The effects of precision teaching and self-regulation learning on early multiplication fluency

Fluent recall of basic facts is essential to the development of more complex math skills. Therefore, failure to develop fluency with basic facts may impede the development of these skills. The present study used a between groups experimental design to investigate whether a basic facts fluency program, implemented within a self-regulated learner (SRL) framework, could lead to increased fluency with multiplication facts for Year 5 and Year 6 New Zealand students (9–10 years old). This study also investigated the extent to which the SRL program altered students’ basic facts practice behavior outside of school hours. The study found that the SRL program resulted in rapid fluency development that was maintained over time. Nomothetic and idiographic analysis confirmed that the program was suitable for use within Tier 1 of the response to intervention framework. In addition, the study also found that students who received the program altered their practice behavior outside school hours. The results from this study show how elements of self-regulated learning and precision teaching can be successfully combined to enhance students’ mathematics achievement

The Role of Teacher Regulatory Talk in Students’ Self-Regulation Development Across Cultures

This study is the first to explore the contribution of different types of teacher regulatory talk—directive, guiding, and autonomy supportive talk—in children's development of self‐regulation across cultures. Teacher‐to‐student talk was analyzed under naturalistic conditions in eight Year 4 classrooms, all situated in different primary schools in England (student N = 25) and Chile (N = 24). Self‐regulation was studied by observing students’ effective metacognitive monitoring (awareness of errors) and effective metacognitive control (effective control of problems) in a series of 11–13 cube assembly tasks. Mann–Whitney U tests showed that English participants demonstrated higher levels of effective metacognitive monitoring and control, and participating teachers a similar level of teacher regulatory talk across cultures. The function that regulatory talk had in predicting students’ self‐regulation, however, tended to vary according to culture. OLS multiple regressions revealed that while guiding talk had the same positive effect across cultures, directive talk had a negative effect in England but null effect in Chile, and autonomy supportive talk had a positive effect in Chile but negative in England. These results indicate that it would be valuable to explore further the culturally adaptive functionality of teacher talk for students’ self‐regulation development