Self-Regulated Learning in Accounting: Diagnosis, Dimensions and Explanations

Abstract

This research analyzes self-regulated learning in Accounting students in two public universities, presenting diagnosis, dimensions and possible explanations, contextualized from the gender, age and stage in the course. The objectives of this paper include to: (a) identify the self-regulated learning strategies used by Accounting students in two public universities, (b) determine the dimensions associated with those strategies, and (c) analyze how these strategies could be explained on the basis of gender, age or stage (semester) of the students in the course. A sample consisting of 249 individuals revealed that gender and age are factors that influence the degree of self-regulation of a student. Women and younger students tend to have higher levels of self-regulated learning, however, in the stage analysis, the results did not show normal distribution, thus demonstrating the impossibility of realizing the increase or decrease of the degree of self-regulated learning among respondents. These results contribute to the practice of teaching accounting, as older students and those with a male gender should receive more special attention in relation to their development of self-regulated, independent and proactive learning.