THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS’ SELF-REGULATED LEARNING

Self-regulated learning refers to one’s skill and will to regulate own learning processes effectively in order to attain the targetted learning goals. This study aims to investigate the influence of psychological factors on primary school pupils’ self-regulated learning. The psychological factors examined in this study include self-efficacy, goal orientations (intrinsic and extrinsic) and beliefs about intelligence (entity and effort). Quantitative research method was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. The sample was made up of 639 Year 4 and 5 pupils from 10 primary schools located in the state of Penang. Cluster sampling technique was used to select the respondents for this study. The Motivated Strategies Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was used to measure the pupil’s skill in self regulated learning while their psychological factors were gauged through the Children’s Self-Efficacy Scale, Goal Orientation Scale and Beliefs of Intelligence Scale.These instruments have undergone adaptation prior to application in the local context. The Pearson-r Correlational Analysis and Stepwise Regression Analyses were used to analyse the research data. Coefficient values revealed that all the examined psychological factors have positive and significant relationships with selfregulated learning, except for entity beliefs of intelligence (r = .01, p 0.5). Intrinsic goal orientation (r = .52, p .01) yeilded a large strength assocation with self-regulated learning while self-efficacy recorded a moderate strength relationship (r = .39, p .01). Psycholgoical factors with significant but weak assocation with self-regulated learning were extrinsic goal orientation (r = .08, p .05) and effort beliefs of intelligence (r = .27, p .01). The results of Stepwise Regression Analysis show that the P3 Regresion Model (intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy and entity beliefs) contribute 31.3% (R^2 = .313) of the variance in self-regualted learning [F(3,583) = 88.559, p .05]. The influence of intrinsic goal orientation (β = .473, p .05) was most significant, followed by selfefficacy (β = .128, p .05) and entity beliefs (β = .081, p .05). This psychological model contributes in explaining and predicting primary school pupil’s self-regulated learning.This study suggests that individual psychological factors ought to be taken into account when promoting greater independent and self-regulated learning skills amongst students.