Dale Schunk

• University of North Carolina at Greensboro

This tribute celebrates the distinguished scholarship and extraordinary life of Dennis Michael McInerney, who passed away in Hong Kong on May 20th, 2022. It is a testimony of his impact on our professional and personal lives while highlighting the multitude and depth of his scholarly contributions. McInerney was one of those thinkers who invited us...

Social cognitive theory is a contemporary theory of learning that emphasizes learning from the social environment. The conceptual model of Bandura's social cognitive theory reflects reciprocal interactions between personal, behavioral, and social/environmental variables. The theory stresses the key roles played by vicarious, symbolic, and self-regu...

Academic self-efficacyAcademic self-efficacy is a dynamic motivational beliefMotivational beliefs that influences the goals we set, how hard we persist, and the amount of effort we employ. There is a great deal of research supporting the link between self-efficacy and student achievementStudent achievement yet educators grapple with finding ways to...

This chapter will discuss the roles of self-regulation and self-efficacy in students with learning disabilities. The guiding conceptual framework is based in social cognitive theory. In this theory, self-efficacy is a key motivational variable and self-regulation is a means for persons to develop a sense of agency, or the belief that they can exert...

Self-efficacy refers to perceived capabilities to learn or perform actions at designated levels. Theory and research support the idea that self-efficacy is an important motivational construct that can affect choices, effort, persistence, and achievement. Situated in Bandura's social cognitive theory, self-efficacy is a personal construct that affec...

Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activities are instigated and sustained. We do not directly observe motivation but rather its outcomes: selection of activities, effort, persistence, and achievement. Because motivation always involves goals, it is necessary to characterize one's level of motivation relative to those goals.

Study skills are strategies used to learn information. Strategies are applied to learning and remembering new knowledge and skills. Not only essential for obtaining good grades, these skills are also useful for lifelong learning. There are different types of study skills.

This experiment compared the effects of performance-contingent rewards and proximal goals on children's task motivation, self-efficacy, and skillful performance. Children deficient in division skills received division instruction and solved problems. Some children were offered rewards based on their actual performances (rewards only); others pursue...

This study determined how task strategies and attributions for success during mathematics learning influenced children's self-efficacy and skills. Children who lacked division skills received training and practiced solving problems. Children's use of effective task strategies was determined from recordings of their verbalizations while they solved...

This experiment investigated the effects of strategy self-verbalization on children’s self-efficacy and listening comprehension. Children with language deficiencies in grades two through four received instruction in listening comprehension. One-half of the children in each grade verbalized explicit strategies prior to applying them to questions. St...

In this article, we present a model for academic mentoring research that incorporates theory and research on self-regulated learning. Academic mentoring research has increased in recent years, and researchers have linked mentoring with positive outcomes for protégés and mentors. This research, however, has not investigated the process whereby mento...

Self-regulation (or self-regulated learning) refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and systematically adapted to affect a student's academic motivation and learning. This chapter discusses several interventions that were designed to affect students' motivations and self-regulated learning. This research focuses o...

Effective mentoring unfolds as a learning process over time. Four distinct phases of mentoring inform developmental mentoring relationships: initiation, cultivation, separation, and redefinition (as per Kram's [1985/1988] pioneering research). Each phase is discussed and enlivened with examples of what effective mentoring in education looks like in...

Student underachievement brought about by low academic motivation is a major factor contributing to school dropout. Motivation affects students’ engagement, or how their cognitions, behaviors, and affects are energized, directed, and sustained during academic activities. According to Bandura’s social cognitive theory, self-efficacy (perceived capab...

Social cognitive theory is a theory of psychological functioning that emphasizes learning from the social environment. This chapter focuses on Bandura's social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Persons use various vicarious, symbolic, and selfregulatory processes...

The focus of this commentary is the possibilities for learning communities in dropout prevention and their interventionist role in this problem. Educators are urged to develop advocacy for adolescents at risk of dropping out and failing to graduate. High school dropout has been described as a national epidemic, yet urban youth continue to be diseng...

In this discussion of professional learning communities (PLCs) in North American public schools, we examine three theoretical frames – leadership, organization, and culture. Issues related to learning are infused throughout our presentation of the frames. Based on our analysis of the current literature on this topic, PLCs offer a promising tool for...

Much research has been conducted on metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning, but the articles in this special issue make it clear that we still have many unanswered questions. Recommendations for research include providing clear definitions of processes, identifying relevant theories, ensuring that assessments clearly reflect pr...

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...

Paul R. Pintrich was a leading figure in the field of self-regulated learning. This article discusses some of Paul's major contributions: (a) formulating a conceptual framework for studying self-regulated learning comprising phases (forethought, planning, activation; monitoring; control; reaction, reflection) and areas for self-regulation (cognitio...

Recent years have witnessed increasing academic self-regulation research. Researchers have compared good with poor self-regulators to determine key processes; examined the relations among self-regulation, motivation, and learning; explored the development of self-regulatory skills; and conducted interventions to improve students' self-regulation. T...

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...

Perceived self-efficacy, or students' personal beliefs about their capabilities to learn or perform behaviors at designated levels, plays an important role in their motivation and learning. Self-efficacy is a key mechanism in social cognitive theory, which postulates that achievement depends on interactions between behaviors, personal factors, and...

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This chapter explains the historical perspective of self and self-belief in psychology and education. This chapter discusses that the belief that children create, develop, and hold to be true about themselves are vital forces in their success or failure in all endeavors, and of particular relevance to educators for their success or failure in schoo...

activities and avoid others, why they succeed in some academic pursuits and fail at others, or why they are filled with either anticipation or panic at the thought of doing this or that task, then researchers should quite carefully investigate the things and ways that students believe about themselves. As Jerome Bruner (1997) has argued, "if agency...

heir physiological reactions. Self-efficacy beliefs influence task choice, effort, persistence, resilience, and achievement (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Compared with students who doubt their learning capabilities, those who feel efficacious for learning or performing a task participate more readily, work harder, persist longer when they encounte...

Focuses on the development of one type of motivational process: perceived self-efficacy. It is noted that much research shows that self-efficacy influences academic motivation, learning, and achievement (F. Pajares, 1996; D. H. Schunk, 1995). The authors initially provide theoretical background information on self-efficacy to show its relation to o...

day. Psychology was redirected, attention was turned to observable stimuli and responses, and the inner life of the individual was labeled as beyond the scope of scientific psychology. Coinciding with the zenith of behavioristic influence came what is now often referred to as the "humanistic revolt" in psychology. Apprehensive about what they consi...

The field of motivation is beset with a lack of clear definition of motivational constructs and specification of their operation within larger theoretical frameworks. These problems have implications for interpretation of research results and applications to practice. The articles in this collection represent an important step in attaining greater...

This article describes a dynamic model of achievement in which social influences are internalized and used self-regulatively by learners. The conceptual focus is social cognitive theory with emphasis on triadic reciprocality and phases of self-regulatory development. Social (instructional) factors, self (personal) influences, and achievement outcom...

Two studies examined how goals and self-evaluation affect self-efficacy, achievement, and self-reported competence and use of self-regulatory strategies. Undergraduates (most of whom were women) worked on computer projects over 3 sessions. Students received a process goal of learning computer applications or a product goal of performing them. In Ex...

Two studies examined how goals and self-evaluation affect self-efficacy, achievement, and self-reported competence and use of self-regulatory strategies. Undergraduates (most of whom were women) worked on computer projects over 3 sessions. Students received a process goal of learning computer applications or a product goal of performing them. In Ex...

Byrnes and Fox present a thoughtful article on a neglected but important topic for educational psychologists. Some major contributions are their emphasis on the need for consistency in educational theory and neuroscience research, the lack of automatic correspondence between neuroscience research and educational applications, the need for educator...

This study examined the influence of learning goals and self-evaluation on college students' achievement outcomes during computer skill learning. The researchers hypothesized that providing students with learning goals would focus their efforts on the skills to be acquired, allow for assessment of learning progress, and enhance implementation of su...

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...

This study examined the effects of goals--such as denoting learning and performance outcomes--and self-evaluation on the acquisition of computer skills, efficacy in performing computer tasks, perception of competence for the use of self-regulatory strategies, and frequency of strategy use while learning computer skills. Subjects were 44 college stu...

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...

Two studies investigated how goals and self-evaluation affect motivation and achievement outcomes. In both studies, fourth-grade students received instruction and practice on fractions over sessions. Students worked under conditions involving either a goal of learning how to solve problems (learning goal) or a goal of merely solving them (performan...

This book provides the student with an understanding of theories and research on learning and related processes and demonstrates their application in educational contexts. The text is intended for graduate students in schools of education or related disciplines, as well as for advanced undergraduates interested in education. It is assumed that most...

It is a pleasure to comment on Dweck, Chiu, and Hong's target article. Like so many of Dweck's earlier works, this article makes a substantive contribution to the psychological literature on the role of self-perceptions in behavior. The article summarizes much research on the operation of implicit theories. The theoretical framework is well present...

Winne's (1995) thoughtful and proactive article stressed the role of metacognitive processes in self-regulated learning. Although metacognition and forms of knowledge are important, they provide an incomplete picture of the processes involved in self-regulation. Theoretical and empirical evidence support the inclusion of student perceptions and mot...

This article discusses the relation of self-efficacy to motivation and performance in cognitive and sport domains. Self-efficacy refers to one's beliefs about accomplishing a task and can influence choice of activities. effort, persistence. and achievement. People enter activities with varying levels of self-efficacy derived from prior experience,...

provides an overview of self-efficacy theory as it pertains to education / self-efficacy research is discussed here that is relevant to student learning, motivation, and achievement, along with some substantive issues discusses research on the effects of goal setting, information processing, models, feedback, and rewards, on self-efficacy for lea...

This experiment investigated the effects of strategy verbalization with fading and strategy value feedback on children's achievement outcomes. Children with reading-skill deficiencies received instruction on locating main ideas. Children were taught and verbalized a strategy; some faded the verbalizations to inner speech. Half of the children in th...

Two experiments investigated how goal setting and progress feedback affect self-efficacy and writing achievement. Children received writing strategy instruction and were given a process goal of learning the strategy, a product goal of writing paragraphs, or a general goal of working productively. Half of the process goal children periodically recei...

This study investigated the influence of goal setting and progress feedback on self‐efficacy and writing achievement. Children received writing strategy instruction over sessions and were given a goal of learning to use the strategy of writing paragraphs. Half of the strategy goal children periodically received feedback on their progress in strateg...

Two experiments investigated the effects of sources of strategy information on children's acquisition and transfer of reading outcomes and strategy use. Children with reading-skill deficiencies received comprehension instruction on main ideas. In Experiment 1, some students were taught a comprehension strategy, while others received strategy instru...

Academic motivation is discussed in terms of self-efficacy, an individual's judgments of his or her capabilities to perform given actions. After presenting an overview of self-efficacy theory, I contrast self-efficacy with related constructs (perceived control, outcome expectations, perceived value of outcomes, attributions, and self-concept) and d...

This article summarizes the research articles in this special section on motivation and efficacy. These articles stress the idea that motivation and efficacy are interacting mechanisms in views of educational achievement that include learner, social, and instructional variables. An initial sense of efficacy for performing well can motivate learners...

This study investigated the effects of goals and goal-progress feedback on children's reading comprehension self-efficacy and skill. Subjects, 30 lower-middle-class students from 2 fifth-grade classes in an elementary school who did not experience excessive decoding problems and who regularly received remedial reading instruction, were randomly ass...

This article focuses on the self-regulated learning processes of goal setting and perceived self-efficacy. Students enter learning activities with goals and self-efficacy for goal attainment. As learners work on tasks, they observe their own performances and evaluate their own goal progress. Self-efficacy and goal setting are affected by self-obser...

In this article self-efficacy research is reviewed in domains relevant to education. Research addressing cognitive skills, social skills, motor skills, and career choices has shown that self-efficacy is an important construct that helps to explain students' learning and performance of achievement-related behaviors. Research also has identified vari...

This experiment investigated how mastery and coping peer models influenced children's self efficacy and skill. An ethnically mixed sample of 120 fourth-grade children (60 boys, 60 girls, mean age = 9 years, 4 months) observed either one or three same-sex peers learn to solve fraction problems. Mastery models easily grasped fraction operations and v...

This experiment investigated the effects of goal setting on children's self-efficacy and reading comprehension. Remedial readers participated in a comprehension strategy instructional program on finding main ideas. Some subjects received a product goal of answering questions, others were given a process goal of learning to use the strategy, and sub...

This experiment investigated how mastery and coping peer models influenced children's self efficacy and skill. An ethnically mixed sample of 120 fourth-grade children (60 boys, 60 girls, mean age = 9 years, 4 months) observed either one or three same-sex peers learn to solve fraction problems. Mastery models easily grasped fraction operations and v...

We investigated self-modeling among children who had experienced arithmetic difficulties. In Experiment 1, some children observed peer models solve fraction problems. Others were videotaped while solving problems, after which they viewed their tapes. Observing self-model tapes raised achievement outcomes as well as viewing peer models; each treatme...

This article presents a self-efficacy model of achievement that comprises entry characteristics, self-efficacy for learning, task engagement variables, and efficacy cues. Students' sense of self-efficacy for learning is influenced as they work on tasks by cues that signal how well they are learning. Research is summarized on the effects of social a...

This book grew out of a series of symposia held at several annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association. . . . Our goal in organizing the book was to provide a forum in which comprehensive descriptions of self-regulated learning theories could be presented along with supporting evidence. This goal led to several decisions that...

Current theoretical accounts of learning view students as active seekers and processors of information (Bandura, 1986; Pintrich, Cross, Kozma, & McKeachie, 1986). Learners’ cognitions can influence the instigation, direction, and persistence of achievement-related behaviors (Brophy, 1983; Corno & Snow, 1986; Schunk, 1989; Weiner, 1985; Winne, 1985)...

A study investigated the effects of goal setting on children's self-efficacy and skillful performance during reading comprehension instruction. Subjects, 17 fourth graders and 16 fifth graders from one elementary school, had regularly received remedial reading comprehension instruction. Subjects were administered a pretest consisting of a self-effi...

Two experiments investigated how providing remedial readers with information that strategy use improves performance influenced their self-efficacy and comprehension skill. In both studies, children were given training on finding main ideas. Children in Experiment 1 received specific strategy value information, general strategy value information, sp...

This article critically reviews the research literature on peer modeling among children as a function of model attributes. Peer modeling is hypothesized to depend in part on perceived similarity between model and observer. Similarity serves as an important source of information for gauging behavioral appropriateness, formulating outcome expectation...

In two experiments, we investigated how attributes of peer models influenced achievement behaviors among children who had experienced difficulties learning mathematical skills in school. In Experiment 1, children ( M = 10.6 years) observed either a same- or opposite-sex peer model demonstrating rapid (mastery model) or gradual (coping model) acquis...

This paper reviews self-efficacy research with special emphasis on students in school. Bandura's emphasis on domain-specific assessment is useful for understanding student learning and fits well with current research on instructional processes. A self-efficacy model of student learning is presented, comprising entry characteristics, self-efficacy f...

This article discusses the idea that overt verbalization helps to develop children's self-regulated learning of cognitive skills. Verbalization can enhance children's attention to task-relevant features. As a type of rehearsal, verbalization may improve coding, storage, and retention of material, and thereby facilitate subsequent retrieval and use....

Investigated the effects of verbalization of subtraction with regrouping operations and effort-attributional feedback on the self-efficacy and skillful performance of 90 Ss (aged 11 yrs 2 mo to 16 yrs 2 mo) in Grades 6–8 who were classified as learning disabled in mathematics. Ss received training and solved problems over sessions. Ss in the 1st co...

This experiment investigated how the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback over an extended period influences children's reading comprehension, attributions, and self-efficacy. Children with comprehension deficiencies participated in a training program that included instruction and practice in identifying important ideas. One group...

This experiment tested the hypothesis that participation in goal setting enhances self-efficacy and skills. Subjects were sixth-grade children who previously had been classified as learning disabled in mathematics. Children received subtraction training that included instruction and practice opportunities over several sessions. Some children set pr...

Investigated how the self-efficacy and achievement of 72 children (aged 8 yrs 6 mo to 10 yrs 10 mo) were influenced by their observing peer models learn a cognitive skill. Within this context, the effects of modeled mastery and coping behaviors were explored. Ss were children who had experienced difficulties learning subtraction with regrouping ope...

This experiment explored how modeling the importance of task strategy use and positive achievement beliefs affected self-efficacy and skill acquisition. Students deficient in division skills participated in a training program that included instruction and practice opportunities. In the context of instruction, students observed a model demonstrate d...

This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for learni...

Determined how the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback influenced task motivation, attributions for success, self-efficacy, and skillful performance in 80 elementary school Ss (aged 8 yrs 2 mo to 10 yrs 5 mo) in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 40 Ss lacking subtraction skills received training and problem-solved over 4 sessions. During t...

This study explored the hypothesis that explicit performance feedback would moderate sex differences in performance expectations (self-efficacy) and attributions. Within this context, this study investigated whether achievement cognitions differed as a function of grade level. Male and female students in grades six and eight judged their self-effic...

This article examines the idea that perceived self‐efficacy is an important variable in understanding achievement behavior. Self‐efficacy refers to personal judgments of one's capability to organize and implement behaviors in specific situations. Students gain information about their level of self‐efficacy from self‐performances, vicarious experien...

Explored the effects of ability and effort attributional feedback given during subtraction competency development on 44 3rd graders' perceived self-efficacy and achievement. Ss who were deficient in subtraction skills received training on subtraction operations and engaged in problem solving, during which they periodically received ability-attribut...

Tested the hypothesis that rewards offered for performance attainments during competency development promote children's arithmetic skills and percepts of self-efficacy. 36 children (aged 8 yrs 9 mo to 11 yrs 5 mo) received didactic instruction in division operations and were offered rewards contingent on their actual performance, rewards for simply...

How social comparative information and specific, proximal goals influence children's skillful performance and percepts of self-efficacy in the context of arithmetic competency development was explored. Low-achieving children in arithmetic received instruction in division and practice opportunities. One group was provided with social comparative inf...

40 children (aged 7–10 yrs) who lacked subtraction skills received didactic training in subtraction operations with effort attributional feedback concerning past or future achievement or no feedback. Attributional feedback for past achievement led to more rapid progress in mastering subtraction operations, greater skill development, and higher perc...

Tested the hypothesis that self-motivation through proximal goal setting serves as an effective mechanism for cultivating competencies, self-percepts of efficacy, and intrinsic interest. 40 children (7.3–10.1 yrs of age) who exhibited gross deficits and disinterest in mathematical tasks pursued a program of self-directed learning under conditions i...

In our study „Polite responses to polite requests?, 1 we reported four experiments. In Experiment 1, people rated the politeness of 18 types of indirect requests, such as Could you tell me where Jordan Hall is? In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, other people rated the politeness of various responses to these requests, such as Yes, I can—it's down the stre...

56 children (mean age 9 yrs, 10 mo) showing low arithmetic achievement received either modeling of division operations or didactic instruction, followed by a practice period during which half of the Ss in each treatment received effort attribution for success and difficulty. Both treatments enhanced division persistence, accuracy, and perceived eff...

Goal setting is examined as an influence on student learning and self-evaluation. Goal setting results in increased motivation, on-task behavior, effort, and persistence and conveys information concerning individual performance capabilities and personal accomplishments. (JN)

Indirect requests vary in politeness; for example, Can you tell me where Jordan Hall is? is more polite than Shouldn't you tell me where Jordan Hall is? By one theory, the more the literal meaning of a request implies personal benefits for the listener, within reason, the more polite is the request. This prediction was confirmed in Experiment 1. Re...