Regulation of Motivation: Contextual and Social Aspects

Source: Teachers College Record, Volume 113 Number 2, 2011, p. 265-283

The purpose of this article is threefold.
1. To present a conceptual understanding of regulation of motivation highlighting three core facets. These aspects are knowledge of motivation, monitoring of motivation, and use of strategies to regulate motivation.
2. To review prior empirical work documenting the regulation of motivation across contexts. This work indicates that students at different developmental levels use motivational regulation strategies and that their use varies as a function of the academic task or context.
3. To discuss social influences on the development of regulation of motivation that include modeling, scaffolding, direct instruction, and sociocultural processes.

Research Design
This article is an analytic essay in which selected prior research is reviewed only briefly.

Overall, it is argued that motivational regulation is a critical aspect of self-regulated learning that must be studied more thoroughly.
Specific avenues for future studies are noted and include work that examines students' knowledge and monitoring of motivation, how regulation of motivation varies across contexts, and how instructional and social processes impact its development.