Abstract: The present study investigated the relationships between goal orientation and cognitive strategies, school failure coping style, school achievement, in order to probe into the role that goal orientation played in self regulated learning. Based on the result, it was hypothesized that goal orientation served as the impetus variable in self regulated learning, influencing the cognitive strategies which the subjects adopted to deal with the cognitive materials, and the coping style which the subjects selected when facing school failure; while the cognitive strategies and coping style directly influenced the school achievement.

Key words: self regulated learning, goal orientation, cognitive strategies, school failure coping style