Students ability to regulate their motivation is one factor that may ultimately play a role
in students’ achievement or performance within academic settings. Thus far, however, the
evidence linking students’ regulation of motivation to their achievement is weak. As noted in
Table 4, studies have generally failed to find a positive relation between any of the motivational
regulation strategies presented here and students’ instructor-assigned grades, regardless of the
age level of the students. One explanation for this lack of relation is that any influence
regulation of motivation has on achievement is mediated by such factors as effort, persistence,
and cognitive engagement. Previous research has not explored this possibility directly.