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learners reflect on their strategy use, they can refine their strategies and use them more effectively. The
self-regulated writer who gets a B on a composition can reflect on her strategy use; she notes that if she had
planned more extensively, her paper would have been better organized. She resolves to plan more
extensively in the future.
- They develop flexible control over strategies. Self-regulated learners have many different
strategies at their disposal, and they use the right strategies at the right time. When strategies need to be
used in a particular order, they use the strategies in the right order. They know when to use different
strategies in different situations. They know when strategies are useful and when they are not. An effective
self-regulated writer knows that generating ideas usually precedes trying to organize ideas, but that it is
often good to go back and generate some more ideas later on in the planning process. An effective self-
regulated reader summarizes the chapter she is reading before she goes back to check understanding of
some of the more important details. She also knows there is no need to summarize or elaborate on the novel
she is reading for fun, because she does not care if she remembers this novel or not. - They gain a disposition to use the strategies on their own outside of the classroom. The ultimate
goal of instruction to promote self-regulated learning is to promote transfer of strategy use to real-world
settings. Students must become disposed to actually use the strategies when it is useful to do so, without
needed prompting from others. If students know how to plan for writing but choose not to do so unless the
teacher prompts them to plan, then they are not disposed to use the strategies they have learned. In effective
instruction, students become convinced that the strategies they are learning are worth the time it takes to
use them because the strategies help them perform better.
In this chapter, we will examine eight features of effective instruction that promotes these
instructional goals. Then we will examine in detail two learning environments that incorporate these
features of effective instruction.
FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE STRATEGY INSTRUCTION
Strategy instruction is instruction that helps students learn to use strategies effectively and thus to
regulate their own learning and thinking. Effective strategy instruction is a critical component of successful
teaching. Highly successful schools and teachers strongly emphasize strategy instruction (Chinn, Duschl,
Duncan, Pluta, Buckland et al., 2008; Gaskins, Anderson, Pressley, Cunicelli, & al., 1993; Gaskins et al.,
1997; Langer, 2001; Pressley, Mohan, Raphael, & Fingeret, 2007; Pressley, Raphael, Gallagher, &
DiBella, 2004; Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995). Effective strategy instruction in classrooms can substantially
improve student learning and achievement (Davis, 2003; Graham, Harris, & Mason, 2005; Guthrie et al.,
2004; McNeill & Krajcik, 2008; Pressley & Harris, 2006). Therefore, it is important for teachers to
become skilled at providing effective strategy instruction to their students.
Educational researchers have found that effective methods of strategy instruction tend to share a
common set of features. In this chapter, we discuss eight features of effective strategy instruction. If you as
a teacher design learning environments that incorporate these features of effective strategy instruction, you
should be highly successful in helping your students become self-regulated learners.
- Multiple strategies are taught, and strategy instruction is embedded within instruction of content.
- Teachers explain what the strategy is, how to use it, why it is useful, and when it can be used.
- Teachers model use of the strategy, showing students how to use it.
- Students have many varied opportunities to practice using the strategy.
- Students make their thinking visible as they use the strategy, and they talk explicitly about strategy
use. - Students set goals and evaluate whether they have attained these goals.
- Teachers provide a variety of scaffolds and fade scaffolds over time.
- Teachers incorporate effective motivational techniques.
Multiple Strategies Embedded within Regular Instruction
As teachers plan their curriculum for the year, when should they teach strategies? There are two broad
approaches to answering this question (Pressley & Harris, 2006; Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995). One