Barry J. Zimmerman

CUNY Graduate Center | CUNY · Program in Educational Psychology

The effectiveness of an experimental program (EP) in modifying attitudes of principals, teachers, and teacher aides was investigated. Teachers participating in the EP displayed sizable and statistically significant differences in attitudes from those of conventional teachers. These differences reflected EP teachers’ adoption of the EP’s optimism an...

My career path to understanding the source and nature of human learning started with an interest in social processes, especially cognitive modeling, and has led to the exploration of self-regulatory processes. My investigation of these processes has prompted the development of several social cognitive models: a triadic model that synthesized covert...

The effects of modeling and corrective feedback on conceptual rule acquisition and retention was studied with three- and four-year-old children. Brief observation of a model was effective in creating significant acquisition and retention of conceptual rule judgments and explanations. Corrective feedback improved the child's ability to explain the c...

The primary purpose of this paper is to review relevant research related to the use of an assessment technique, called Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Microanalysis. This structured interview is grounded in social-cognitive theory and research and thus seeks to evaluate students' regulatory processes as they engage in well-defined academic or nonacad...

Educators have long been interested in understanding the variables or ­factors underlying student motivation and desire to engage in and regulate their academic behaviors. In this chapter, we delineate a social-cognitive theoretical framework of self-regulatory engagement that integrates a set of highly related yet distinctive constructs such as mo...

A classroom-based intervention study sought to help struggling learners respond to their academic grades in math as sources of self-regulated learning (SRL) rather than as indices of personal limitation. Technical college students (N = 496) in developmental (remedial) math or introductory college-level math courses were randomly assigned to receive...

The article evaluates the relationship between homework and self-regulation from the elementary grades to college. It reveals that quality measures of homework such as managing distractions, self-efficacy and perceived responsibility for learning, setting goals, self-reflection, managing time, and setting a place for homework completion are more ef...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-evaluative standards and graphed feedback on calibration accuracy and performance in mathematics. Specifically, we explored the influence of mastery learning standards as opposed to social comparison standards as well as of individual feedback as opposed to social comparison feedback. 90...

The issues that Winne found troubling about student failures to self-regulate effectively were considered from a social cognitive perspective. From this viewpoint, self-regulation involves more than metacognitive knowledge and skill, it involves an underlying sense of self-efficacy and personal agency and the motivational and behavioral processes t...

Differences in self-regulatory processes of fifty-one high school juniors who were high, average, or low achieving students in science were studied using a microanalytic methodology. It was hypothesized that high science achievers would engage in more subprocesses of Zimmerman's cyclical phase model of self-regulated learning (SRL), spend more time...

Several model asthma education programs are available to improve patient self-management, and elements of these models are discussed as they relate to the teaching role of health-care providers. Self-regulation is being explored in current asthma education research, and preliminary findings of a study are presented that show self-regulation behavio...

Teachers need to monitor students' self-efficacy judgments, as well as their mathematics learning, to provide optimal instruction. First, inaccuracies in self-judgments appear to be a major liability for elementary and middle school children. Classroom practice must cultivate the knowledge to succeed and should nurture the belief that one can succe...

The influence of homework experiences on students’ academic grades was studied with 223 college students. Students’ self-efficacy for learning and perceived responsibility beliefs were included as mediating variables in this research. The students’ homework influenced their achievement indirectly via these two self-regulatory beliefs as well as dir...

Federal efforts to improve American students' achievement through high-stakes testing have led to significant concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of standardized tests. We attribute these concerns to the use of summative tests to assess academic progress without the benefits of an effective formative model of assessment and instruction, s...

The topic of how students become self-regulated as learners has attracted researchers for decades. Initial attempts to measure self-regulated learning (SRL) using questionnaires and interviews were successful in demonstrating significant predictions of students’ academic outcomes. The present article describes the second wave of research, which has...

In this cross-national study, the authors compared mathematics self-efficacy beliefs of American (n = 107) and Taiwanese (n = 188) middle-school students for level and calibration (accuracy and bias). Taiwanese students surpassed Americans in math achievement. American students evidenced slightly higher self-efficacy levels for easy math items but...

We studied psychometric properties of the SELF with 223 college students. The SELF assesses students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their use of specific self-regulatory processes in various areas of academic functioning. To determine the validity of SELF scores, the following outcome measures were studied: perceived responsibility, homework quan...

According to Bandura's social cognitive theory, self-efficacy and self-regulation are key processes that affect students' learning and achievement. This article discusses students' reading and writing performances using Zimmerman's four-phase social cognitive model of the development of self-regulatory competence. Modeling is an effective means of...

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of graphing of self-recorded outcomes and self-evaluative standards on the acquisition of a motoric skill with 70 college students. It was postulated that students who were provided with graduated self-evaluative standards would surpass those who were provided with absolute standards or no standards...

Self-monitoring is an important component of self-regulated learning. Students need to be able to engage in self-monitoring in order to regulate their own learning, and faculty can help students learn how to self-monitor.

The additive effects of self-regulation training in forethought, performance, and self-reflection phase processes on acquiring a novel motoric skill (i.e., basketball free throws) and self-reflective beliefs were studied with 50 college students. The results showed a positive linear trend between the number of self-regulatory phases, in which the p...

The current study examined special education teachers' ratings of the usefulness of strategy microanalytic assessment (SMA) (i.e., self-regulation, strategy use) and standardized norm-referenced assessment information (SNRA) (i.e., cognitive and academic skills). Ninety-six participants separately rated the frequency with which SMA and SNRA are use...

In this chapter, the author reviews research on the development of personal expertise in diverse areas of functioning, such as music, writing, and sport, with particular attention to the role of self-regulatory processes and supportive self-motivational beliefs. Expertise involves self-regulating three personal elements: one's covert cognitive and...

In this commentary, we utilize a social cognitive view of self-regulation to analyze the computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) that are described in the various articles in this volume. Although these CBLEs are creative ways of engaging students' metacognitive processes, their impact on students' motivational beliefs and self-reactions has b...

The present study investigated the role of students’ homework practices in their self-efficacy beliefs regarding their use of specific learning processes (e.g., organizing, memorizing, concentrating, monitoring, etc.), perceptions of academic responsibility, and academic achievement. One hundred and seventy-nine girls from multi-ethnic, mixed socio...

Resumen Este artículo da un panorama general de la investigación de los constructos de autorregulación, autoeficacia y eficacia autorreguladora. Asimismo, examina como se han medido los mismos hasta la actualidad. También se describe el Inventario de Autoeficacia para el Aprendizaje (Self-Efficacy for Learning Form, SELF), una nueva escala diseñada...

A social cognitive perspective regarding acquisition of academic and athletic competence focuses on the role of learners' social and self-regulatory processes during extensive study and practice. In this chapter, we describe self-regulation, explain the origins and inertia of self-empowering cycles of learning on individuals' academic and athletic...

Recent studies show that prevalence of asthma is higher among adolescents than children. Adolescents have poor asthma self-management skills resulting in a significant increase in the severity of asthma exacerbations and a reduction in their quality of life. Despite this, few self-management programs have been developed for adolescents. Adolescents...

There is a growing body of research indicating that students who can self-regulate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral aspects of their academic functioning are more effective as learners. We studied relations between the self-regulation strategies used by a group of Italian students during the final years of high school and their subsequent ac...

This article describes a training program, Self-Regulation Empowerment Program (SREP), that school professionals can use to empower adolescent students to engage in more positive, self-motivating cycles of learning. It is a two-part approach whereby self-regulated learning coaches (SRC) (a) use microanalytic assessment procedures to assess students...

Solving a complex problem requires more than mere knowledge; it requires the motivation and personal resourcefulness to undertake the challenge and persist until a solution is reached. Classical theories of problem solving have emphasized the role of discovery or illumination as a primary motive to learn, but contemporary research has uncovered an...

Schunk and Zimmerman review how self-regulated learning processes are a result of self-generated thoughts and behaviors oriented toward the attainment of personal learning goals. Five major theoretical perspectives on self-regulated learning are reviewed, including operant theory, information processing theory, developmental theory, social construc...

This study examined individual differences in the ways students responded to a self-regulation learning training. It was predicted that students' motivational beliefs would be associated with at-risk college students' use of self-regulated learning strategies, homework completion, and academic performance. Participants were 58 college students in a...

The influences of modeling and social feedback on the acquisition of writing revision were studied with 72 college students. Students watching a coping female model gradually improving her writing technique on a sentence-combining task were hypothesized to surpass students observing a mastery model perform the technique flawlessly on a writing-skil...

Differences in self-regulatory processes of 30 college women who were volleyball Experts, Non-Experts, or Novices were studied regarding overhand serving skill during a practice episode. It was hypothesized that Experts would display better goals, planning, strategy use, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, attributions, and adaptation than either Non...

We hypothesized that an educational intervention based on a readiness model would lead to improved health outcomes among patients with asthma. Within a randomized control design in an urban Latino and African-American community we conducted an intensive three-month pediatric intervention. A Family Coordinator provided patient education based on a r...

Self-regulation consists of the metacognitive processes, behavioral skills, and associated motivational beliefs that underlie youths growing self-confidence and personal resourcefulness in acquiring the skills needed for adulthood. This chapter discusses the role of school organization in the attainment of self-regulation in terms of four levels of...

To evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating two self-regulation strategies (goal setting and self-monitoring) into a nutrition education class to enhance dietary fiber self-efficacy and foster a positive change in dietary fiber consumption. College students in an introductory nutrition class (n = 113) were randomly assigned to one of four treatm...

Basketball experts, non-experts, and novices were studied for differences in their self-regulatory forethought and self-reflection processes regarding their free-throw shooting. Forty-three adolescent boys participated individually in the study, which involved a practice session in a gymnasium. The subjects were queried regarding their forethought...

Publisher Summary There is considerable agreement about the importance of self-regulation to human survival. There is disagreement about how it can be analyzed and defined in a scientifically useful way. A social cognitive perspective differs markedly from theoretical traditions that seek to define self-regulation as a singular internal state, trai...

The influences of modeling and social feedback on acquisition of dart-throwing skill were studied with 60 high school girls. Girls who witnessed a coping female model gradually improving her dart-throwing technique were hypothesized to surpass girls who observed a mastery model perform the technique flawlessly on an array of measures that included...

The prevalence of asthma, lung self-efficacy beliefs, physical activities, and physical fitness of adolescent girls were studied in a private inner-city high school serving a multiethnic, middle-class population using a questionnaire, a test of physical fitness, and an activity log. Twenty-two percent of the 172 girls were diagnosed with asthma, an...

The treatment of asthma, according to current guidelines, requires complex treatment regimens that change as clinical conditions improve or deteriorate. We have developed a practical way to communicate long-term treatment plans in chart form in the primary care setting that is easy for patients to follow and use. The chart has been an important ele...

During the past two decades, self-efficacy has emerged as a highly effective predictor of students' motivation and learning. As a performance-based measure of perceived capability, self-efficacy differs conceptually and psychometrically from related motivational constructs, such as outcome expectations, self-concept, or locus of control. Researcher...

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Eighty-four high school girls practiced combining a series of kernel sentences into a single nonredundant sentence. The outcome goal focused on minimizing the number of words in the combined sentence, whereas process goal emphasized a 3-step method for combining kernel sentences. It was found that girls who shifted goals sequentially from process t...

Eighty-four high school girls practiced combining a series of kernel sentences into a single nonredundant sentence. The outcome goal focused on minimizing the number of words in the combined sentence, whereas process goal emphasized a 3-step method for combining kernel sentences. It was found that girls who shifted goals sequentially from process t...

This article tests a model of self-regulatory development in which families' cognitive beliefs and behavioral skills for managing asthma symptoms emerge in four successive phases: asthma symptom avoidance, asthma acceptance, asthma compliance, and asthma self-regulation. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the hypothesized multiphase model p...

This commentary focuses on five key aspects of students' efforts to self-regulate their learning: goal setting, strategy use, context adaptations, social processes, and self-monitoring. When considering the chapters in this issue collectively, it is clear that no single self-regulatory process can explain the complexity and variations in students'...

The effects of performance strategies, goal setting, and self-evaluative recording on the acquisition of a novel motoric skill were studied with 90 high school girls. It was hypothesized that greater acquisition would occur when (a) an analytic strategy was used instead of imaginal strategy, (b) practice goals were shifted dynamically during learni...

Although the topic of academic studying has been neglected historically, researchers interested in academic self-regulation have undertaken a program of research with important implications for understanding how academic studying can be optimized. In this article, I present a conceptualization of this topic in terms of 6 underlying dimensions that...

This chapter discusses the self-regulatory dimensions of academic learning and motivation. Educators have grown increasingly skeptical about explanations of learning and motivation that emphasize limitations of learners' abilities and social environmental backgrounds and have turned their attention to students' strategic efforts to manage their own...

This article reviews the social origins of students' development of self-regulatory skill with special emphasis on observational learning through modeling. A social cognitive perspective on self-regulation is presented. In this view, students' academic competence develops initially from social sources of academic skill and subsequently shifts to se...

Recent studies have shown that lack of continuing primary care for asthma is associated with increased levels of morbidity in low-income minority children. Although effective preventive therapy is available, many African-American and Latino children receive episodic treatment for asthma that does not follow current guidelines for care. To see if ac...

The effects of goal setting and self-monitoring during self-regulated practice on the acquisition of a complex motoric skill were studied with 90 high school girls. It was hypothesized that girls who shifted goals developmentally from process to outcome goals would surpass classmates who adhered to only process goals who, in turn, would exceed clas...

The effects of goal setting and self-monitoring during self-regulated practice on the acquisition of a complex motoric skill were studied with 90 high school girls. It was hypothesized that girls who shifted goals developmentally from process to outcome goals would surpass classmates who adhered to only process goals who, in turn, would exceed clas...

In their commentary, Graham and Harris (in press) raise a number of interesting caveats regarding the self-regulation of writing and make important recommendations regarding future instructional research on the topic. In this rejoinder, we respond to their caveats and recommendations by providing further explanation, identifying areas of agreement,...

Becoming an adept writer involves more than knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, it depends on high levels of personal regulation because writing activities are usually self-planned, self-initiated, and self-sustained. We present a social cognitive model of writing composed of three fundamental forms of self-regulation: environmental, behavioral, a...

How are children's social lives at school related to their motivation to achieve and how do motivational and social processes interact to explain children's adjustment at school? This volume, first published in 1990, features work by leading researchers in educational and developmental psychology and provides perspectives on how and why children te...

Discusses a program of research on students' self-regulation of their academic and health functioning from initial operational definitions to training and intervention studies. This body of evidence has shown that students' use of self-regulatory processes, such as learning strategies, goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-efficacy beliefs, predi...

The effects of goal setting and self-monitoring during self-regulated practice on the acquisition of a novel motoric skill were studied with 50 high school girls. It was hypothesized that process goals would improve not only the development of dart throwing skill more than product goals but also self-efficacy perceptions, self-reactions and intrins...

In this guide, we will illustrate how a self-regulatory learning cycle can be implemented to enable middle- and high-school students to develop 5 essential academic skills: (a) planning and using study time more effectively, (b) understanding and summarizing text material better, (c) improving methods of note taking, (d) anticipating and preparing...

Bandura's Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Self-Efficacy (MSPSE) were administered to three matched groups of adolescents. The first group met diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The second had been exposed to qualitatively and quantitatively similar stressors and did not meet criteria for PTSD (traumatized PTSD negatives). The third group consisted...

During the last several decades, conceptualizations of learning and development have evolved from simplistic disjunctive views originating with stage theorists, views that underestimated the role of learning in development. Taking the place of these views are contextualist views that stress the inherent interaction of personal development and socia...

The role of self-efficacy beliefs concerning the academic attainment and regulation of writing, academic goals, and self-standards on writing course achievement was studied with college freshman using path analysis. These self-regulatory variables were measured at the beginning of a writing course and related to final course grades. Students’ verba...

Self‐regulated learning, the processes and strategies that students use to initiate, direct, and monitor their learning, is receiving greater attention in the area of gifted education. A review of the available research indicates that gifted students spontaneously utilize self‐regulatory learning strategies more frequently in comparison to nongifte...

The causal role of students' self-efficacy beliefs and academic goals in self-motivated academic attainment was studied using path analysis procedures. Parental goal setting and students' self-efficacy and personal goals at the beginning of the semester served as predictors of students' final course grades in social studies. In addition, their grad...

Researchers interested in health-related learning have recently begun to study processes people use to self-regulate their health and their ability to prevent or control chronic disease. This paper represents a social cognitive view of self-regulation that involves three classes of influence on self-regulating behavior: personal, behavioral, and en...

For three decades, social cognitive researchers have studied children's development of self-regulation as an achievement of socialization processes. I recount historically the emergence of a social cognitive perspective on self-regulation and identify its unique features. Two essential characteristics of students' self-regulated academic learning h...

Forty-five boys and 45 girls of the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades from a school for the academically gifted and an identical number from regular schools were asked to describe their use of 14 self-regulated learning strategies and to estimate their verbal and mathematical efficacy. The groups of students from both schools included Whites, Blacks, Hispa...

This study examines differences in the academic achievement of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Central/South Americans, and the relationship of those differences to the time spent on homework, educational-occupational aspirations, and background. The following parental factors are examined: (1) the press for English; (2) the press for independence; (3)...

Educational researchers have begun recently to identify and study key processes through which students self-regulate their academic learning. In this overview, I present a general definition of self-regulated academic learning and identify the distinctive features of this capability for acquiring knowledge and skill. Drawing on subsequent articles...

Researchers interested in academic self-regulated learning have begun to study processes that students use to initiate and direct their efforts to acquire knowledge and skill. The social cognitive conception of self-regulated learning presented here involves a triadic analysis of component processes and an assumption of reciprocal causality among p...