinking and Cognitive Instructions. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carr, M., & Borkowski, J. G. (1987). The importance of attributional retraining for the generalization of comprehension strategies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational research Association, Washington, DC.
Covington, M. V. (1985). Anatomy of failure-induced anxiety. The role of cognitive mediators. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Self-related cognitions in anxiety and motivation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum.
Dweck, C. S. (1975). The role of expectations and attributions in the alleviation of Learned Helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 674-685.
Flavell, J. H. (1978). Metacognitive development. In J. M. Scadura & C.J. Brainerd (Eds.). Structural Process theories of complex human behavior. Alphen a. d. Rijn. The Netherlands: Sijthoff and Noordhoff.
Harter, S. (1982). Processes underlying self-concept formation in children. In J. Sals & A. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self. Hillsdale: NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Marsh, H. W. (1986). Verbal and math concepts: An internal-external frame of reference model. American Educational Research Journal, 23, 129-150.
McCombs, B. L. (1987). The role of affective variables in autonomous learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
Oka, E. R., & Paris, S. C. (1987). Patterns of motivation and reading skills in underachieving children. In S. Ceci (Ed.), Handbook of cognitive, social and neurological aspects of learning disabilities. Hillsdale, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pinard, A. (1991). Metaconsciousness and Metacognition. Allocution addressed to the Canadian Psychological Association in Calgary, Alberta.
Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80 (1, Whole No. 609).
Seeratan, K. L. (2000). Motivation for Success: A new probe for investigating the Cognitive, Affective and Metacognitive profiles of individuals with Learning
Disabilities. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of Master Degree, University of Toronto.
Watkins, D. (1984). Student learning processes: An exploratory study in the Philippines. Human learning, 3, 33-42.
Weiner, B., & Kukla, A. (1970). An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 1-20.
|
About the LDRC
