A Cross-Cultural Study of Relationships between Epistemological Beliefs and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Introduction.  Prior research consistently provides evidence supporting potential relationships between epistemological beliefs and learning. The current study examines the relationship between epistemological beliefs, academic motivation, and self-regulated learning strategies among different ethnic groups of American adolescents. Method.  This quantitative study utilized a correlational design to examine the relationship between epistemological beliefs and self-regulated learning strategies in adolescents attending middle school. A total of 364 middle school students (6th to 8th grade) from Southern California public middle schools participated in the study. A multiple group path model was employed to analyze the student data. Results.  We found that certain knowledge, omniscient authority, and innate ability beliefs about the nature of knowledge predict positive relationships with self-efficacy and intrinsic value components of motivation. Quick learning and simple knowledge beliefs predict negative relationships with self-efficacy and intrinsic-value but positive relationship with test-anxiety. Similarly, in the aspect of self-regulatory learning strategies, those who believe in the absolute nature of knowledge and the authorities tend to use cognitive and self-regulatory learning strategies more often, while those who believe in the speed of knowledge acquisition tend to employ those strategies less. Discussion and Conclusion. Findings from this study inform educators of the need to advance adolescents’ epistemological beliefs for each subject (e.g., science, language arts) as a method to facilitate their motivation and self-regulated learning. We recommend that future research should include assessments of the participants’ cultural orientations or the domain specificity of the epistemological beliefs, which may vary the associations of the beliefs with self-regulated learning. Additionally, future research can further investigate other potential mediators of the relationship between epistemological beliefs and self-regulatory learning.