DO CULTURALLY ROOTED SELF-CONSTRUALS AFFECT STUDENTS CONCEPTUALIZATION OF CONTROL OVER LEARNING

Research findings on student learning, motivation, and self-regulation may not generalize to classrooms in different cultures. Most research findings are culture bound, mainly because researchers did not system atically investigate cultural differences in the way students and teac hers think, feel, and behave. The vast majority of studies reviewed in this article draw attention to culturally rooted self-construals abou t technological devices and social conventions. An account is given of how these cultural differences in self-construals may operate in line with our present understanding of four key features of control over l earning: perceived competency, contingency, autonomy, and responsibili ty. It is suggested that knowledge of cultural differences in the valu es attached to action programs and social scripts may reveal why so-ca lled powerful learning environments work in one culture but not in ano ther culture.