An Investigation Of Middle School Students' Self-regulation In Learning English

Since the 1980 s,Self-regulated learning has become one of the central research issues in the field of psychology.A large number of research show that students? active regulation and control in their study will exert much influence on their achievements.Studies on self-regulated learning are not only helpful to enrich the existent study theories,but also to provide a practical guidance for motivating students? autonomy,improving learning efficiency and cultivating learning abilities.There are many studies on self-regulated learning in western educational contexts,and many researchers have combined self-regulation theory with some specific subjects,such as math,physics.Besides,some researchers also have studied self-regulation theory in foreign language teaching and learning,but the research in combination with English subjects and studies aimed at the investigation of middle school students? self-regulation abilities are still very rare in domestic in EFL research.Based on the theory of self-regulated learning,and with Pintrich? s Questionnaire in investigating self-regulated learning,the self-regulated motivation and strategies for English learning questionnaire(MSELQ),this study aims to investigate middle school students? self-regulation in learning English.390 students of a middle school in Pingxiang,Jiangxi province were chosen as the subjects.This study mainly addressed the following three questions:1)What are the characteristics of SRL in learning English of middle school students? 2)What is the relationship between SRL abilities and achievements in learning English? 3)Are there any age and gender differences in middle school students? SRL abilities in learning English? The instruments included a questionnaires and interviews.At the beginning of the study,a questionnaire was used to investigate the characteristics of middle school students? self-regulation in learning English.Then,based on the results of the questionnaire,5-10 students were chosen to have an interview.All the data of the questionnaire and interviews were computed with SPSS 16.0 and the analyzed by the researcher.The results show that middle school students? self-regulation in learning English has reached a medium level,while the development of each dimension of self-regulation is in different levels.The development of the six dimensions of middle school students? self-regulation in learning English ranks as follows(from high to low): intrinsic motivation,self-efficacy,metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and resources management strategies,extrinsic motivation.Meanwhile,this paper also finds that the correlations between middle school students? English achievements and the other five dimensions are significant except the extrinsic motivation,which illustrates that the correlation between middle school students? self-regulation and their English achievements in learning is significant.Then,the researcher reveals that the development of middle school students? self-regulation in different age and gender is quite different,and there exist significant age and gender influence on middle school students? self-regulation in learning English: Female students? SRL in learning English develops faster than that of male students? in the middle school,and senior middle school students? SRL in learning English is higher than that of junior middle school students.Lastly,the researcher points out that English teacher should pay much attention to the difference between Female students and male students,and adjust their teaching approach based the difference.Besides,the researcher also put forward that middle students should enhance their self-efficacy of learning English and develop learning strategies that is helpful for their English learning,which provides a guidance to improve their self-regulation in learning English.