Self-regulation serves as a comprehensive framework for understanding how students become active agents of their own learning process (Pape, Bell, & Yetkin, 2003). From a broad aspect, self-regulation is defined as the ability to “develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes which can be transferred from one learning context to another” (Boekaerts, 1999, p.446). It includes “self generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals” (Zimmerman, 2005, p.14). In this aspect, self-regulated learning refers to “an active, constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their learning goals and the contextual features in the environment” (Pintrich, 2005, p.453).

Self-regulation is a complex and multidimensional construct that involves a number of cognitive, motivational and behavioral aspects. The theory of self-regulation suggests that in order to better understand how students become active agents of their own learning process (Pape, Bell, & Yetkin, 2003), it is highly important to understand how a number of motivational factors relate to their self-regulatory behaviors and quality of academic engagements (Anderman & Maher, 1994; Greene & Miller, 1996; Elliot & Harackietwicz, 1996).

The main purpose of this study was to examine a number of cognitive, motivational, and contextual concepts in elementary mathematics education. In particular, it was intended to extend the empirical research by examining the interrelationships among students’ self-efficacy, perception of classroom goal structure, achievement goal orientation, use of learning strategies, and academic achievement in mathematics education. By examining these concepts, it was aimed to find out the factors that have strong influence on students’ mathematics learning, better understand how to maximize students’ motivation to learn mathematics, and promote more self-regulation in mathematics classrooms.

In addition, it was intended to extend the theoretical research by developing a structural model that might explain the direct and indirect relationships among these concepts as well as their underlying dimensions. Specifically, it was intended to offer a comprehensive model in the field of self-regulation, which may give direction to future studies that will be conducted in this field. Although the current study was based on a sample in Turkish elementary schools, the findings may enrich educational research in general, and be relevant in other contexts both inside and outside Europe.

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