Academic Self - Regulation: Its Spread and Obstacles from the Point of View of Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The study aimed at determining the level of academic self - regulation among university students in light of some variables, as well as identifying the obstacles of the academic self - regulation. The sample of the study consisted of (337) students in the northern border area of Saudi Arabia. The results revealed that the level of the academic self - regulation as a whole is moderate; both dimensions of self - regulation and requesting help were high, while the rest of dimensions were moderate. It was also revealed that there were differences due to the variable of gender in favor of males. Moreover, there were differences in favor of the students of third and fourth year, and there were no differences due to the type of faculty. The results also showed significant statistical differences in the level of academic self - regulation in the dimensions of planning and setting goals, requesting help, controlling self - regulation, and strategies of using knowledge in favor of students with high academic achievement. The analysis of obstacles through reviewing the students’ answers revealed that (71. 3%) of the responses were related to incompetent skills of time management, (69. 4%) were related to inadequate planning, (68. 9%) were related to the lack of an appropriate method of study, (62. 1%) were related to the high amount of homework, (58. 7%) were related to the subject complexity, (55. 6%) were related to family problems, (54. 2%) were related to peers, (49. 4%) were related to social relationships.