Abstract

• The main objective of the study was to study motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning of middle school students. The explanatory sequential design was used in this study. A total of 800 middle school students (Grade 6 students and Grade 9 students) participated in the quantitative study. The instruments used in this study were Motivational Beliefs Scale with 22 items to examine motivational beliefs and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Scale with 22 items to assess self regulated learning of middle school students. According to findings, there were significant differences in self-efficacy subscale in terms of gender and age. Additionally, there were also significant differences in intrinsic value subscale by gender and age. Finally, no significant differences were not found in test-anxiety subscale in terms of gender and age. Then, there were significant differences in total self-regulated learning by gender and age. There were positive and moderate relationships between self-efficacy, intrinsic value and self-regulated learning of middle school students. Conversely, test anxiety was negatively related to self-regulated learning of middle school students. Besides, self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of self-regulated learning and intrinsic value was the second strongest but test anxiety was the weakest and negative predictor of self-regulated learning. Finally, a qualitative follow-up study was conducted by semi-structured interview. Moreover, the information obtained from qualitative study prominently supported the findings of quantitative study. These findings will be valuable for teachers, aiding them in comprehending their students better and enabling adjustments to support the attainment of educational objectives.