A Comparison of Motivational Beliefs and Self-regulating Learning Strategies among Normal and Probation Students

One of the major problems in educational systems is student's probation during their course of study. With regard to the importance of identifying factors affecting on the probation, this study was performed to determine the status of use self-regulating learning in normal and probation students of Islamic Azad University Sepidan Branch.
In order to achieve this goal, 268 students were selected that included 59 probation students (39 male, 20 female) and 209 normal students (129 male, 80 female). Data was gathered by two questionnaires including demographic characteristics questionnaire and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990). Independent sample t-tests were performed to identify the presence of significant differences in the scale scores at group level. The analyses of data showed that, normal students reported significantly higher scores for cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies compared to the probation group of students. The same group also reported higher scores for, motivational beliefs, which is more of a surface strategy. But, no significant difference was found among girls and boys in motivational components and self-regulated learning strategies.