Student-teachers’ self-efficacy for instructing self-regulated learning in the classroom

Abstract

While promotion of self-regulated learning (SRL) as an important educational innovation has elicited much interest in recent years, SRL researchers have paid relatively little attention to issues concerning the competence required for teachers to create self-regulated learning environments in the second language classroom particularly in the practicum context. This study, which involves student teachers who were carrying out one semester's practice teaching, aims to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs these student teachers embraced for implementing SRL in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. Two surveys investigating student teachers’ self-efficacy for instructing SRL in classrooms and their self-efficacy for self-regulating their studies in the university teacher training program were administered to 128 student teachers. Results of this study suggest that it is imperative for school-based mentors to scaffold student teachers to SRL principles and application of SRL strategies while they engage in practice teaching during the practicum. The study also highlights a pressing need to include instruction of SRL in the university teacher training curriculum to foster self-regulated approaches to teaching and learning.