Abstract:

Autonomous learning is crucial in today’s society requiring individuals to constantly acquire new information and skills. The processes of learner autonomy are captured under umbrella term such as self-regulated learning (Russell et al. 2022). Self-regulatory capacities refer to personal achievements of goals related to the demands of the learning environment through goal setting, monitoring, strategy use, and self-evaluation (Boekaerts, 2002; Steffens, 2008). Self-regulated learning is considered a vital prerequisite of successful acquisition of knowledge, and of particular importance in sustaining lifelong learning (Baumert et al. 2000; Cassidy, 2011; Lenne et al., 2008; Steffens, 2008; Zeidner and Stoeger, 2019).

The development of self-regulatory learning skills in students is a priority for higher education (Beumert et al. 2000, Cassidy, 2011; Russell et al., 2022). University graduate are expected to become self-regulating, lifelong learners. Teaching to increase students’ participation in the learning process in university setting allows learners to apply knowledge and skills to a non-academic learning environments. Higher institution also benefits, as self-regulated learning offers a mechanism capable of representing student individual differences in learning and reflecting their individual needs (Cassidy, 2011). Numerous studies also have indicated that effective use of self-regulated learning strategies can promote the improvement in academic achievement (Beishuizen & Steffens, 2011; Zheng et al. 2018).

There is a need to examine learners’ practices, beliefs and experiences in order to fostering learner self-regulated learning. The aims of this study were twofold: first, explore the variables that support and hinder students’ self-regulated learning in their opinion; and second, to compare opinions of Japanese and Lithuanian students in order to gain more insights to improve intercultural competence enabling to teach the intercultural classes.

Learning is „situated“ in the learning context, such that the place in which knowledge acquisition occurs influences how learning is framed and employed (Ben-Eliyahu, 2019). Which context is more favorable for SRL? Students were asked to assess the applicability of SRL in different learning situations such as 1) online lectures, 2) face-to-face lectures, and 3) self study situations.
The questionnaire in this study included five 5-point Likert scale questions relating to self-regulated learning processes (with 1 indicating ‘not at all’ and 5 indicating ‘to a great extent’). It also included four open-ended questions - students were asked to write comments on their previous answers (e.g., “Please, motivate your choice”).

The finding echoes the consideration that university students are not adequately prepared for autonomy learning (Bjork et al., 2013; Colthorpe et al., 2018; Nugent et al., 2019, Russell et al., 2022). Self-regulated learning requires an ‘enabling environment’, including the physical setting, material resources and social interaction and positive support from teachers and peers (Cassidy, 2011). In addition, the data reveals that university students require educator‘s co-regulation to learn to self-regulate their learning. Aspects of self-regulation improve as a result of effective teaching and learning practices. Self-regulated learning can be improved through guidance, modelling and effective strategies.

Keywords:

Self-regulated learning, University students, Japanese, Lithuanian.