Assisted with innovative internet and computer techniques, we have launched a new game-based online formative assessment reform in GDUFS in recent years. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one of the central parts of online formative assessment and well-worth an in-depth study. But it is noted that some essential issues of formative assessment remain rarely touched yet, such as the relations among the four variables of SRL motivational strategies in the game-based blended formative assessment module. Given the above question mentioned, this paper reports a case study of SRL in an online blended formative assessment module in the context of non-English-major college English learning. The intent of the present research is to exemplify how SRL, an active area in educational psychology, can help to illustrate and understand the mechanism and correlations of the variables of SRL motivational strategies in the online formative assessment environment.
Emerging since 1980s, self-regulated learning (SRL) and formative assessment have been relatively new and heated topics in the fields of learning strategy and assessment (Li, 2012) [
Given the above question mentioned, this paper reports a case study of SRL within a game-based online blended formative assessment module (educational online game of credit coins) in the context of non-English-major college English instruction in GDUFS. Assisted with innovative internet and computer techniques, we have launched a new game-based online formative assessment reform in GDUFS in recent years. But we are still striving for some cogent empirical evidence to show that all this investment in the digital formative assessment has led to improved educational outcomes and more equal opportunities. The major research question is: what are the relations among the four variables of SRL motivational strategies in this game-based blended formative assessment module? The intent of the present research is to exemplify how SRL, an active area in educational psychology, can help to illustrate and understand the mechanism and process of SRL in the online formative assessment environment.
In recent years game-based online learning has become a hotly discussed issue. Yang (2012) [
Self-regulation includes a series of sophisticated super-ordinate functions such as cognition, metacognition, problem-solving and motivation. Self-regulated learning (SRL), a key section in formative assessment module, is a sub-construct under the concept of self-regulation (Boekaerts & Corno, 2005) [
of their study. Thus, the concept of agency indicates that we need to investigate the two key elements of SRL―motivation and metacognition.
Metacognition refers to the study of people’s knowledge of their cognitive and memory processes, and how they apply the metacognitive knowledge in their information processing and behavior (Koriat, 2007) [
In consideration of the above mentioned, we designed a set of credit-coin game rules for the in-class and online blended formative assessment environment. The teachers assess the students’ learning performance and efforts in terms of credit coins recorded in the online platform. For instance, the student hand in homework as required will be awarded ten credit coins in his or her credit coin account in the online platform and the A level homework will get an extra award of 15 coins. Therefore, the amount of credit coins indicates the levels of his or her learning efforts and outcomes (
Given the above researches on SRL, we propose an analytical SRL model (
The participants (N = 358) were first-year non-English-major college students in a Cantonese university in the academic year of 2014-2015, the majors of whom include accountant, finance and business management. There were 107 male students and 257 females, who came from urban and rural areas throughout China. The survey statistics indicated that there was no significant differences in
the SRL motivational and metacognitive variables between the genders (p > 0.05). Those who took part in the game-based blended formative assessment module for one term accounted for 152 (three classes of students), while the number of those who participate in this educational reform module for two consecutive terms were 206 (five classes of students).
Based on the class observation and students’ feedback, an extensive online survey from sojump.com was designed and carried out among the eight classes of freshman students participated in the game-based blended formative assessment module in the academic year of 2014-2015. The survey was piloted on a sample of ten students and two teaching-research staffs. Then the survey was fine-tuned by deleting or modifying some items and wording. Three out of the eight classes of students joined this educational reform module for one term and the other five classes participated in this reform module for two terms. The survey was administered anonymously online twice separately at the end of each term of this academic year (i.e., December 2014 and June 2015).
The quantitative measurement in the present study can be grouped into three categories: the students’ self-report surveys, weekly length of time online on average and learning outcome (number of credit coins gained in the individual account in the online platform). The number of valid questionnaires collected was three hundred and fifty-eight. First, the 5-point Likert scale survey was developed on the basis of the MSLQ (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005 [
The present study uses SPSS Statistics 16 to analyze the data: Pearson correlates analysis was applied to examine the correlations among the four variables.
Firstly, the positive correlation between the strategic regulation of learning and the two variables (self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation), and that between intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, are moderate. Secondly, the positive correlation between strategic regulation of learning and extrinsic motivation, and that between extrinsic motivation and the two variables (self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation), are weak. Thirdly, as r > 0.70 among these four variables, multiple regression analysis can be employed to explore to what extent the SRL motivational variables predict the metacognitive variable (strategic regulation of learning).
It is shown that there is moderate positive correlation among self-efficacy, inner motivation and strategic regulation of learning in the context of formative assessment reform. Thus, we can improve the students’ self-efficacy level by promoting their inner motivation and strategic regulation of learning. The higher the students’ inner motivation and strategic regulation of learning are, the higher their self-efficacy will be. This is of practical implication for the formative assessment reformers and teachers at the tertiary level.
Weak positive correlation is found among the university students’ extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and strategic regulation of learning, which means that the variation in the extrinsic motivation level usually will not cause significant
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. self-efficacy | ||||
2. Intrinsic motivation | 0.58** | |||
3. Extrinsic motivation | 0.35** | 0.30** | ||
4. Strategic regulation of learning | 0.56** | 0.58** | 0.38** |
**p < 0.01.
change in these three SRL variables. Thus, the university students’ inner and extrinsic motivations have different functions in stimulating and maintaining their SRL behavior. The variation in university students’ innner motivation will often lead to the changes in their self-efficacy and strategic regulation of learning, while extrinsic motivation will not. In this sense, the extrinsic motivation has limited impact on SRL motivational strategies and learning outcomes at tertiary level. Therefore, for the formative assessment reformers and teachers, the key to improve learning outcome does not lie in stimulating university students’ extrinsic motivation but promoting their self-efficacy, inner motivation and strategic regulation of learning. For the formative assessment reform researchers, university students’ inner and extrinsic motivations should be investigated separately instead of mixing them up as one variable because these two functions differently in university students’ SRL behavior.
This research discovers that the students in this credit coin game of learning have significantly profited their English as foreign language learning. Self-efficacy, inner and extrinsic motivations have significant impact on strategic regulation of learning. Self-efficacy is the crucial variable for the SRL outcomes and regulation. Debriefing adopted in the game-based formative assessment module is an effective way to improve the students’ self-efficacy. More research should be done to explore some feasible ways to encourage autonomous self-regulated learners.
This paper was supported by a grant from Guangdong Department of Education.
Liang, L. and Yang, M.Z. (2017) Understanding Self-Regulated Learning within an EFL Online Formative Assessment Module. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 312-320. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.58026