This paper attempts to connect theories of learning and theories of instruction, which often originate independently from each other, into a unified theory which gives a central place to students' self-regulation and which is based on recent research on student learning. The first of four parts analyzes the cognitive, affective, and metacognitive activities students use to learn and also discusses students' mental models of learning and their learning orientations. The second part examines the ways in which learning can be externally regulated by three basic instructional strategies: strong external control, loose external control, and shared control. The third part focuses on the interplay between self-regulation and external regulation and the congruences and frictions between these modes of control. From this interplay, the final chapter attempts to derive principles for the design of process-oriented instruction in different learning environments that would avoid destructive frictions and try to bridge the gap between learning and instructional design. Two tables give examples of instructional activities for various learning functions in strong external control and shared control environments. (74 references) (Author/NRP)