Self-Management: Enactment of Goals and Managing Sources

to learn something’ (2009, p. 34). All participants in the study showed that as self-sovereigned learner they have the capacity to manage and control both external and internal sources.

Izza: A good text book is always essential in learning a new language and it’s especially true when learning by myself. I went to look for textbooks in the library... I went through the first chapter.. ….Right away I knew that was not the book I needed.

Later a library recommended an old fashioned text book titled Suomea Suomeksi (see Appendix 4) that was first published in the 70’s, and it soon became my favorite book..

(Diary #11, 12.10.20).

Throughout her diary, Izza has been diligent in sharing the pictures of the materials she selects for learning Finnish. This includes the use of websites and sharing the links to describe how it suits her learning preference. As a self-directed learner, she manages own learning sources both internal and external in evaluating the appropriateness of the tool which could support her learning goals. However, managing one’s learning requires the use of metacognitive strategies through metacognitive beliefs. Izza seems to believe that there is a certain art in learning the Finnish language such as “having the right book and animated sources” (Email Interview #18), her expressed beliefs about the

consistency of effort through practice, and repetition, could be interpreted from her insistent quest for a good learning material which can be instrumental in sustaining her motivation. She continued:

That’s why I used this book regularly and studied half of the book by myself in a month.

Afterwards I also found the exercise book for it (sent a picture). The author of the book clearly points out that they used repetition as a way to practice until learners learn it by heart and became automatic. I still believe this school of traditional theory of learning acquisition works, at least for me. (Diary #11, 12.10.20)

In this excerpt, the result of enactment on Izza’s goals strengthened her beliefs that good resources are instrumental in achieving the learner’s goals. The success perceived from the decisions made and execution of the task affected her self-efficacy beliefs in the process. In self-managing of an SDL, the learner controls the (internal and external) tasks and shapes the contextual conditions.

Ella: Yesterday was my only rest day for the whole week, so I had the chance to went in a

"kirjasto" (library) near me. After that, I also took the opportunity to learn Finnish language by reading couple of children's book.

The pressure eat me up, when I realized that it is just a simple reading material for children but I can't understand the whole thing or even a single thought from it.

However, I still did my best to understand it, word by word, by phrase, by clause, sentence to sentence and finally ...Thanks to my google translate and dictionary app. (Diary #16, 23.11.20)

In this narrative, Ella initially went to the library for another purpose, which could be interpreted that the scenario mentioned was a result of affordance. At that time she was at a place conducive for learning. Her beliefs that interest interplays with engagement were acted upon in taking the opportunity to read text within her momentarily planned activity. Although she has mentioned in the previous section that she is ‘not a fan of book reading,’ it is important to note that beliefs are situated in context and fluctuate.

Learners’ beliefs can be influenced by other’s connected beliefs, such as belief about enjoyment in the pursuit of learning and sensitivity to natural learning opportunities. Hence, she initiated the reading activity and

unexpectedly experienced difficulty, during the task she entered. Between the moment of difficulty she was experiencing and the success of meaning-making, her volitional control strategy took over. In the process of internal feedback (i.e.

not comprehending the book) she redirected her effort in the face of difficulty and modified her strategies by reading word for word and using google translator.

Ella’s success in constructing meaning in this process provided her external feedback and reinforced her self-efficacy beliefs.

Ella: I feel delighted that I was actually able to concentrated on what I am doing there. My learning style in college is still effective for me, until now. I remembered that when I was still in college, it is my hobby to go to our university library...

....The best part of being in a library is that, I can see some people who are also trying to concentrate on what they are doing. Whenever I see these kind of people, I also want to be like them. I feel more eager to accomplished something (Diary #16, 23.11.20)

As described by previous researchers (Barcelos, 2003), beliefs can be residing in one’s inner thoughts, it could be developed from their previous learning

experiences. Consequently, it is important that to take into account one’s

learning history and cultural background. Ella’s self-efficacy beliefs were based on the vicarious experiences of others. Her explicit old strategy was used as a volitional control strategy for emotional distraction. After assessing her poor

concentration, she purposely directed her strategy (e.g. go to the library to concentrate) to maintain her goal (e.g. being productive, reading).