Traditional and nontraditional college seniors' locus-of-control, self-regulated learning strategies, and metacognition in reading

This study investigated the impact of locus of control orientation on traditional and nontraditional college students' reported use of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies (SRLS) as well as reported awareness of metacognitive behaviors during reading. The 169 graduating college seniors completed and returned a locus of control scale that had been sent to them by mail and then consented to sit for a six-question, one-on-one interview about their study/learning strategies. A subsample of 101 students was asked to read an article, noting their reading behaviors and then writing down all they remembered about their reading immediately after the passage was completed.; The impact of locus of control on reported use of SRLS was examined through the use of analysis of variance which was employed to determine if there were significant differences in the number of SRLS reported by students with internal locus of control orientation and students with external locus of control orientation. Significant differences were found between internals and externals in their reported use of SRLS with internals reporting significantly more strategies than externals. Similarly, internals reported more metacognitive awareness behaviors noticed during reading than did externals.; No significant differences were seen for student status. That is, traditional students (those who had no remedial courses in college) and nontraditional students (those who had four or more remedial courses during college) did not differ in reported use of SRLS nor in reported awareness behaviors during reading. More exploration of academic self-regulation was indicated, especially as it relates to academic achievement. In addition, training for promoting internality was suggested.