Self-Regulated learning and academic performance among pupils at Qhakaza High School in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province, South Africa.
In spite of numerous initiatives, resources and infrastructural provision, the continuous decline in Learners’ academic performance remains a global phenomenon that threatens economic development. Scholars have therefore been interested in unravelling factors that enhance or impede academic performance. Self-regulated learning (SRL) refers to a self-initiated and directed learning process; this agentic angle of the social cognitive theory introduces human agency as a solution to students declining academic performance. Self-regulated learning encompasses motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition and assessment feedback. Current literature on self-regulated learning and academic performance is limited to subject specific investigations, which seek to determine suitable learning strategies for specific learning areas. The present study investigated the relationship between components of self-regulated learning and academic performance. The purpose of the study was to determine whether self-regulated learning could improve, the academic performance of high school students. Learners’ perceived levels of motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition, assessment feedback and their self-reported academic performance were collated using a self-report questionnaire. Motivation, self-judgement, self-efficacy, cognition and assessment feedback are components of SRL. Each variable provides a skill or strategy that is linked to academic success. In a survey, (n=101), data was collected using the Likert scale type self-report questionnaires from grade 10 learners at Qhakaza High School, KwaDlangezwa, in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province of South Africa. In the first order of analysis, responses were reduced using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), to determine how questionnaire items contributed to the variables of interest. Furthermore, bivariate correlations and hierarchical stepwise linear regressions were carried out to establish simple relationships between the dependent and independent variables. The results showed that cognition and assessment feedback were the only two variables of self-regulated learning which were positively related to Learners’ academic performance. The result thus indicated, contrary to many past, studies that the perceived level of motivation, perceived level of self-judgement and perceived level of self-efficacy were statistically insignificant as predictors of Learners’ academic performance. The results of this study thus showed that cognition and assessment feedback are learning strategies that should be fostered towards improving Learners’ academic performance in high schools. Cognition and assessment feedback are two variables, which are mostly facilitated or provided by teachers. This implies that contrary to the propositions of the SRL’s agentic component, Learners’ responsibilities for their own learning outcomes may not be relevant in the sample of this study as none of the self-directed variables of perceived level of motivation, perceived level of self-judgement and perceived level of self-efficacy were correlated to academic performance. The main conclusion of the study was that not all components of self-regulated learning influence academic performance. It was therefore recommended that the teacher-learner approach should be revised to suit the contemporary classroom environments, since students still struggle with self-directed learning.
learners' academic performance --self regulated learning --South Africa
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