Writing about the Personal Utility of Learning Contents in a Learning Journal Improves Learning Motivation and Comprehension

Table 1

Prompts used in the writing instructions.

Prompts
Cognitive prompts (organization and elaboration)
How can you structure and summarize the contents in a meaningful way?
Which examples can you think of that illustrate, confirm, or conflict with the learning contents?
Metacognitive prompts (monitoring and planning of remedial strategies)
Which main points have you understood yet, and which points do you need to elaborate?
What possibilities do you have to overcome the comprehension problems?
Personal-utility prompt
Why is the learning material personally relevant for you at present or in future out of school?

Note. Students in the standard prompts condition received only the cognitive and metacognitive prompts. Students in the personal-utility prompt condition additionally received the personal-utility prompt.