Motivational Self-regulatory Strategies

The effect of motivational self-regulatory strategies on L2 learners’ achievement has scarcely been examined within the context of our country, Iran. This study is concerned with examining the relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategies and their L2 reading and L2 writing achievement. It also explores the relationship of motivational self-regulatory strategies and use of language learning strategies among EFL learners. The results of the study indicate that 1. There is a significantly positive relationship of EFL learners’ motivational self-regulatory strategies and both their L2reading and L2 writing achievement; 2. There is a significant and positive relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategies and use of language learning strategies among EFL learners. The results of the interviews are also clearly in line with those of the questionnaires. The findings of these study postulate that EFL teachers should enrich their learners’ motivational self-regulatory to help them sustain their efforts and motivation while performing L2 reading and writing tasks.

Self-regulation of learning has been extensively investigated in second language (L2) learning. Many studies have focused on the strategies that language learners employ to regulate their own learning processes. However, motivational self-regulation is considerably less explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategies (MSRSs) and academic achievement. A motivational self-regulation questionnaire was administered to 64 male and female adult Iranian EFL learners to measure their choice of various strategies. The quantitative data was analyzed by applying correlational and multivariate analyses. The results demonstrated that there was a strong relationship between motivational self-regulatory strategy use and academic achievement. However, no difference was found between male and female learners in their use of the strategies. Further examination revealed that higher-achieving students differed from lower-achieving participants in their preference for strategies. The article concludes that while all learners use extrinsic rewards to self-regulate their motivation, more successful learners tend to manipulate learning tasks to make the tasks intrinsically interesting and pleasant. Also, more successful learners set both long-term and short-term goals to motivate themselves. The results underscore the importance of students’ personal interests, needs and goals, and suggest that teachers foster learners’ command of the strategies through instruction and cooperative activities.