Running head: FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
Self-Regulated Learning and Latino Secondary Students: A Review of the Literature
David S. Chirinos
George Mason University
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
The purpose of this literature review is to examine a cross section of educational research
that has been: (a) conducted with largely Latino high school student populations and (b) has
examined at least one construct (e.g. self-efficacy, goal orientation, causal attribution, etc.)
associated with Zimmerman’s (2000; 2008) model of self-regulated learning. In doing so, this
review makes two central arguments in terms of its relevancy.
First, Latino students in the U.S. present educational researchers (as well as the public at
large) a challenging and expanding predicament: Latino students have consistently
underperformed in the area of academic attainment, as evident by numerous and long established
academic achievement gaps (US Department of Education, 2005), while at the same time, Latino
students currently account for 1 in 5 U.S. students, with this number estimated to steadily
increase over the coming decades (Fry & Gonzalez, 2008; Passel, Cohn, & Lopez, 2011). This
combination of low academic success rates and a large (and growing) populace highlight the
need for educational researchers to identify factors believed to facilitate academic success among
Latino students in order to make progress in reversing these negative academic trends.
Second, Zimmerman’s (2000; 2008) model for self-regulated learning provides a
largely validated theoretical framework (Schunk & Usher, 2013; Zimmerman, 2000; Zimmerman
& Kitsantas, 1997; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001) which identifies a number of processes and
practices believed to facilitate student learning and academic attainment. Students who utilize
self-regulatory processes tend to experience greater academic success and motivation, tend to
poses stronger academic skills, and tend to perform well across various types of academic tasks
(Cleary & Zimmerman, 2004; Paris & Paris, 2001; Schunk & Usher, 2013, Zimmerman &
Kitsantas, 2005; Zimmerman, 1990; Zimmerman, 2000).
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
As such, this review will consider educational research conducted with Latino student
populations from a self-regulated learning perspective—in the hopes of understanding how these
processes and constructs have been studied with Latino populations and what insights can be
gained from compiling their results. Self-regulated learning will first be defined, followed by a
review of the literature. Lastly, conclusions and implications from the review will be discussed.
Self-Regulated Learning (SRL)
According to Zimmerman (2000), self-regulated learning can be understood in terms of
processes and practices that occur in three cyclical phases—forethought, performance, and selfreflection phases (see Appendix A). Forethought processes prepare students to engage in a task.
These preparatory processes and beliefs fall into two categories: task analysis and sources of
self-motivation. Performance processes occur during task engagement and fall under two
categories: self-control methods and self-observation. Lastly, self-reflection processes occur after
the task is complete and includes processes of self-judgment and self-reactions to such
judgments.
In other words, as students learn to self-regulate their learning through strategic planning,
through context specific strategy use, and through metacognitive practices, students will begin to
experience success, thus increasing their academic motivation and academic self-efficacy. Once
students learn to attribute their success to such actions, they will be more likely to approach
future academic tasks in a similar fashion, increasing the likelihood that they will experience
further success, creating a self-reinforcing cyclical feedback loop.
SRL and Latino Student Populations
Research on self-regulated learning (as proposed by Zimmerman) with Latino student
populations is extremely limited—if existent at all. Numerous searches on databases such as
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Web of Science, APA PsycNet, and ERIC yielded no results for studies that have specifically
looked at Latino students and Zimmerman’s SRL model. As such, I then searched the above
mentioned databases in terms of SRL’s individual processes along with the key terms “Latino”
and “Hispanic” students. These various combinations served as the main key search terms for
this review (e.g. “goal setting” and “Latino students”, “self-efficacy” and “Hispanic students”,
etc.).
My initial intent was to focus on studies conducted only with Latino high school students.
I had to expand my parameters due to the dearth of articles that match that criteria. As such, I
had to broaden my search parameters in two ways. First, I included studies that examined Latino
middle school and college age students. Second, I included studies where Latino secondary
students were not the only group of students examined (e.g. studies that looked at multiple ethnic
groups in their sample). This second expansion of my search criteria was not ideal and serves as
a limitation of this review—but serves as a reminder of the lack of studies that have been
conducted exclusively with Latino student populations.
Another limitation of this review is that not all combinations of key term combinations
netted results. No relevant studies were found that examined performance phase or self-reflection
phase processes. This too is another indication of the lack of research that exists in this area.
Forethought Phase Processes
Self-Efficacy
Mena (2011) examined the relationship between home-based parental school
involvement, students’ school beliefs (including self-efficacy), and students’ intention to
complete high school. One hundred thirty seven (N = 137) Latino 9th grade students responded to
seven self-report scales that examined home-based parental involvement (encouragement,
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
monitor, support) and student school beliefs (attitude, self-efficacy, responsiveness, school
engagement-trouble), as well as their intention to complete their current ninth-grade school year
and high school. Prior to testing the model, factor analysis confirmed that the scales used
comprised of two latent constructs: student school beliefs and parental involvement.
Through structural equation modeling analysis, the study first conducted a direct effects
model that examined a direct path from parental involvement to intention to complete high
school. This model proved to be a poor fit. The mediating model, which hypothesized the effects
of parental involvement on students’ intention through students’ beliefs fit the data well.
Although self-efficacy served as only one of the four constructs/measures that was interpreted as
“student school beliefs”, this study provided evidence that self-efficacy serves an important
mediating role in the achievement of desired academic outcome (intentions to complete high
school) within Latino high school students.
Another important insight from these results were explained in terms of parental schoolbased and home-based involvement. Although lower SES Latino parents may not be as involved
in traditional school-based involvement (due to job constraints, transportation constraints,
language barriers, etc.), parents can still influence students’ beliefs about school (including selfefficacy) through encouragement, monitoring (of activities), and support.
Stevens, Olivarez, Lan, and Tallent-Runnels (2004) examined math self-efficacy,
motivation orientation, mathematics performance, and intentions to take additional math courses
with a population of three hundred fifty eight (N = 358) highs school students, 53% of which
were Latino students. More specifically, this study sought to test a model of personal qualities
(self-efficacy and motivation orientation) and variables related to math achievement (math
performance and intent to take additional math courses). Prior math achievement and ability
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were also considered in the full model. Differences between Latino and Caucasian students were
also investigated as part of this study.
Path analyses indicated that math self-efficacy predicted both intrinsic motivational
orientation and mathematic performance among Latino students. Self-efficacy, ability, and prior
math achievements accounted for 29% of the variance in the math performance of Latino
students. According to the authors, this finding provides important insights into the study of selfefficacy and intrinsic motivation as previous findings on these constructs have been largely
observed with Caucasian student populations. Knowing that Latino students and Caucasian
students both benefited academically from self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation helps provide
some cross-cultural validity to these constructs.
Lastly, when considering differences between Latino and Caucasian students in this
study, it was found that prior achievement was more strongly related to self-efficacy with Latino
students compared to Caucasian students, suggesting that Latino students place greater emphasis
on their mastery experiences when developing their self-efficacy. This finding also provides
insights (and future directions for research) in terms of Latino students’ self-efficacy
development and their need to experience greater success/mastery experiences, when compared
to Caucasian students.
Fan and Wolters (2014) examined the role of ability beliefs (self-efficacy), intrinsic
interest, and educational expectations on dropping out of high school. Although the study did not
exclusively focus on Latino students, 16% of the participants (N = 2591) were identified as
Latino students. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), a nationally
representative cohort of 10th grade students (N = 16,194), the study tested the mediating role
educational expectation in relation to academic motivation (ability beliefs and intrinsic interest)
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
and dropping out of high school. Base year data collected in 2002 examined students’ ability
beliefs (in math and English), intrinsic interest, and educational expectation (in terms of the
highest educational level they expected to complete). Enrollment status (which determined
whether students had dropped out) was then collected in 2004. Of the students 16,194 10th
graders surveyed in 2002, 5.5% had dropped out by 2004. Of interest, Latino and Black students
dropped out in higher proportions, with Latino students accounting for 21% of the students who
had dropped out.
Through structural equation modeling, three models were tested to examine direct effects:
ability beliefs to dropout status, intrinsic value to dropout status, and both ability and intrinsic
value beliefs (simultaneously) to dropout rates. Self-efficacy beliefs showed direct effects as
self-efficacy beliefs significantly predicted dropout status. Intrinsic interest beliefs did not show
direct effects. Indirect models (through educational expectation) were also examined with ability
beliefs positively predicting educational expectations. Intrinsic value beliefs also predicted
student educational expectations. Educational expectations were found to fully mediate selfefficacy beliefs and dropping out of high school. Mediation was not supported for intrinsic value.
Overall, this study provided insights into a number of constructs/processes found in the
forethought phase of self-regulated learning. Although the results were not examined per ethnic
group, the large (and nationally representative) sample offer insights as to the importance of selfefficacy beliefs and the mediating nature of outcome expectations. These finding are particularly
meaningful for Latino students as high school dropout rates continue to be an area of concern for
this population.
Byrnes (2003) examined ethnic differences in mathematics achievement (as measured by
NAEP) by considering the role of various predictive factors (parental educational levels,
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differences in home environment, access to equitable educational opportunities, etc.) in
understanding such differences in African-American, Caucasian, and Latino 12th grade students.
In doing so, the study reviewed six lines of thinking from the literature that have sought to
explain the differences in achievement between ethnicities: (a) unequal access to quality schools;
(b) within-school bias in the assignment of students to academic tracks; (c) ethnic differences in
elective coursework; (d) within-classroom disconnects between teacher and students; (e)
differences in home environment; and (d) differences due to ethnic differences in aptitude or
expertise.
While reviewing these various explanations, the author made the case that these lines of
thinking (or models) often failed to account for the other model’s explanations of ethnic
differences. As such, Byrnes proposed a combined model that sought to integrate aspects of the
various existent explanations. This combined model, labeled the 3C model, proposed three
conditions (exposure, motivation, skill level) to be met in order for students to achieve high
levels of academic proficiency. Although the model covers lots of ground, this review will focus
on the motivation condition as that condition is most relevant to the review’s topic at hand.
Using the 1992 NAEP math assessment, the author conducted a factor analysis on the
six items used by NAEP to measure students’ motivation and found the items to load on two
factors, ability beliefs (self-efficacy) and utility beliefs. Using regression analyses (which also
considered a number of factors from the other two dimensions of Byrne’s model) it was found
ability beliefs significantly predicted proficiency scores in this sample of 12th grade students (N
= 9,499), including 1,044 (N = 1,044) Latino students. Utility beliefs did not significantly predict
proficiency scores.
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
Although the scope of this paper was much larger than this review’s topic at hand, it
added valuable insights. For instance, the 3C model showed that motivational beliefs (added in
the third step after parental education and indices of exposure) accounted for an additional 6.6%
of the variance. In the fourth step, ethnicity was added to the equation and accounted for 4.5% of
the variance, indicating that motivational beliefs were a stronger predictor of math achievement
(within this model) than ethnicity. This is an important finding as self-efficacy beliefs, which is a
malleable factor, can be developed in students and thus provides an avenue for the improvement
of academic achievement, including with Latino students.
Chun and Dickson (2011) considered the issue of Latino academic underachievement by
making the case that theoretical models of effective academic interventions are needed within
educational research. By creating and testing models, the authors argued that more can be known
about possible factors that can help promote academic growth. Building on Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological systems model, a model of Latino academic performance was built that considered the
mediating effects of sense of school belonging and academic self-efficacy with parental
involvement and culturally responsive teaching.
Four hundred seventy eight (N = 478) Latino middle school students from a US-Mexico
border region answered self-report measures of parental involvement (5 items), perceptions of
culturally responsive teaching (21 items), sense of school belonging (18 items), and academic
self-efficacy (8 items). Academic performance was assessed through student self-report of grades
received at their most recent grading mark (English, math, and science). Through structural
equation modeling analysis, the study found indirect effects for parental involvement, culturally
responsive teaching, and sense of school belonging, while direct effects (on academic
achievement) were only found for academic self-efficacy. These findings were interpreted in a
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
couple different ways. First, the authors hypothesized that parental involvement, culturally
responsive teaching, and sense of school belonging all enhanced academic self-efficacy. Second,
the observed pathways of parental involvement/culturally responsive teaching/sense of school
belonging → academic self-efficacy → academic performance were interpreted as being
partially explained by the cultural value of collectivism as these factors can be seen in terms of
collective efforts (parents, teacher, peers) that resulted in increased academic confidence. Lastly,
the results were found to be consistent with the vast educational literature that documents the
importance of academic self-efficacy on academic attainment, lending support for the importance
of this construct for Latino students.
Gonzalez, Stein, and Huq (2012) examined the role of acculturation, ethnic identity and
perceptions of barriers on Latino students’ college-going self-efficacy beliefs. More specifically,
this study focused on 1st and 2nd generation immigrant students who lived in an emerging
immigrant community—defined as a location without a long established population of Latino
residents. These additional criteria were selected for two reasons. First, an emerging Latino
immigrant community is likely to have fewer role models of college-educated Latinos (which
relates to the social aspect of self-efficacy’s social-cognitive perspective) and emerging
communities are more likely to be less prepared/receptive to incoming immigrants, which creates
a number of barriers for incoming immigrants. Second, 1st and 2nd generation immigrant students
were selected as these students have to deal with issues of acculturation and ethnic identity
development, aspects whose influence on self-efficacy beliefs are not well understood.
One hundred seventy one (N = 171) Latino 7th - 10th grade students completed surveys
measuring students’ college-going self-efficacy beliefs, perceptions of barriers (economic
barriers, personal barriers, and resilience to barriers), ethnic identity (public regard and private
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regard), acculturation (Anglo orientation and Latino orientation), and demographics (gender, age,
educational aspirations, educational expectations, self-reported grades). Through correlational
and regression analyses, four variables (public regard, person-based barriers, economic barriers,
resilience to barriers) were found to significantly predict college-going self-efficacy beliefs.
Public regard (an aspect of ethnic identity) was described in terms of estimations of how
others (e.g. the community) view one’s ethnic group, with positive estimations/perceptions (by
the students) of how others viewed Latinos leading to a greater sense of self-efficacy. In terms of
barriers, both person-based (e.g. family problems, not feeling smart enough) and economic
barriers negatively predicted self-efficacy, with person-based barriers having a stronger negative
effect than economic barriers. Lastly, resilience to barriers (also measured by the barriers survey)
was significantly predictive of college-going self-efficacy beliefs.
Overall, these finding add to the knowledge of self-efficacy beliefs and Latino students
by identifying some understudied factors that can influence college-going self-efficacy beliefs.
Knowing that the way a student perceives their surrounding environment (in terms of it being
accepting of one’s culture) has the ability to effect self-efficacy is an important insight. Schools
wishing to improve Latino student achievement should make efforts to communicate approval
and acceptance of Latino culture—even if such approval goes against that community’s
sentiments towards Latino immigrants. Lastly, it can be argued that there is an upside to the
finding that personal barriers have a greater negative impact on college-going efficacy beliefs
than economic barriers as personal barriers may be easier to ameliorate than economic barriers.
For instance, self-regulated learning practices can help students overcome personal barriers such
not feeling smart enough. Ameliorating economic barriers would require many more resources,
most of which would be out of the hands of educational researchers.
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Academic Motivation
Kaufman, Agars, and Lopez-Wagner (2008) examined motivation orientation, personality
factors, and academic achievement among a sample of non-traditional students attending a
Hispanic-serving institution. Three hundred fifteen (N = 315) undergraduate freshman students
(27% Hispanic) completed survey measures which examined their motivation orientation
(intrinsic, extrinsic), personality dimensions (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
emotional stability, openness to experience), and demographic information (high school GPA
and parental education levels). Survey results were first regressed (step 1) with students’ first
quarter GPA (obtained from the university), then regressed (step 2) with all seven variables.
The complete model significantly accounted for 16% of the variance (an increase of 6%
over step 1) in the prediction of first quarter GPA scores. Out of the seven variables, intrinsic
motivation, extrinsic motivation, and conscientiousness were found to be significant predictors
of academic success. Although this study did not look exclusively at Latino students, some
insights can be gained in terms of the value of motivation orientation on academic achievement.
Of particular interest, the only personality trait (out of the “Big 5”) found to be significantly
predictive of academic success—conscientious—is the one trait that most resembles selfregulation .
Alfaro, Umaña-Taylor, and Bamaca (2006) examined the academic motivation of three
hundred twenty four (N = 324) Latino high school students from an ecological perspective. More
specifically, this study looked at how parents (mothers and fathers separately), teachers, peers,
generational status, and parent’s educational level influenced students’ academic motivation.
Path analyses were conducted separately for male (N = 154) and female (N = 156) students and
revealed gender similarities and differences in results. Overall, it was found that teacher
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academic support was significantly and positively related to students’ academic motivation,
fathers tended to have a greater influence on male students’ motivation, while mothers tended to
have a greater effect on female students’ motivation.
Although these findings do not have a direct bearing on the theme of this literature
review, this study raises a few notable points. First, the results lend support to the socialcognitive perspective espoused by Zimmerman’s model for self-regulated learning. Here we see
how social influences (or microsystem/ level influences in ecological terms) have the ability to
support academic motivation. This finding also lends support to Bandura’s (1986) third source of
self-efficacy (social persuasion) as some of the survey items assessed messages received by
others in terms affecting academic motivation. Lastly, these results may also provide cultural
insights in terms of gender and gender roles in the development of Latino students’ academic
motivation as female students only reported their mothers’ academic support to significantly
predict their motivation and vice-versa with boys only reporting their fathers’ academic support
to significantly predict their academic motivation. If this finding were to hold true across other
samples, then this could be an important finding as there is evidence that Latino fathers tend to
view the schooling of children as the “mother’s job”—which would negatively impact Latino
boys academic motivation (Valdes, 1996).
Using the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), Fan, Williams, and
Wolters (2012) examined the academic motivation and parental involvement of 12,721 10th
grade students, across four different ethnic groups (N = 1,698 African-American, N = 1,275
Asian, N = 7,829 Caucasian, N = 1,919 Hispanic). Academic motivation was defined by five
indicators including academic self-efficacy (in English and math), intrinsic motivation (in
English and math), and behavioral engagement. Parental involvement was defined in terms of
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five dimensions, including (1) parental educational aspiration, (2) parental advising, (3) parental
participation in school functions, (4) parent-school contact—student problems, and (5) parentschool contact—benign.
Through structural equation modeling, direct and indirect structural relations were
examined between academic motivation and parental involvement. The overall model proved to
be a good fit, indicating significant effects of parental involvement on students’ academic
motivation. Individually, effects of parental aspiration predicted academic self-efficacy across all
four groups for English. Parental aspiration also predicted math academic self-efficacy for all
groups except Asians. Parental aspiration predicted intrinsic motivation for English (for all
groups) but not math. Effects of parental advising mostly benefited Caucasian students with this
dimension only predicting English self-efficacy for Latino students.
Although the jest of this paper (parental involvement) falls mostly outside the focus of
this review, it does provide some important insights. According to the authors, this study
provided evidence that “ethnic differences exist with respect to how different dimensions of
parental involvement predicted students’ academic self-efficacy in mathematics and English,
intrinsic motivation toward mathematics and English, and engagement” (p.32). This insight was
then used to make the case that “a general understanding of the effects of parental involvement
on student school motivation that does not distinguish among ethnic groups is incomplete”
(p.32). This argument helps lend support to this reviews’ argument that a need exists to examine
self-regulatory processes with Latino populations as the potential for differences in how SRL
processes affects Latino students are likely present—and should thus be investigated.
Prospero, Russell, and Vohra-Gupta (2012) took a self-determination theory (SDT)
approach to examine the academic motivational patterns of 315 (N = 315) high school and
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undergraduate first generation students, 138 (N = 138) of which were Latino students. First
generation students were defined as students whose parents did not complete college. Although
SDT (intrinsic, extrinsic, amotivation) is not a construct compatible with Zimmerman’s model of
SRL, SDT’s intrinsic motivation does share some theoretical ground with SRL’s goal orientation
process in that intrinsic motivation is similar to mastery goal orientation.
Through correlational and multiple regression analyses, the study found that extrinsic
orientation and amotivation were significant predictors of GPA among the students. The study
also looked at age differences (in terms of development) between high school and college
students and found that younger students reported higher intrinsic motivation. Latino students
also scored significantly higher on intrinsic motivation compared to non-Hispanic students.
Overall, this study was not particularly helpful in expanding the focus of this review. I
included this study for two main reasons. First, given that the research on academic motivation
conducted with Latino populations is scarce, I had to broaden my parameters of acceptable
studies. Second, and perhaps most important, I included this study to highlight some of the
difficulties associated with SDT and to highlight some of the problems that occur when few
educational psychologists are addressing the subject of Latino students and motivational issues.
In terms of SDT, SDT has largely fallen out of favor within the educational psychology
literature. Some of the reasons why this theory has declined over time are exemplified by the
results in this study as amotivation significantly predicted GPA, while intrinsic motivation did
not predict GPA. Further, while the efforts of these researchers (with backgrounds in social
work) should be commended (especially given lack of research in this topic/population), I cannot
help but to think that educational psychologist researchers would not have a chosen SDT as their
theoretical framework, especially in a 2012 publication.
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Waxman, Huang, and Padron (1997) examined the academic motivation, academic
satisfaction, and academic aspirations of one hundred twenty (N = 120) Latino middle school
students from a resiliency framework/perspective. In making the case for this particular
approach, the authors raised some interesting points that are relevant to the topic of this literary
review. First, the authors decided to use academic resiliency as their theoretical framework in an
effort to shift the direction of research being conducted with Latino students away from focusing
on factors associated with their academic failures—and towards focusing on the factors
associated with their academic success. This shift in thinking displayed by the authors is similar
to SRL’s “thinking” in that SRL seeks to establish a model, or factors, that are believed to
enhance student academic attainment (i.e. what factors are associated with the success of
students).
Second, in making the case for educational resilience, the authors pointed out that they
viewed educational resilience as “not a fixed attribute of some students, but rather, as alterable
processes or mechanisms that can be developed and fostered in all students” (p.138). This
important point of view is in line with SRL’s perspective in that self-regulated learning can be
taught (and thus all students can become self-regulated) through the processes detailed in the
three phases of the model.
In terms of the study, 60 resilient and 60 non-resilient Latino middle school students
were compared in terms of academic motivation, academic aspirations, academic satisfaction,
academic self-concept, and a number of background characteristics (parent involvement,
attendance, first language spoken, etc.) Resilience was determined as follows: scored 75th
percentile or higher on a standardized math assessment over a two-year period and received A’s
or B’s in math over a two year period. Non-resilience was defined as scoring 25th percentile or
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lower and having received C’s, D’s, or F’s in math during the current year or B’s, C’s, D’s, or
F’s in the previous year.
Through Chi-square, ANOVA, and MANOVA analyses, significant differences were
found on academic motivation, academic aspiration, academic satisfaction, and academic selfconcept, all favoring resilient students. Of interests, no significant differences were found
between the groups on parental involvement and on whether English was the students’ first
language. Significant differences were found on school attendance and grade retention, both of
which were negatively higher in non-resilient students. Overall, this study contributed to this
literary review by demonstrating the positive relationship between academic motivation,
aspiration, and satisfaction, and academic resiliency—with a population of Latino middle school
students. Perhaps more importantly, this study also made the case for the need in understanding
the “processes” that underlie academic success, something which Zimmerman’s model has
shown to do (Schunk & Usher, 2013; Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1997; Zimmerman & Schunk,
2001).
Outcome Expectations
Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS: 2009), Andersen and Ward
(2014) examined the expectancies for success (in terms of math and science self-efficacy) and
subjective task value (utility, attainment value, intrinsic value, cost) of high ability students (top
10% in the math achievement test), in terms of their plans to persist in STEM. These
relationships were also examined terms of potential ethnic differences among African-American
(N = 242), Caucasian (N = 1047), and Latino (N = 469) students. It was hypothesized that
differences would be observed between the groups of students as African-American and Latino
students are underrepresented in STEM fields, underrepresented in gifted education programs,
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and likely face identity incompatibility with STEM occupations due to the limited amount of role
models and prominent historical (STEM) figures. The study also hypothesized that expectancies
for success and subjective task value would be significantly and positively related to plans to
persist in STEM.
Through logistic regression analysis (which controlled for SES, gender, and achievement
test score) a number of expected and unexpected results were found. SES, gender, and
achievement were not found to significantly predict persistence plans. In terms of expectancy for
success (math and science self-efficacy), neither efficacy belief significantly predicted
persistence plans across the three groups. From the subjective task value indicators, utility value,
attainment value, and intrinsic value, were significant predictors. Differences and similarities
were found across the ethnic groups. For Hispanic students, science attainment value and science
utility value were significant predictors for persistence plans. For African-American and
Caucasian students, only science attainment value was a significant predictor.
Overall, this study added a number of insights to the review’s topic at hand. First, this
study lends support to the notion that differences exists in key self-regulatory processes (e.g.
outcome expectations, intrinsic interest/value) in terms of ethnicity. As such, it is worthwhile to
examine the various SRL processes in terms of Latino student populations to see if differences
arise as to the predictive value of these processes with this particular population. The finding that
utility value was only predictive for Latino students also sheds light as to possible
recommendations for practice. If this finding were to hold true, then the communication of
STEM career utility value could be beneficial in increasing the number of Latino STEM
professionals. Lastly, the finding that self-efficacy did not predict intentions to persist is also an
interesting finding as it contradicts previous findings on intentions to persist in STEM. Perhaps
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self-efficacy is no longer a significant issue with students who are already high-achieving (top
10% in math achievement), thus a shift in focus to attainment value (in regards to instruction)
would be more beneficial for this group of students.
Discussion
Although the focus of this review netted a relatively small amount of empirical studies,
this review has helped me gather a number of important insights when considering research that
has examined the intersection between Latino secondary students and self-regulated learning. In
terms of the self-efficacy studies, the studies reviewed reaffirmed the importance of this
construct. For Mena (2011), Stevens et al. (2004), Fan and Wolters (2014), and Byrnes (2003),
their models were not able to significantly account for their outcome of interest (intention to
complete high school, math achievement, high school dropout status, NAEP math proficiency
scores) without self-efficacy. This is important in making the case that self-efficacy has crosscultural importance, including for Latino students.
Chun and Dickson (2011) also added to the understanding of self-efficacy and Latino
students by proposing that self-efficacy may be partly explained in terms of collectivism—
explained as parental involvement, culturally responsive teaching, and a sense of belonging. This
tentative explanation makes sense in that collectivism has been observed in Latino culture
(Halgunseth, Ispa, & Rudy, 2006; La Roche & Shriber, 2004; Valdes, 1996). This finding also
adds a further dimension through which self-efficacy can be considered in Latino students as
well as provides future directions for self-efficacy research. Of interest, both Mena (2011) and
Chun and Dickson (2011) considered the role of parental involvement (given the literature on the
importance of family in Latino culture) yet found that self-efficacy played a more important role
in that it mediated the paths of parental involvement to academic achievement.
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Steven et al. (2004) also provided important insights (perhaps the most important of this
review) to the study of self-efficacy and Latino students by showing that Bandura’s sources of
efficacy may behave differently in Latino and Caucasian students. It was interesting that
previous achievement (mastery experiences) was more strongly related to self-efficacy beliefs
for Latino students than for Caucasian students. Although this finding needs further
consideration, perhaps Latino students place more emphasis on mastery experiences due to their
minority status (e.g. they have fewer models of academically successful peers). If this finding
were to hold true, then more efforts could (and should be made) in providing Latino students
with mastery experiences.
Lastly, Gonzalez et al. (2012) added some important insights to the study of self-efficacy
and Latino students by examining a number of factors that can potentially affect college-going
self-efficacy beliefs. One of these factors, public ethnic regard (student’s perceptions of how the
community perceives Latinos) is particularly relevant in terms of current national attitudes
towards Latino immigrants. Negative attitudes towards Latino immigrants are currently at high
levels in many parts of the country (e.g. the Southeast, Southwest). Knowing that these negative
perception have the ability to lower Latino students’ academic self-efficacy could help school
officials do more to provide a positive environment (e.g. appreciation for Latino culture) in the
schools so as to help protect student’s academic self-efficacy.
When considering the studies that examined academic motivation, it is interesting that
none of them went beyond the intrinsic/extrinsic dimension of motivation. I find this interesting
as educational psychology has delved deeper into the study of motivation (e.g. the 2 x 2 model of
achievement goal orientation) yet none of the studies conducted with Latino students (that I
found) examined motivation past the intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy. If this gap in the literature
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FORETHOUGHT PROCESSES AND LATINO STUDENTS
truly exists, then it serves as further evidence that educational psychologist could do more in
investigating academic motivation with Latino student populations.
Alfaro et al.’s (2006) study on ecological influences (parents, student peers, teachers) on
Latino students’ academic motivation provided some important findings that merit further
investigation. If gender roles may be impacting student’s academic motivation (girls reported
that only their mother’s academic support predicted their academic motivation), then this area
should further investigated as gender roles tend to be prominent among Latino families,
especially among immigrant families (Ojeda, Navarro, & Morales, 2011).
Fan et al. (2012) also provided important insights in predicting school motivation in
Latino students. By documenting differences in how parental influences impacts student
motivation across ethnicities, this article provides support for the study of individual ethnicities
given that variables that affect motivation may behave differently for different groups of people.
Overall, the studies that looked at motivation and Latino students were not able to get at the goal
orientation dimension that is found in Zimmerman’s model of SRL, though they did shine some
light on how motivation has been considered with this population.
Lastly, Andersen and Ward’s (2014) study also support the notion that constructs such
attainment value, utility value and intrinsic value (outcome expectations) can behave differently
across ethnicities. As such, the study of Latino student populations, in terms of self-regulated
learning constructs appears to be an appropriate (and worthwhile) direction for future research.
Conclusion
Call to actions in improving and promoting Latino academic success are not new. Ten
years ago, a special issue of New Directions for Student Services, a quarterly monograph
devoted to issues in higher education, challenged higher education researchers to use their
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insights in considering aspects of the Latino student experience that could help institutions of
higher education better serve (and promote) Latino academic success (Ortiz, 2004). More
recently, Michelle Obama (2014) made a similar call to action at the 2014 League of United
Latin American Citizen (LULAC) National Convention by making the case that Latino
educational ambitions are not translating into degrees.
As educational psychologists, we too can do our part in promoting the success of Latino
students by using our insights and talents in investigating key educational psychology
constructs—those known to promote academic learning—within the context of Latino student
populations. Success is possible in advancing Latino academic attainment. According to the Pew
Research Center, 2014 is landmark year in Latino academic achievement as high school dropout
rates are at an all-time low (Fry, 2014). Although encouraging, much more can be done as Latino
students continue to disproportionally lead the nation in high school dropout rates while
continuing to lag far behind in the obtainment of bachelor’s degrees (Fry). The academic success
of Latino students will not help better the lives of millions of people, but will also this country as
a whole.
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27
Appendix A
Phase Structure and Processes of Self-Regulated Learning Theory (Zimmerman, 2008)
Forethought
Task Analysis
Goal setting
Strategic planning
Performance
Self-control
Self-instruction
Imagery
Attention focusing
Task strategies
Self-reflection
Self-judgment
Self-evaluation
Causal attribution
Self-motivation Beliefs
Self-efficacy
Outcome expectation
Intrinsic interest/value
Goal orientation
Self-observation
Self-recording
Metacognitive monitoring
Self-reaction
Self-satisfaction/affect
Adaptive/defensive