Using Self-Monitoring Techniques to Measure Progress Toward Learning Targets

This study investigates how teaching students to monitor their own progress on learning targets and set achievement goals impacts students’ perceptions of success as well as how it affects student assessment scores within an English-Language Arts class. The following research questions guided the study: How does teaching students to set achievement goals and to self-monitor progress towards learning targets impact students’ perception of their success in an English-Language Arts class? What happens to students’ assessment scores when students set achievement goals and self-monitor progress towards learning targets in an English-Language Arts class? The researcher used a quantitative methods approach that included the use of pre- and post-study survey questions and pre- and post-unit assessments to measure the impact of using the metacognitive techniques of self-monitoring performance and setting achievement goals. The participants in this study consisted of 62 students enrolled in 8th grade English- Language Arts classes at a 6-8 middle school in a city located in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The results indicate that involving students in monitoring their own progress on learning targets and setting goals does impact students’ perceptions of success in an English-Language Arts class. It was also discovered that this was one factor in improving students’ assessment scores. Future research that includes a variety of grade levels and subject areas, as well as a study that takes place within a longer period of time, are recommended.