Individual differences and learning : learning style, academic control beliefs and student self-evaluation as aspects of self-regulated learning

The thesis comprises a collection of ten published works in the field of individual differences and student learning in a, mainly, higher education context involving undergraduate student participants. The works revolve primarily around three principal conceptual areas, identified within the field on the grounds of being recognized mediators of learning and achievement - namely, learning style, academic control beliefs and student self-evaluation. Students' perceptions of themselves as learners, and their use of various processes to regulate their learning, have been identified as critical factors in the analyses of academic development and achievement. On the basis of this, the thesis presents a programme of work concerned with establishing a clearer understanding of the conceptualisation, measurement and pedagogical utility of learning style, academic control beliefs, student peer assessment and student self-assessment. It is argued that each of these constructs plays a major role in the development and practice of student self-regulated learning (SRL). SRL theory therefore provides the theoretical context which unifies and integrates the principal research areas addressed in the thesis. Accordingly, learning style, academic control beliefs and student self-evaluation are suggested as key component processes of SRL. The study of SRL is increasingly being identified as highly relevant to both research and practice-based pedagogy (e.g. Baumert et al., 2000; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001). It is therefore further suggested that the existing conceptual bases of SRL may represent the foundations for the development of a composite theory capable of characterising, and facilitating, translational modelling of much of the work involving individual differences in learning.