Marja Vauras

Self- and Social Regulation in Learning Contexts: An Integrative Perspective

This article outlines the rationale for an integrative perspective of self- and social regulation in learning contexts. The role of regulatory mechanisms in self- and social regulation models is examined, leading to the view that in real time collaborative learning, individuals and social entities should be conceptualized as self-regulating and coregulated systems at the same time. Living systems theory provides support for the claim that although all forms of regulation have an adaptive function, the distinct, regulatory processes occurring at different systemic levels (e.g. individual, social) are concurrent and interdependent. Challenges for future research from an integrative perspective are discussed.

Learning difficulties, social intelligence, and self–concept: Connections to bully–victim problems

Learning skills, social intelligence, and self-concept were related to each other and to bully-victim problems among fifth-grade children (79 boys and 62 girls, aged 11-12 years). In addition to exploring connections between single variables, a person-oriented approach was applied in order to analyze childrens value patterns with respect to learning skills, self-concept, and social intelligence, and how these value patterns are related to bully-victim problems. Social intelligence was found to be positively correlated with learning skills, but negatively related to victimization. Bullying was positively correlated with self-concept scores. However, this was true only of boys. According to cross-tabulations, there were significantly more bullies among children with learning difficulties (LD) than would have been expected by chance. Victimization, on the other hand, was not related to LD. LD childrens proposed victim status was in some degree supported by cluster analysis: a group of LD children emerged, who not only scored high on bullying, but also tended to be victimized by others. In addition, two groups of bullies appeared: one whose members could be interpreted as socially unskilled and another as socially skilled. This finding is in line with recent theoretical reasoning, which calls into question the idea of bullies as a unified group, lacking in social skills.

Multisource Assessment of Children's Social Competence

The Multisource Assessment of Social Competence Scale was developed, based on the School Social Behavior Scale and examined to test the factor pattern and the consistency of the ratings of self, peers, teachers, and parents. The findings of the confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-factor solution consistent with two main dimensions (prosocial and antisocial), each divided into two subdimensions (cooperating skills, empathy, impulsivity, and disruptiveness). The resultant model was cross-validated with a new sample. The fit indexes implied that the factor patterns were invariant for the two samples. The correlations between the four social agents were statistically significant, albeit quite low, indicating that the different sources tend to provide divergent pictures of a childs social competence. Statistically significant differences in social competence were found between educational settings and between genders.

The development of motivational orientations as a function of divergent reading careers from pre-school to the second grade

Abstract In this study, we examined the developmental relationship of childrens motivational orientations and reading skills from pre-school to the 2nd grade. Forty-eight children with differing word reading careers were identified from 115 pre-school non-readers. Pre-schoolers were assessed for cognitive–linguistic skills and motivational orientation (ratings on task-, ego-defensive, and social dependence orientation). The situational manifestations of orientations were observed during construction tasks comprising three pressure episodes. The motivational assessments were replicated (experimenter and teacher ratings) and decoding and reading comprehension tests were administered in the 1st and 2nd grades. On the basis of low, average and high pre-school phonemic awareness and word reading achievement in the 1st and 2nd grades, two regressive and two progressive word reading career groups were formed. The results showed that the regressive and the progressive reading career groups of matching initial phonemic awareness and verbal ability did not differ motivationally at pre-school age, but showed distinctive motivational orientation across contexts by the end of the second school year. A case analysis demonstrates the interactive formation of motivational orientation during reading instruction. These findings suggest that the developmental interaction of learning skills and motivational tendencies contribute to the differing reading careers.

Developmental Changes of Metacognitive Skill in Elementary School Children.

ABSTRACT. The authors investigated the development of metacognitive skill (MS) of 43 children from preschool to the 2nd grade (6-8 years of age) in a problem-solving situation. The childrens skill to direct, guide, and monitor their performance in a play-like problem-solving context was evaluated in 3 experimental groups of preschool children with high, average, or low metacognitive knowledge (MK). The development of MS was further compared with the development of general MK of the same children. The results showed that children with initially high MK had better MS in problem-solving tasks during the 1st 2 school years, whereas the self-guided behavior of children with lower MK resembled more the type of adult-dependent behavior typical of young children as late as the 2nd grade. However, there was no clear developmental relationship between MK and MS. A number of cases from the data are described to illustrate individual differences.

Predicting writing skill development with word recognition and preschool readiness skills

In this longitudinal study, the writing skill development of154 Finnish-speaking children was followed from preschool to thethird grade. The focus was on predictive associations betweenpreschool writing readiness skills and later mechanics ofwriting, as well as between word recognition skill, mechanics ofwriting, and composition coherence. In addition, comparisons weremade between boys and girls to see to what extent writing skilldevelopment is gender-specific. Multi-group structural equationmodeling was used for statistical analysis. The results indicatedthat both mechanics of writing and composition coherence could bepredicted from performance on the same skill at an earlier pointin time. Preschool measures of phonological and visual-motorskills predicted later mechanics of writing. Word recognitionworked as a predictor of later mechanics of writing andcomposition coherence, but only starting from second grade, whenthe development of the word recognition skill had becomestabilized at a high enough level. Furthermore, first grademechanics of writing predicted second grade compositioncoherence, but only at this early stage of productive writingwhen there were still difficulties in the mechanics of writing.Girls were better at tasks measuring mechanics of writing andwrote more coherent stories than boys. The gender difference inthe mechanics of writing at the first grade level was explainedby the presented model. Educational implications were discussed.

Who Benefits From Training in Linguistic Awareness in the First Grade, and What Components Show Training Effects?

Who among first graders benefit from training in linguistic awareness, and what components of the linguistic awareness are most amenable to training effects? At the beginning of Grade 1 prospective at-risk readers (26 out of 117) were identified on the basis of very low phonological awareness. In the autumn term, they received practice in linguistic awareness. When compared to controls individually matched controls on phonological awareness, listening comprehension, and WISC-R scores, the intervention group showed a more rapid building-up of phonological awareness, especially phoneme-blending ability, as well as superiority in word recognition, spelling, and listening comprehension, which were sustained until the end of Grade 1. Reading comprehension could not be compared because 8 of the 26 controls did not read fluently enough to be tested. The half of the control group with cognitive delays, receiving normal special education instruction, performed consistently worse than their matched pairs in the intervention group. The latter group showed development of phonological awareness, decoding, and spelling equal to that of the cognitively nearly average intervention group and their matched pairs in the control group, who received no additional support. These three groups, originally defined as at-risk readers, performed at the level of other preschool nonreaders at the end of Grade 1. In sum, the children with cognitive delays benefitted from training in linguistic awareness. The results underscore the importance of phoneme synthesis skills in beginning reading and spelling, at least with regular languages.

Scaffolding Interaction in Parent-Child Dyads: Multimodal Analysis of Parental Scaffolding with Task and Non-Task Oriented Children.

In this exploratory study we conceptualized and explored socio-cognitive, emotional and motivational regulatory processes displayed in scaffolding interaction between parents and their non-task and taskoriented children. Based on the dynamic systems view and findings from developmental research, we assumed that parents with non-task oriented and task-oriented children have formed differential multimodal interaction patterns which have been stabilized during repeated parent-child scaffolding episodes. We hypothesized that, in comparison with task-oriented parent-child dyads, parents with non-task oriented children would show more non-optimal patterns in socio-cognitive, motivational, and emotional realms of scaffolding regulation. The sample consisted of 11 task-oriented and 12 non-task oriented (extremely task-avoidant or socially dependent) 7-year-old children with their parents. The children worked on picture arrangement and brick construction tasks. The quality of parent-child regulation was assessed both by global rating scales and by a micro-analytic procedure focused on dyadic coordinations (e.g., parental intrusiveness, directiveness, modulation of emotions and expectations). Global ratings and micro-analyses did reveal group level differences in socio-emotional regulation but not in socio-cognitive and motivational regulation.RésuméDans la présente etude exploratoire, nous avons conceptualisé et examiné des processus régulateurs sociocognitifs, émotionnels et motivationnels intervenant dans l’étayage interactionniste parent-enfant avec ou sans la motivation intrinsèque envers la tâche. Sur la base des approches de systèmes dynamiques et des résultats de recherches antérieures, nous avons postulé que l’étayage parental chez les enfants avec la motivation envers la tâche a formé des modèles interactionnistes multidimensionnels différant de ceux sans la motivation envers la tâche. Ces modèles différents se seraient stabilisés lors d’épisodes répétés d’étavage parental. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que les parents qui ont des enfants sans la motivation envers la tâche auraient plus de modèles non optimaux en situation d’étayage liée aux processus régulateurs sociocognitifs, émotionnels et motivationnels, en comparaison aux situations dyadiques parent-enfant avec la motivation envers la tâche. Notre corpus consistait en 11 enfants avec la motivation et 12 enfants sans la motivation envers la tâche (ces derniers extrêmement évasifs ou socialement dépendants) âgés de sept ans et en leurs parents. Dans l’expérimentation, il s’agissait de leur proposer des tâches d’agencement d’images et d’un jeu de construction. La qualité de la régulation de l’interaction de tutelle parent-enfant a été mesurée par une échelle d’évaluation globale et par une étude microanalytique centrée sur des situations de coordination dyadiques (i.e., l’intrusion parentale, l’attitude directive, la modulation émotionnelle et les attentes). Il ressort des analyses, à l’échelle globale et microanalytique, que l’hypothèse des différences au niveau des groupes s’avére juste en ce qui concerne la situation de régulation émotion nelle mais pas celle de régulation sociocognitive et motivationnelle.

Metacognitive knowledge in primary grades: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to explore the development of metacognitive knowledge in primary grade children (6–9 years, n=196) from pre-school to third grade. Knowledge about cognitive processes was obtained from children’s oral explanations. The results indicated that the average metacognitive knowledge of the primary grade children developed significantly during the first three school years. The children knew much about simple factors and strategies influencing cognitive activities, but after the first three school years, more complex strategies still remained unfamiliar to them. Moreover, the content analyses of children’s oral explanations revealed interesting differences in children’s metacognitive thinking. There appeared to be two groups of children with either non-developing or developing explanations. In addition, the children understood mental processing better in memory and learning activities, whereas comprehension processes were largely unknown to them.RésuméL’objectif de cette étude longitudinale a été d’examiner le développement de la connaissance métacognitive chez 196 enfants scolarisés âgés de 6 à 9 ans (correspondant en Finlande aux grandes classes de la maternelle ou enseignement pré-scolaire et aux trois premières classes d’école primaire). On a obtenu les données sur les processus cognitifs des enfants à partir de leurs explications orales. Les résultats indiquent qu’en moyenne, la connaissance métacognitive de ces enfants s’est considérablement développée pendant les trois premières années de leur scolarité (de 7 à 9 ans). Les enfants connaissent en effet beaucoup sur des facteurs simples et des stratégies qui influencent les activités cognitives, mais après ces trois ans de scolarité, ils ne se familiarisent pas avec des stratégies plus complexes. En outre, l’analyse du contenu des explications orales des enfants montre des différences intéressantes quant à leur réflexion métacognitive. Deux groupes d’enfants se distinguent alors: L’un avec des explications en cours de développement et l’autre avec des explications demeurées inchangées. Enfin, les enfants comprennent mieux les processus mentaux quand ceux-ci sont liés aux activités de mémorisation et d’apprentissage, tandis que les processus de compréhension leur sont plus ou moins inconnus.

Motivational vulnerability as a challenge for educational interventions

Abstract The focus of this study was on the question, `Are there differences among young (third grade) students who are poor learners in their metacognitive (in)competence and motivational vulnerability that are crucial for better self-regulation?’ This question was studied in an intervention context, where an effort was made to mindfully implement teaching methods that have been found to be effective in promoting strategic learning. The subjects were reading comprehension (in environmental science) and mathematical problem solving. The results suggest there is a need for more coordinated, long-term analyses of transactional, strategy-focused instruction that (a) extends over a long period of time, (b) moves from innovative to more conventional settings as students’ cognitive and motivational competence increases, (c) is based on students’ own, personal and meaningful experiences and competencies, and (d) moves from individual to collaborative, shared and multiple transaction. There also is a need to train students in the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, emotional coping, and motivation strategies that promote self-regulation.