The Impact of Self-Regulated Instruction on Reading Comprehension and Willingness to Admit Wrongness in Face-to-Face vs. Online Classes

The emerging technologies and their applications in education necessitate attempts to establish and test theories that can affect the optimal benefit of student learning and teacher training. Self-regulated learning theory is one of the most influential theories that recognize the interconnections of different factors for optimal learning as an ongoing process. Therefore, this study attempted to probe the efficiency of self-regulated learning to develop learners’ reading comprehension and willingness to admit wrongness in an online learning context in addition to the face-to-face learning environment. To address this issue, a quasi-experimental design was utilized. The experimental groups were instructed to be self-regulated through receiving self-regulated learning strategies, while the control group received no self-regulated instructions. The statistical analysis of the paired sample t-test indicated that just the experimental groups exhibited significant improvement in being empowered with higher levels of reading comprehension and willingness to admit wrongness. Additionally, as the ANCOVA analysis showed, the online group had a better performance compared with the control and face-to-face group regarding reading comprehension skills. The findings tend to direct the attention of researchers, teachers, and course designers toward the importance of using self-regulation models as a possible way to move away from traditional teaching.