CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.3 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA
4.3.2 Theme 2: Knowledge and beliefs of how self-regulated learning is
4.3.2.2 Sub-theme 2: Self-regulated learning development in volitional or
4.3.2.2 Sub-theme 2: Self-regulated learning development in volitional or performance
The findings indicate that some of the participants do use different strategies to teach learners how to solve problems. These strategies include encouraging parents to explain to learners in their mother tongue (code-switching), classroom discussion, and breaking topics down or analysing the task requirements and priorities.
(ii) Time management
Time management is a key strategy in SRL. For learners to be successful with their academic work and become lifelong learners, they need to be taught how to manage their study and leisure time (Harding et al., 2018:9). The majority of the participants indicated that they assist learners in learning how to allocate time for different activities. Some of the participants stated that they help learners to plan their time constructing a timetable.
They must have the timetable that at this time for a certain period of time, then from there when they are studying… (P4S3, P5S1, P5S3)
I advise learners to prioritise their learning activities, to check, maybe to give them scope; they must make sure that they learn according to the importance, which one comes first, which one must follow, when they run out of time they must be in a better position (P1S3)
I normally tell them that the correct time to study should be after school, before they can go and play or watch TV (P3S2)
Most of the participants reported that they help learners to develop SRL through time allocation by drawing up a study timetable and advising them on what times to study and how to study by dividing the topics and allocating time to them. This corroborates the literature by Harding et al.
(2018:9), which mentions that learners who manage their time effectively by spending more time on studying and using their self-regulatory processes effectively will produce positive outcomes and achieve their goals.
(iii) Group work
Group work refers to a collaborative learning environment where students work through problems and assessments together (cf. Peng, 2019:1). Group work builds positive interdependence and accountability towards each learner’s own learning. Eight participants (P2S2, P5S1, P5S3, P3S4, P1S2, P1S1, P1S3, P5S2) revealed that they use group work as a strategy for scaffolding and to develop SRL.
As an English teacher, I use group or pair reading, you pair them, those who cannot read with those who can, it can also assist learners who are struggling because sometimes they do not understand you as a teacher, but if you group or pair them with learners who understand, they tend to understand better (P5S3).
I normally use group work because it helps the child because they gain confidence, and once the learner gain confidence they’ll love the subject (P5S1)
I think group work is working better for me, because learners don’t think alike.
Maybe one child can come with his/her own perspective of how things are done, will be much better, they should share ideas (P5S2)
I would say group working , reason being most of the children are not comfortable raising their hand or say they do not understand so if we put them in a group set up they will slowly learn to be independent (P1S2)
Some participants (P3 S2, P4S2, P2S3, P4S3) revealed that, despite their preference for group work, it also has some disadvantages:
Disadvantage of group work is that other learners rely on others to do everything for them (P4S2)
This strategy is preferred by most of the participants who reported being able to develop learners’
SRL skills. Schunk (2012:430) agrees in saying that teachers should be able to develop learners’
thinking and cognitive skills by exposing them to activities that encourage them to practise cooperative learning. Learners should be given an opportunity to express their views and display their capabilities so that learning can be meaningful and interesting in the classroom (cf Olesegun, 2015:67; Wong & Kerr, 2009:40; Bansode & Bantankar, 2016:56).
(iv) Self-observation of learning
Zimmerman (2002:14) maintains that self-observation is an important SRL skill. Self-observation is characterised by two key processes: self-monitoring (metacognition) and self-recording (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007:10).
The following are examples of how some participants use self-observation as a teaching strategy to develop SRL:
It motivates them to find out for them to learn, they’ll really be hungry for knowledge, to find out on their own on how they get to the answer. And I think it
opens a lot of worlds for them, the more they discover on their own the more they want to learn (P4S2)
I give learners chance as a teacher. Sometimes I am just going to keep quiet, give learners a chance to express what they know about the topic or do not know (P2S2) I give learners more homework and also give them projects, investigations where they will go and do some research to find information on their own (P1S3)
Participants revealed that they give learners an opportunity to explore and find things on their own and express their own views about the topic they are learning, which helps them to develop their SRL skills. Through self-observation, learners focus more on the content of the task so that they can gain a better understanding rather than focus on how long or short the task is. Schunk &
Zimmerman (2007:10) confirm this when they mention that observation is a stage where learners have fully gained their cognition, motivation and time management and learned to understand the learning context and how learning should take place.
(v) Help-seeking
Karabenick and Godina (2018: 237) (cited in Zimmerman, 2001) state that help-seeking is an important developmental skill; a form of behavioural or social self-regulation employed by cognitively, behaviourally, and emotionally engaged learners. Depending on the difficulty of the situations learners encounter in learning experiences, they seek help from their fellow learners or teachers to solve the problem and thus achieve their goals. The following are examples of how participants help primary school learners to develop their help-seeking skills:
…the ones that come and ask, I do help them. I also tell my learners to ask their parents to help them but should not write for them, they must help but parents should allow learners to write on their own and make mistakes of vocabulary but should help them to correct them because their vocabulary is limited, especially the Grade 4’s (P5S2)
..I tell them that they should group themselves, those who know the subject and those who are struggling should study together, I advise them when they struggle teachers are always there, they can ask other teachers even if it is those who are not teaching them, to assist them. Even at home, their sisters, aunts or anybody who understand the subject can help them (P5S3).
Hardey (2018:6) avers that it is very important for the teacher to know the strengths of each
from finding the given task overly difficult and becoming frustrated. Teachers are therefore encouraged to use modelling as a teaching strategy where learners observe a concept or topic being demonstrated. Modelling is an effective method especially for young children because they learn through observation (cf Saliso & Ransoma, 2014:55).
Some participants also revealed that the lack of infrastructure like libraries, laboratories and internet (Wi-Fi) at their schools limit the learners’ from and seeking help.
Sometimes maybe you refer them to go to the library they don’t have time to visit the library because of their surroundings, maybe the library is far from where the learner stays (P3S1)
The resources is a problem at our school, and they play a huge role in our learning, if I need to use internet at school to make some research a don’t have access to it (P3S2)
Most of the participants’ responses indicated that they help learners when they seek help. They encourage learners to ask people at home who have knowledge on the subject, like their parents, siblings, and neighbours. The participants also encourage learners to work together, share ideas (cf Woofolk, 2016:384; Schunk, 2012:428) and use other resources that are available such as laboratories, libraries, and the internet.
(vi) Environmental structuring
The following response reflects what the teachers do to structure learning environments that are conducive for the development of SRL.
It must be climate conducive to learning, it must be a positive place where learners can come to work towards a specific goal, the last one I can say the teacher should be positive, organised and confident all the time (P4S2, P2S3).
Most of the participants revealed the importance of their classrooms being fully equipped with teaching and learning resources. One participant in particular responded:
There must be charts on the wall; the classroom must have teaching and learning resources (P4S3)
The majority of the participants (P1S1, P2S1, P4S1, P5S1, P1S2, P2S2, P3S2, P4S2, P5S2, P1S3, P2S3, P3S3, P5S3) believed that an ideal classroom environment that will encourage learners to develop SRL must be rich in resources that will stimulate the learners’ minds and
encourage them to learn. The participants also mentioned that there must be classroom rules that instil discipline and responsibility among learners.
In the next section, the participants’ perspectives on how they develop SRL in the reflection phase are discussed.