TY - JOUR

T1 - Predicting undergraduate students’ learning from a lecture: The role of self-control, motivation, and mental effort.

AU - Owen, Robin

AU - Blanchfield, Anthony

AU - Gottwald, Vicky

PY - 2022/5/31

Y1 - 2022/5/31

N2 - For the first time, the present study investigated the combined role of selfcontrol, motivation, and mental effort in predicting undergraduate students’ learning from a two-hour presentation-format higher education lecture. The study comprised 62 students, in a final-year BSc undergraduate Sports Coaching lecture, who completed questionnaires measuring: state self-control during the lecture; mastery approach and performance avoidance motivation towards learning the course topic; mental effort invested during the lecture; and content retention immediately after the lecture (i.e., learning). Moderated mediation analyses revealed that greater levels of state self-control (W variable) were necessary for students to transform their motivation (X variable; mastery approach or performance avoidance) into mental effort (M variable) to benefit their learning (Y variable) during the lecture. Avenues for applied interventions to motivate students and increase their self-control resources within higher education environments are discussed.

AB - For the first time, the present study investigated the combined role of selfcontrol, motivation, and mental effort in predicting undergraduate students’ learning from a two-hour presentation-format higher education lecture. The study comprised 62 students, in a final-year BSc undergraduate Sports Coaching lecture, who completed questionnaires measuring: state self-control during the lecture; mastery approach and performance avoidance motivation towards learning the course topic; mental effort invested during the lecture; and content retention immediately after the lecture (i.e., learning). Moderated mediation analyses revealed that greater levels of state self-control (W variable) were necessary for students to transform their motivation (X variable; mastery approach or performance avoidance) into mental effort (M variable) to benefit their learning (Y variable) during the lecture. Avenues for applied interventions to motivate students and increase their self-control resources within higher education environments are discussed.

KW - Education

KW - Higher Education

KW - Lecture

KW - Motivation

KW - Ego-depletion

KW - Learning

KW - Self-control

KW - Teaching

U2 - https://doi.org/10.16922/wje.24.1.4

DO - https://doi.org/10.16922/wje.24.1.4

M3 - Article

VL - 24

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru/The Welsh Journal of Education

JF - Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru/The Welsh Journal of Education

SN - 0957-297X

IS - 1

M1 - 24

ER -