Influences of individual factors, instructional practices and social support on Chinese EFL learners' self-regulated reading

Abstract

Successful English as a foreign language (EFL) learners should be proficient in self-regulated learning (SRL); however, SRL-strategy use in EFL reading, particularly in an examination-intensive Confucius Heritage Culture where students lack self-control, is not well understood. An in-depth, comprehensive estimation of the contributions of an array of influencing factors to EFL readers’ SRL-strategy use is also lacking.

This study explored how Chinese high-school students used SRL strategies, i.e., cognitive, metacognitive and motivation-regulation strategies, in their EFL reading, and how individual factors (i.e., gender, grade, reading proficiency, and motivational beliefs), perceived instructional practices (i.e., instructional task, and study autonomy), and social support (i.e., academic and emotional support from teachers and peers) simultaneously and separately affected the strategy use. With a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, students in grades 11 and 12 (n = 1,113) completed an English reading comprehension test and a questionnaire regarding their strategy use, motivational beliefs, perceived SRL-based reading instruction by their English teacher, and social support from the English teacher and classmates. Some (n = 16) were randomly selected based on their types of SRL learners for follow-up semi-structured interviews to confirm and supplement the quantitative results.

Learners were found to use most SRL strategies with a moderate to high frequency, but used memorization and monitoring/self-evaluation strategies least frequently. Latent profile analysis identified three SRL profiles (i.e., types of SRL learners), characterized by high, medium, and low levels of strategy use.

Next, the whole set of predictors (i.e., individual factors, instructional practices, and social support) collectively explained a significant portion of variance in each type of SRL strategies, with the individual factors (particularly motivational beliefs) accounting for the largest portion.

The combined results from variable-centered (i.e., multiple linear regression) and person-centered (i.e., latent profile analysis) approaches revealed that self-efficacy and extrinsic motivation most powerfully predicted students’ SRL strategies or their types of SRL learners; heterogeneity was observed in the associations between reading proficiency and students’ SRL-strategy use.

Regarding the classroom factors, students reported relatively high perceptions of instructional task, teacher and peer social support but moderate study autonomy. With gender, grade, and reading proficiency held constant, the positive associations between the four factors and each type of SRL strategies were mostly significant, which however, became less or not significant after entering the motivational constructs.

Mediation analysis further unraveled the motivational mechanisms of how the four classroom predictors affected SRL. Instructional task was found to exercise only a direct effect, while study autonomy impacted SRL only indirectly via the intrinsic task value. Several motivational pathways linked teacher social support and SRL, with a total medium to large-sized positive indirect effect. As for peer social support, a small positive indirect effect was detected through extrinsic task value and self-efficacy.

Contextualizing the investigation in Chinese high-stakes examination preparations enriched the nuances and intricacies of the “West-born” SRL theories. The findings could provide educators and practitioners with implications to tailor reading instruction based on students’ strategic patterns, and particularly strengthen teachers’ social-emotional skills to create an affective classroom.