self regulation

Theory and research on self-regulated academic learning emerged in the mid1980s to address the question of how students become masters of their own 
learning processes. Neither a mental ability nor an academic performance skill, 
self-regulation refers instead to the self-directive process through which learners 
transform their mental abilities into task-related academic skills. This approach 
views learning as an activity that students do for themselves in a proactive way, 
rather than as a covert event that happens to them reactively as a result of 
teaching experiences. Self-regulated learning (SRL) theory and research are not 
limited to asocial forms of education, such as discovery learning, self-education 
through reading, studying, programmed instruction, or computer-assisted 
instruction, but can include social forms of learning such as modeling, guidance, 
and feedback from peers, coaches, and teachers. The key issue defining learning 
as self-regulated is not whether it is socially isolated, but rather whether the 
learner displays personal initiative, perseverance, and adaptive skill in pursuing 
it. In this initial chapter, I discuss self-regulation theories as a distinctive 
approach to academic learning and instruction historically and then identify their 
common features. Finally, I briefly introduce and compare seven prominent 
theoretical perspectives on self-regulated learning-operant, phenomenological, 
information processing, social cognitive, volitional, Vygotskian, and cognitive 
constructivist approaches-in terms of those common features. In the chapters 
that follow, each theoretical perspective is discussed at length by prominent 
researchers who have used it to guide their research and instruction.

Theories of Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: An Overview and Analysis