Self-regulation in college composition: No writer left behind

Abstract

Four-year colleges and universities in the US have a lengthy history of educating traditional students from privileged backgrounds. Such students usually arrive on campus with behaviors, beliefs, and learning strategies designed to help them succeed in classes that depend upon lectures as the primary mode of instruction. As increased numbers of nontraditional students have gained admission to four-year schools, college instructors have struggled to accommodate the diverse learning styles of this burgeoning student population. Unlike traditional students, nontraditional students generally lack a large repertoire of effective behaviors, beliefs, and learning strategies needed to succeed in college. Poor learning practices mean less learning and less learning transferred across assignments and courses. Although college composition classes tend to provide student-centered instruction designed to facilitate learning, nontraditional students continue to struggle to learn. In response to the learning challenges and failures that nontraditional students encounter at college, some four-year schools have chosen to redirect these students to two-year colleges. This dissertation argues in favor of equipping nontraditional students at four-year schools with effective learning practices via instruction in student self-regulation and self-efficacy inside the college classroom.