Control and regulation: Conceptual
Background and Definition
The metacognitve processes involved in
selecting and adapting cognitive strategies to reduce the relative
discrepancy between immediate student goals and self- generated
performance feedback.
Control and regulation processes are largely
dependent on the information gained during metacognitive monitoring
activities. For example, if a student is listening to a
teacher lecture and engages in self-questioning to test their
personal understanding, a discrepancy between their learning goal
and progress may indicate the need to change their
strategies. SRL control and
regulationactivities are defined as the activation of
metacognitive strategies for selecting, adapting, and changing
cognitive strategies to reduce the relative discrepancy between
immediate student goals and self-generated performance feedback
judgments(Pintrich, 2002a).
The list of possible control strategies is
relatively large and represents the most researched component of
SRL. Example control and regulation strategies include
paraphrasing, outlining, summarizing, rehearsal, question
generating, visualizing (imagery), drawing of cognitive or semantic
maps, note taking, and using mnemonic devices to name but a few.
The research literature suggests that many students who perform
poorly on tasks (e.g., students with disabilities) often fail to
spontaneously invoke SRL control and regulation strategies.
However, when trained, especially when training is embedded in
activities similar to real world performance environments, an
improvement in metacognitive abilities can result (Gettinger &
Seibert, 2002).
As per theories of SRL, the target of control may
also lie outside of the student. For example, a student might
seek to renegotiate certain task characteristics (e.g., topic,
deadline) or leave the specific environment. These control
strategies represent an attempt on the part of the student to
“control and regulate the context” (Pintrich &
Zusho, 2002).
Examples of control and regulation of academically
related motivational beliefs include students using positive
self-talk (to control self- efficacy), promising
themselves rewards (e.g., a meal, a movie) when they complete a
task to increase extrinsic motivation, and/or embedding the task in
the context of their lives or future goals (to increase task
value). A specific example of behavioral control and
regulation that has been the subject of research is academic
help- seeking. According to Pintrich (2000), “good
learners and good self-regulators know when, why, and from whom to
seek help”(p. 468). This differs from maladaptive
help-seeking, which is characterized by seeking short-cuts in order
to complete a task with little concern for understanding or
learning. Adaptive academic help-seeking involves
cognitive (knowing when to ask and how to frame a request), social
(knowing how to make a socially appropriate request, and to whom),
and motivational (possessing goals, attitudes, and self-beliefs
that allow the person to admit personal difficulty) competencies
(Newman, 2002). Space does not allow for a detailed
exploration of the theoretical and research literature on the
nature and development of academic help-seeking in this
document.
