Abstract

Although it has been variably defined theoretically and empirically (Boekaerts, Pintrich, & Zeidner, 2000), self-regulation at its core describes how individuals monitor and control their cognition, behavior, and motivation (Bandura, 1986; Pintrich, 2000). Yet, within the extensive literature pertaining to self-regulation, a paucity of direct evidence exists to establish whether the nature of monitoring and oversight (i.e., self-regulation) is a constant across academic domains or whether there are distinct differences in self-regulation reflective of inherent differences in the nature of domains or in the manner in which those domains are enacted within classroom settings. For instance, is the nature of self-regulation and the very act of self-regulating in history or reading different from the self-regulation that transpires in the domains of science or mathematics? Are there characteristics of different domains that would engender varied expectations about self-regulation?