Iranian Journal of Learning and Memory

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Peer Review Process

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Journal Metrics

FAQ

News

Related Links

Guide to Registration

Article Writing Guide

Manuscript Template

References Guideline

Forms

List of Reviewers in 2019

List of Reviewers in 2020

List of Reviewers in 2021

List of Reviewers in 2022

The Relationship between Executive Functions and Self-Regulated Academic Learning Regarding the Mediating Role of Metacognition and Working Memory among University Students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

2 Department of Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

Abstract

Today, education experts mostly aim to detect significant causal variables leading to students’ achievements in educational settings. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive functions and self-regulated academic learning regarding the mediating role of metacognition and working memory among university students. This research was a correlational study using structural equation modeling. The statistical population included of all students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in the academic year 2018-2019. A total of 351 students were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling. The research instrument included the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30), Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire, the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ), and the Test of Information Processing Skills (TIPS). The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed no significant and direct relationship between executive functions and self-regulated academic learning (P>0.05). However, there was a significant and direct relationship between executive functions with metacognition and working memory (p <0.01). Moreover, a significant relationship was observed between metacognition and working memory with academic self-regulated academic learning (p <0.01). In this regard, metacognition and working memory fully mediated the relationship between executive functions and self-regulated academic learning. The study findings provide university students and experts with an appropriate model since, as the theoretical foundations of the proposed model documented, academic achievement and well-being are mainly dependent on executive functions. Accordingly, metacognitive skills, including self-regulated academic learning, can be improved by promoting the executive functions among university students.

Keywords

References
Alvarez, J. A., & Emory, E. (2006). Executive function and the frontal lobes: a meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology Review, 16(1), 17-42.
Ardila, A., Surloff, C., & Mark, V. W. (2007). Dysexecutive syndromes. San Diego: Medlink Neurology, 116, 653-63.
Aziziyan, M., Asadzadeh, H., Alizadeh, H., Dortag, F., & Sadipour, E. (2017). Developing and implementing an educational package for training executive functions and its effectiveness on underachiever pupils' academic achievement. Biquarterly Journal of Cognitive Strategies in Learning, 5(8), 113-137.
Barkley, R. A. (2012). Barkley deficits in executive functioning scale – children and adolescents. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Boekaerts, M. (2011). Emotions, emotion regulation, and self-regulation of learning. Handbook of Self-regulation of Learning and Performance, 5, 408-425.
Borjalilu, S., Mojtahedzadeh, R., & Mohammadi, A. (2013). Exploring the validity, reliability and factor analysis of self-regulation scale for medical students. Journal of Medical Education and Development, 9(2), 25-35.
Busch, R. M., McBride, A., Glenn, C., & Vanderploeg, R. D. (2005). The components of executive functioning in traumatic brain injury. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 1022-1032.
Cho, H. J., Yough, M., & Levesque-Bristol, C. (2020). Relationships between beliefs about assessment and self-regulated learning in second language learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 99, 10-25.
Effeney, G., Carroll, A., & Bahr, N. (2013). Self-regulated learning: Key strategies and their sources in a sample of adolescent males. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 13, 58-74.
Fakhary Nejad, S., Mojtabaie, M., & Mirhashemi, M. (2019). Comparison of the effectiveness of yoga training with emotion regulation training on students' working memory and cognitive flexibility. Iranian journal of Learning and Memory, 2(7), 33-41.
Fisher, N., & Happe, F. (2005). A training study of theory of mind and executive function in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35(6), 757-771.
Follmer, D. J., & Sperling, R. A. (2016). The mediating role of metacognition in the relationship between executive function and self-regulated learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(4), 559-575.
Fuhs, M. W., Nesbitt, K. T., Farran, D. C., & Dong, N. (2014). Longitudinal associations between executive functioning and academic skills across content areas. Developmental Psychology, 50(6), 1698.
Garner, J. K. (2009). Conceptualizing the relations between executive functions and self-regulated learning. The Journal of Psychology, 143(4), 405-426.
Ghasemizad, A., Mohammadkhani, K., & Saadatrad, F. (2019). The mediating role of critical thinking in relation to higher education students' meta-cognition and self-efficacy. Iranian journal of Learning and Memory, 2(7), 7-15.
Hofmann, W., Friese, M., Schmeichel, B. J., & Baddeley, A. D. (2011). Working memory and self-regulation. Handbook of self-regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications, 2, 204-225.
Hofmann, W., Schmeichel, B. J., & Baddeley, A. D. (2012). Executive functions and self-regulation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(3), 174-180.
Hong, E., & O'Neil, H. F. (2001). Construct validation of a trait self-regulation model. International Journal of Psychology, 36(3), 186-194.
Jafarkhani, Z., Manzari Tavakoli, A., Manzari Tavakoli, H., Razavi, V. (2019). The mediating role of study habits in the relationship between the motivation of progress with self-regulation learning of students. Iranian Journal of Learning and Memory, 1(4), 33-38.
Klemm, S., Schmidt, B., Knappe, S., & Blanz, B. (2006). Impaired working speed and executive functions as frontal lobe dysfunctions in young first-degree relatives of schizophrenic patients. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 15(7), 400-408.
Kun, L. (2019). MOOC learners’ demographics, self-regulated learning strategy, perceived learning and satisfaction: A structural equation modeling approach. Computers & Education, 132, 16-30.
Magno, C. (2010). Assessing academic self-regulated learning among filipino college students: The factor structure and item fit. The international Journal of Educational and Psychology Assessment, 5(1), 61-76.
Meltzer, L., Pollica, L. S., & Barzillai, M. (2007). Executive function in the classroom. Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice, 165-193.
Musso, M. F., Boekaerts, M., Segers, M., & Cascallar, E. C. (2019). Individual differences in basic cognitive processes and self-regulated learning: their interaction effects on math performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 71, 58-70.
Nejati, V. (2013). Cognitive abilities questionnaire: Development and evaluation of psychometric properties. Advances in Cognitive Sciences, 15(2), 11-19.
Panadero, E. (2017). A review of self-regulated learning: Six models and four directions for research. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 422-444.
Riding, R.J. (2000). Information processing index. Birmingham: Learning and Training Technology.
Roebers, C. M. (2017). Executive function and metacognition: Towards a unifying framework of cognitive self-regulation. Developmental Review, 45, 31-51.
Saghafi, M., Esteki, M., & Ashayeri, H. (2012). Executive functions in students with nonverbal learning disorders and students with dyslexia. Journal of Exceptional Children, 12(2), 27-36.
Schmeichel, B. J., Volokhov, R. N., & Demaree, H. A. (2008). Working memory capacity and the self-regulation of emotional expression and experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), 1526-1540.
Shirinzadeh, S., Godarzi M. A., Rahimi, C. H., & Naziri, G. (2008). Factor structure, reliability and validity of The Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30). Journal of Psychology, 12(4), 445- 461.
Szoke, A., Schürhoff, F., Golmard, J. L., Alter, C., Roy, I., Méary, A., & Leboyer, M. (2006). Familial resemblance for executive functions in families of schizophrenic and bipolar patients. Psychiatry Research, 144(2-3), 131-138.
Wells, A., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2004). A short form of the metacognition’s questionnaire: properties of the MCQ-30. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42(4), 385-396.
Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1996). Modelling cognition in emotional disorder: The S-REF model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34(11), 881-888.
Zahmatkesh, Z., Hosseini-nasab, S., & Saadati Shamir, A. (2016). Examining the relationship between working memory and intelligence with female students` academic achievement in monolingual and bilingual high school of Tehran. Journal of Instruction and Evaluation, 8(32), 111-134.
Zimmerman, B. J., & Schunk, D. H. (2011). Handbook of self-regulation of learning and performance. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Iranian Journal of Learning and Memory
Volume 2, Issue 8
January 2020
Pages 73-82
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics