Social cognitive theorists propose that people often become increasingly self-regulating over time

Question

a. Explain what social cognitive theorists mean by the term self-regulation.
b. Identify an activity for which you would like students to become increasingly self-regulating. Then describe two specific strategies you might use to promote their self-regulation. Your strategies should be based on concepts and/or principles that social cognitive theorists provide.

Answer 1

Answers to the separate parts of the question are as follows:
a. Self-regulation is a process of setting standards and goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that enable one to meet those standards and goals. (Any description that reflects this general idea is acceptable.)
b. A student behavior that is appropriately self-regulated (study skills, independent seatwork, interpersonal conflict resolution, etc.) should be identified. Then, two concrete strategies should be described that reflect two or more of the following ideas:
• Provide opportunities for students to set their own goals (ideally, these goals should be challenging yet achievable).
• Teach strategies for keeping counterproductive emotions in check.
• Have students talk themselves through a task.
• Have students observe and record their own behavior.
• Have students evaluate their own performance; possibly compare students' self-evaluations to their teacher's evaluations.
• Teach students to reinforce themselves for successful performance.
• Give students opportunities to learn without teacher assistance