The Effectiveness of Self-Regulated Learning (Cognitive and Metacognitive) Strategies Training on the Components of Students' Self-Efficacy, Academic Motivation and Mental Health

In the last two decades, education experts have paid more attention to the categories of cognition and motivation. Cognition involves some mental abilities and actions such as knowledge, comprehension, recognition and thinking, and motivation is related to issues such as emotion, attitude and evaluation (1).
In this regard, motivation for academic achievement is one of the most important issues in the field of educational psychology and in this regard is considered as one of the most important predictors of academic performance. Research has shown the effect of cognitive processes and motivational variables as appropriate predictors of academic achievement as independent variables (1,2). One of the major variables that affect academic motivation is learning strategies. And one of the components of these learning strategies is the metacognitive strategy that is used in natural learning processes as self-regulatory learning (3). Another component that seems to be related to self-regulatory learning and academic achievement is self-efficacy. Which can affect almost everything, from mental states to behaviors and motivations (7).
In general, adolescence is a period of evolutionary cycle during which self-efficacy beliefs affect psychological outcomes. In this period, people face new challenges and how to cope and adapt to these challenges is partly influenced by the individual's self-efficacy beliefs (8).
Considering the above and the importance of self-efficacy and motivation in academic achievement on the one hand and the importance of controlling behaviors for academic achievement on the other hand, so unfortunately with the review of research conducted inside and outside the country, research on the subject was not found. For this reason, the researcher seeks to answer the question of whether the training of self-regulatory learning guides (cognitive and metacognitive) affects the components of self-efficacy, academic motivation and students' mental health or not?

The present study is experimental. To conduct this research, 46 first-year female students (second year) of Astara high schools who were studying in the 97-96 academic year were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method and randomly selected. The two groups (23 experimental and 23 control) were divided. Then the questionnaires of motivational beliefs and self-regulatory learning strategies (MSLQ), academic motivation (AMS) and general health (GHQ 28) to collect data in the pre-test by Subjects completed. Subjects in the experimental group were trained in self-regulated learning strategies for two sessions per week for eight 90-minute sessions and the control group did not receive any training. Finally, descriptive statistics and Shapirovillek test, paired t-test and independent t-test using SPSS software were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the mean scores of the experimental group in the post-test increased compared to the pre-test in the components of self-efficacy and academic motivation and decreased in the component of mental health (Table 1). On the other hand, it was found that there was a significant difference between the subjects in the experimental group who were trained in self-regulated learning strategies and the control group who did not receive any training in the variables of self-efficacy and academic motivation at the level of (p <5%). There is. But this difference is not seen in the mental health component. (Table 2).

The results indicate the effect of teaching cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies on the variables of self-efficacy and academic motivation, but this effect was not observed in the mental health variable. It is possible to create a greater sense of autonomy and self-efficacy by changing the conditions of teaching and learning so that students can play a more active role in their learning process. Therefore, it is suggested to consider self-regulatory strategies as part of educational interventions in order to make learners more efficient.
Another result of this study was increasing academic motivation in students who have benefited from the training of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. This result is also consistent with the findings of Poor Mohammad and Esmaeilpour (2015). They had high motivation and academic achievement (1).
Another result of the present study was that teaching learning strategies (cognitive and metacognitive) could not increase the mental health of students in the experimental group. This result is consistent with the findings of Tavakolizadeh (2011). He rejected the effect of teaching cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies on the mental health of second year middle school male students. The results showed that teaching learning strategies in the experimental group compared to the control group did not show a significant difference in terms of mental health status (19).