EXPLORING SELF REGULATED ONLINE LEARNING SKILLS OF EFL LEARNERS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION
Abstract
The aim of the current study is to investigate self-regulated learning skills of EFL learners in online English course in distance education. It also aims to explore the relationship between the learners’ self-regulated learning skills, their age and gender. With this aim, the Self-Regulated Online Learning Questionnaire (SOL-Q) was conducted in order to assess learners’ self regulated online learning skills in terms of five sub dimensions including metacognitive skills, time management, environmental structuring, persistence and help seeking. 120 students studying in various departments of a state university participated in the study. Results revealed that the students could manage their environmental structuring skills at ‘good’ level. However, they rated themselves moderately successful in metacognitive skills, persistence, help seeking and time management dimensions. Furthermore, the study indicated that there was not a statistically significant difference between female and male EFL learners and no statistically significant difference was found between the learners’ age and their self-regulated skills. The study suggested that distance education students need to improve their self-regulated online learning skills in order to be more autonomous learners in learning a foreign language.
Keywords
Self-regulated learning, distance education, English, foreign language learning
References
- Adiguzel, A., & Orhan, A. (2017). The relation between English learning students’ levels of self- regulation and metacognitive skills and their English academic achievements, Journal of Education and Practice, 8(9), 115-125.
- Albelbisi, N., & Yusop, F. (2019). Factors influencing learners’ self -regulated learning skills in a massive open online course (MOOC) environment. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 20(3), 1-16. https://doi: 10.17718/tojde.598191.
- Ambreen, M, Haqdad, A., & A. Saleem, W. (2016). Fostering self- regulated learning through distance education: A case study of M.Phil secondary teacher education program of Allama Iqbal open university. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 17 (3), 120-135. https://doi: 10.17718/ tojde.89562.
- Ames, R., & Lau, S. (1982). An attributional analysis of help-seeking in academic settings. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 414-423.
- Anderson, N. J. (2002). The role of metacognition in second language teaching and learning. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
- Andrade, M.S., & Bunker, E. (2009). A model for self-regulated distance language learning, Distance Education Melbourne, 30(1), 47-62.
- Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Barnard-Brak, L., Paton, V., & Lan, W. (2010). Profiles in self-regulated learning in the online learning environment. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 11(1), 61-80. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v11i1.769.
- Boekaerts, M. (1999). Motivated learning: Studying student situation transactional units. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 14(1), 41-55. https://doi: 10.1007/bf03173110.
- Boekaerts, M., Pintrich, P. R., & Zeider, M. (2005). Handbook of self-regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.