THE ADAPTABLE LEARNING-PROCESS - INITIATING AND MAINTAINING BEHAVIORAL-CHANGE

In the literature on knowledge and skill acquisition, a distinction has been made between the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge and skills on the one hand, and the acquisition of learning-fostering skills on the other. The latter types of skills have been labelled 'meta-cognitive skills'. In recent years this term, and the newly coined term 'self-regulatory skills', have been used to refer to all processes that regulate learning. This over-inclusive way of using the term 'meta-cognition' is ambiguous, and confounds the impact of cognitive and affective variables on performance and achievement. In this paper a differentiation is made between learning-fostering skill in the strict sense, and behavioural control processes that enhance the use of learning-fostering skills. A model of Adaptable Learning is presented, in which appraisals are described as steering mechanisms, and a distinction is made between learning intentions leading to activity in the mastery mode, and coping intentions leading to activity in the coping mode.