The impact of self-regulation strategies on the learning process of young English learners

As the number of young English Learners in the California school system continues
 to rise, it is critical that educators stay current on the best strategies for helping these
 students successfully access curriculum. One aspect of helping English Learners achieve
 academic success is to guide them into becoming more aware of their own learning
 needs, an important and necessary step on the path to becoming an advocate for one’s
 own learning process. A method of helping students take that step is the teaching of
 strategies that lend themselves to self-regulation, a process of trial, error, and much
 reflection on one’s own thinking and learning needs.
 The primary purpose of this action research project was to explicitly teach selfregulation
 strategies to English Learners in a third-grade setting and examine any changes
 this made in both student work and how student work was approached. Another aim of
 the project was to see to what extent third grade English Learners would be able to demonstrate their thinking about their own learning process. As part of the action
 research project, students were explicitly taught an array of self-regulation strategies,
 given numerous opportunities to practice the strategies that most appealed to them, and
 then asked to demonstrate their thinking, in a variety of methods, about the strategies they
 trialed.
 Previous research done on self-regulation overwhelmingly shows a positive link
 between self-regulation and academic achievement. However, little research currently
 exists specifically on English Learners using self-regulation strategies, and even fewer
 studies focus on students as young as nine years old or so. While it is hoped that this
 project will add to the body of knowledge on this topic, it must also be stated that this
 research was conducted under a very specific set of circumstances that may not be
 applicable to situations outside the scope of this study.

As the number of young English Learners in the California school system continues to rise, it is critical that educators stay current on the best strategies for helping these students successfully access curriculum. One aspect of helping English Learners achieve academic success is to guide them into becoming more aware of their own learning needs, an important and necessary step on the path to becoming an advocate for one’s own learning process. A method of helping students take that step is the teaching of strategies that lend themselves to self-regulation, a process of trial, error, and much reflection on one’s own thinking and learning needs. The primary purpose of this action research project was to explicitly teach selfregulation strategies to English Learners in a third-grade setting and examine any changes this made in both student work and how student work was approached. Another aim of the project was to see to what extent third grade English Learners would be able to demonstrate their thinking about their own learning process. As part of the action research project, students were explicitly taught an array of self-regulation strategies, given numerous opportunities to practice the strategies that most appealed to them, and then asked to demonstrate their thinking, in a variety of methods, about the strategies they trialed. Previous research done on self-regulation overwhelmingly shows a positive link between self-regulation and academic achievement. However, little research currently exists specifically on English Learners using self-regulation strategies, and even fewer studies focus on students as young as nine years old or so. While it is hoped that this project will add to the body of knowledge on this topic, it must also be stated that this research was conducted under a very specific set of circumstances that may not be applicable to situations outside the scope of this study.