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This theoretical review of Winne and Hadwin's model of self-regulated learning (SRL) seeks to highlight how the model sheds new light on current research as well as suggests interesting new directions for future work. The authors assert that the model's more complex cognitive architecture, inclusion of monitoring and control within each phase of learning, and separation of task definition and goal setting into separate phases are all important contributions to the SRL literature. New research directions are outlined, including more nuanced interpretations of judgments of learning and the potential to more thoroughly assess the influence of interactions among cognitive and task conditions on all phases of learning.
KEYWORDS: cognition, information-processing theory, metacognition, review, self-regulated learning.
Among the primary goals of educational psychology are to understand the learning process and to help those who struggle with it. Computer metaphors used in information-processing theory (IPT) suggest that difficulty in learning can be attributed to biomechanical processes, such as memory storage and retrieval, or inadequate production rules that guide strategy use (e.g., Anderson & Labiere, 1998; Newell, 1990; Newell & Simon, 1972). Other researchers have suggested that motivation, self-efficacy, and goal orientation are keys to the learning process (Pintrich, 2000). Still others suggest that learning is situated, with contextual factors that do not span domains (Greeno & the Middle School Mathematics Through Application Project Group, 1998). Each of these perspectives on learning contributes to our understanding of the phenomenon.
Self-regulated learning (SRL) theories attempt to model how each of these cognitive, motivational, and contextual factors influences the learning process (Pintrich, 2000; Winne, 2001; Winne & Hadwin, 1998; Zimmerman, 2000). Although there are important differences between various theoretical definitions, self-regulated learners are generally characterized as active, efficiently managing their own learning through monitoring and strategy use (Boekaerts, Pintrich, & Zeidner, 2000; Butler & Winne, 1995; Paris & Paris, 2001; Pintrich, 2000; Winne, 2001; Winne & Hadwin, 1998; Winne & Perry, 2000; Zimmerman, 2001). Students are self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their learning (Zimmerman, 1989). SRL has also been described as a constructive process wherein learners set goals on the basis of both their past experiences and their current environments (Pintrich, 2000). These goals become the criteria toward which regulation...