Stimulating Elementary School Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Through High-Quality Interactions and Relationships: A Narrative Review

Abstract

One of the most important competencies to become a life-long learner is considered to be self-regulated learning (SRL). In this narrative review study, we describe research on the relationships between classroom- and dyad-level student-teacher interactions and the components of elementary students’ SRL. These components include metacognition and the regulation of cognition, motivation, behavior, and emotions. Three electronic databases were examined, which resulted in 30 studies that met our eligibility criteria. The results suggest that both well-organized and emotionally supportive classroom climates, in addition to high-quality instructional support, are associated with students’ metacognition. Results also show that associations between classroom-level interactions and the components of SRL that tap students’ behaviors and motivation are mixed. In contrast, at the dyad-level, higher quality teacher-student interactions were consistently found to be related to the motivational component of SRL. We also found a positive relationship with metacognition, but at the dyad level studies on the other components of SRL were hardly available. The review revealed a number of gaps in research on SRL, such as the paucity of studies on the regulation of cognitions and emotions, the overreliance on self-reports in the measurement of SRL, and the absence of cross-cultural research.