Teacher Perspectives on SRL Implementation and Reading Comprehension

Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) is widely recognised as an indispensable aspect of academic success and lifelong learning (Taranto & Buchanan, 2020). This has led to a notable upsurge in implementing SRL principles into formal education as early as primary school (Alvi & Gillies, 2020; Perry et al., 2018). Specifically, in literacy education, researchers have emphasised the close relationship between SRL processes and reading comprehension (Cirino et al., 2017; Kuzmina & Glazunova, 2021; Schaffner et al., 2021). However, the effective implementation of SRL in primary school classroom settings is an emerging area of research that has only begun in recent years. Exploring how teachers understand SRL implementation is crucial to inform curriculum design, pedagogy, and research in this area (De Smul et al., 2020; Harding et al., 2019; Peel, 2020). To this end, the research project presented in this thesis aimed to explore Grades 5 and 6 primary school teachers’ perspectives on effective SRL implementation, particularly in the context of reading comprehension. The study was conducted in a Catholic primary school in Victoria, Australia, using an integrated SRL approach to teaching and learning. Unstructured interviews were utilised to capture the participants’ perspectives. The principles of Classic Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) were employed to identify, conceptualise and analyse the participants’ understanding of effective SRL implementation and reading comprehension.

The findings indicated that the teachers in this study considered a combination of approaches to SRL-focused professional development (PD) as vital for developing the professional expertise necessary for successfully implementing SRL in Grades 5 and 6 classrooms. The study underscored the significance of SRL content knowledge, SRL pedagogical content knowledge, and knowledge of SRL performance for teachers to feel prepared and equipped to implement SRL effectively. The findings also highlighted the importance of building student readiness for SRL based on constructivist principles, such as students’ conceptual understanding of SRL, epistemological beliefs, and personal relevance to SRL. The study further provided insights into the role of reading-specific epistemological beliefs and social interactions in developing students’ SRL skills in the context of reading comprehension. Based on the research findings, a substantive conceptual model, the Lyceum Model, was formed, encapsulating effective SRL implementation and reading comprehension as perceived by teachers in Grades 5 and 6. This model offers a comprehensive philosophical platform and operational structure for SRL implementation and reading comprehension in the primary school sector.