GenAI can support learner agency through self-regulated learning, self-efficacy, and feedback literacy under appropriate conditions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across the reviewed literature, GenAI may support learners' autonomy, self-direction, engagement, and confidence when embedded in ways that preserve decision-making and reflection. → Wang Guanhua 2026

Evidence¶

Wang Guanhua 2026¶

Wang Guanhua, Wang Wenna, Yang Daozhou, Ren Jifan. (2026). Generative AI, Cognitive Offloading, and Learner Agency in Higher Education: A Scoping Review. Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16071150

q2 · i? · review · r3

Narrative synthesis of the agency-supportive theme family (118 of 123 included studies) in this scoping review. The review reports that GenAI may support self-regulated learning, self-efficacy, and feedback literacy, with benefits emerging "when learners use it as a learning scaffold rather than as a substitute for task completion."

"Multiple studies suggest that GenAI can facilitate goal setting, planning, monitoring, and self-evaluation when learners use it as a learning scaffold rather than as a substitute for task completion."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Self-Regulation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Recurring mechanism clusters — self-regulation, metacognition, critical thinking, self-efficacy, trust, feedback literacy, AI literacy — link GenAI use to agency outcomes — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Learning agency and challenge emotions serially mediate the association between GenAI literacy and GenAI-assisted self-regulated learning behaviors — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• AI Prompting Literacy is indirectly and significantly associated with Deep Revision Engagement through Perceived Competence, Intrinsic Motivation, and Psychological Safety — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Metacognitive self-regulation mediates the relationships between all three AI interaction mechanisms and both higher-order outcomes — related
• Self-determination theory holds that autonomy support raises intrinsic motivation, and a meta-analysis finds expected tangible rewards undermine it — a broader claim this one bears on
• Learners' task-specific self-efficacy beliefs predict whether they initiate, persist through, and recover from difficulty on academic tasks. — a broader claim this one bears on
• Self-regulated learning improves achievement — a broader claim this one bears on
• Qualitative themes: efficiency and peer influence drive AI use, while confidence and rule ambiguity shape students' perceptions of dependence — related
• When connection between student and educator is minimised, as in anonymous grading, students report weaker relationships and perceive feedback as less beneficial — related
• Both academic self-efficacy and AI self-efficacy are negatively associated with reported AI dependency, supporting a unified compensatory mechanism — related
• Argumentative dialogs between humans and generative AI can support knowledge transformation when prompted appropriately — related
• AI feedback supports or undermines self-regulated practice depending on whether it supports or substitutes for internal monitoring — related
• IPS implemented with adult support and regular review may increase students’ academic engagement, agency, career-relevant knowledge and skills, and college/career drive — related
• Teacher-AI learning task design objectives cluster into cognitive gains and thinking skills, behavioral changes and design efficiency, and adaptivity, engagement, self-efficacy, and inclusivity — related
• Teachers shape writing outcomes through instructional practices and through engagement, support, and feedback — related
• AI self-efficacy and self-regulated learning mediate the support–competence associations in opposite patterns for the two supports — a narrower finding that bears on this claim