Responsibility of learning: a cross-cultural examination of the relationship of grit, motivational belief and self-regulation among college students in the US, UAE and Turkey

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship between grit, motivational beliefs and self-regulation among undergraduate students in the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. These factors place the responsibility of learning on the students, rather than the educational environment. As most studies continue to focus on Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic populations, the current investigation adds to the extant knowledge of non-cognitive factors in student learning by focusing on international samples in three different cultural contexts to determine if indeed these factors are related in diverse educational environments. Grit significantly predicted the other non-cognitive factors in each of the contexts studied. There was also a positive relationship between the two constructs representing motivational beliefs, namely, self-efficacy and task value, in each of the contexts studied. The relationship between the constructs, however, differed with respect to self-regulation behaviours in the three cultural contexts represented in the study. Possible explanations for these differences are discussed.