Abstracts - Earli

O 601 September 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 2.54 NovobátzkySymposiumAcademic regulation and identity: Sociocultural perspectives andresearchChair: Erica Sainsbury, University of Sydney, AustraliaOrganiser: Richard Walker, University of Sydney, AustraliaDiscussant: Julianne Turner, University of Notre Dame, USAWhile self-regulation has mostly been theorised and researched from a social cognitiveperspective, self-regulation researchers have recently given greater consideration to thesociocultural context (Perry, Turner & Meyer, 2006) of their research. Concurrently, selfregulationresearchers have begun to consider the relationship between self-regulation and thelearner’s sense of identity (Paris, Byrnes & Paris, 2001). There is, however, little empiricalresearch into self-regulation from an explicitly sociocultural perspective and no research into therelationship between self-regulation and learner identity. This symposium aims to redress thissituation. The symposium consists of five papers which deal with self-regulation and identity todifferent degrees and from different sociocultural theoretical perspectives. A theoretical paperfocuses on sociocultural issues concerning self-regulation and identity and draws comparisonswith other motivational approaches. Three empirical papers examine the relationship between selfregulationand identity primarily from a sociocultural psychological perspective, while the otherempirical paper draws on both sociocultural psychological and sociocultural discourseperspectives. The symposium is theoretically and educationally significant because it presentstheory and research on this important issue.Sociocultural perspectives on academic regulation and identity: Theoretical issuesRichard Walker, University of Sydney, AustraliaWhile self-regulation has mostly been theorised and researched from a social cognitiveperspective, self-regulation researchers have recently given greater consideration to thesociocultural context (Perry, Turner & Meyer, 2006) of their research. Concurrently, selfregulationresearchers have begun to give some consideration to the relationship between selfregulationand the learner’s sense of identity (Paris, Byrnes & Paris, 2001). They have speculatedthat student self-regulated behaviour is motivated by the desire to be recognised according tospecific identities such as “a good student.” From a different theoretical perspective, Ryan & Deci(2003) have suggested that individuals acquire identities which, once adopted, play a significantrole in their self-regulatory activities. In recent years self-regulation has been considered from anexplicitly sociocultural perspective (Hickey & McCaslin, 2001) but the theoretical analysis hasbeen limited in scope. Identity formation has also received limited theorisation by socioculturalpsychologists (Penuel & Wertsch, 1995: Vadeboncoeur & Portes, 2002) but has been the subjectof more extensive work by sociocultural discourse theorists (eg Gee & Green 1998). This paperaims to examine and analyse, from a sociocultural perspective, theoretical issues of relevance toboth self-regulation and identity formation, as well as to the interrelationship between them. Thetheoretical analysis offered in the paper thus provides a framework for the issues raised by the– 782 –