Developing a framework for the application of self-regulated learning (SRL) to classroom instruction

This paper presents progress to date on the development of a framework for examining teachers’ promotion of self-regulated learning (SRL). This work is part of the Teaching How to Learn (THtL) project, and has grappled with how to view teacher talk and actions through current theoretical and conceptual frameworks of SRL in order to develop a coding system that can be applied to transcripts of videoed lessons. The coding of lessons in such a way facilitates the systematic evaluation of SRL promotion in teacher practice, and is an important element of the professional learning modules developed within the THtL project, which aim to build teacher capacity to promote SRL.Our framework is informed by Harding et al.’s (2017) research which used developmental progressions to assess teacher and student SRL practices. Harding et al. found that teachers engaged in fewer SRL promotion activities and that students scored significantly lower on SRL skills, in Years 7 and 8 compared to Years 5 and 6. Similarly, classroom observation studies and the development of the Assessing How Teachers Enhance Self-Regulated Learning Scale by Dignath and colleagues (e.g., Dignath & Büttner, 2018) and our international collaboration have shaped our thinking. This paper outlines the process behind building the coding framework embedded in the SRL professional development modules. The SRL Teacher Promotion Framework codes teacher talk and actions in terms of the promotion of knowledge/beliefs about learning and learning strategies; whether that promotion is explicit or implicit; domain-general or -specific; and focuses on the type of SRL capability being promoted (i.e., cognition, metacognition, motivation, affect, or resource management). The framework is aimed at raising teachers’ awareness of the range of SRL capabilities that may be promoted as well as the importance of explicitly promoting knowledge about how learning works and the strategies that can foster SRL. A more detailed version of this framework has been developed for researchers to code lesson transcripts, and is being used in our ongoing observational studies of classroom teaching.