The Effect of Self-Regulatory Strategies of Time Management and Effort Regulation on Learning English as a Foreign Language

Self-regulatory resource management strategies comprise a featured characteristic of successful language learners. The present study investigated the effect of two of these strategies including time management and effort regulation on learning English. The participants included two classes of second grade middle school students (n=64) who were selected from a school in Robat Karim based on convenient sampling and divided into control and experimental groups randomly. The study lasted for three months. Motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (Pintrich، 1991) as well as two language tests were used to measure learners’ resource management skills and language achievement، respectively. Data analysis showed no significant difference between control and experimental groups in their language post test scores، which shows that time management and effort regulation strategies had no significant effect on learners’ language learning in the experimental group. The potential role of some factors in language learning and academic achievement should be taken into account when interpreting the findings of the present study. These factors include schooling condition، English textbook content area، time of the study، the length of the study، socioeconomic status and identity of the learners، and cultural components of self-regulation.