The differential impact of motivation on the self-regulated strategy use of high- and low-achieving college students

From a sample of 320 college students at a midsize (9,000 students) Southeastern university, 94 students were chosen to represent low-achieving students, and 49 were chosen to represent high-achieving students. Both of these groups were predominantly white and female. Lower achieving college students reported less self-regulated strategy use than their higher achieving peers; encouragement to use these strategies may improve their academic achievement. In addition, this self-regulated strategy use is more strongly related to a positive motivational orientation for these lower achieving students.