Menu
This paper discusses metacognition, defined as thinking about one’s own thinking, and its relationship to student’s academic performance. A number of previous studies have shown that metacognition and intelligence were associated, and therefore suggested that students who have metacognition tend to be successful learners. This paper also reports on a study investigating the relationship between students’ academic achievement and metacognitive awareness, which has been done a private secondary school in Patiala . An established instrument by Shraw and Anderson’s Metacognitive Awareness Inventory is used for the purpose of this study. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between student’s academic performance and each of the five components of metacognition regulation namely planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring, debugging strategies and evaluation. It also examined metacognition awareness in students across gender and different academic years. Overall, the findings revealed a significant positive relationship between student’s academic performance and metacognitive awareness, a significant difference in
metacognition awareness between Form 2 and Form 5 students, and no significant difference in metacognition awareness between male and female across all academic years. Some suggestions to develop metacognition in students are discussed, and possible directions for research on metacognition in learning process are proposed.
[1] Artzt, A., & Armour-Thomas, E. (1992). Development of a cognitive-metacognitive framework for protocol analysis of mathematical problem solving in small groups. Cognition and Instruction, 9, 137-175.
[2] Borkowski, J., Carr, M., & Pressely, M. (1987). “Spontaneous” strategy use: Perspectives from metacognitive theory. Intelligence, 11, 61-75.
[3] Brown, A.L. (1978). Knowing when, where and how to remember: A problem of metacognition. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in instructional psychology ,Vol.1 (pp. 77-165). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
[4] Brown, A. L. (1987). Metacognition, executive control, self-regulation, and other more mysterious mechanisms. In F. E. Weinert & R. H. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation, and understanding (pp. 65-116). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates
[5] Das, J. P., Naglieri, J. A., and Kirby, J. R. (1994). Assessment of cognitive processes, the pass theory of intelligence. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
[6] Eggen, P & Kauchak, D. (1997). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms (3rd ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
[7] Everson, H. & Tobias, S (1998). The ability to estimate knowledge and performance in college: A metacognitive analysis. Instructional Science, 26, 65-79.
[8] Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In Resnick (Ed.), The Nature of Intelligence (pp. 231-235). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[9] Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906-911
[10] Flavell, J.H. (1981). Cognitive monitoring. In W. P. Dickson (Ed.), Children’s oral communication skills (pp.35 – 60). New York: Academic Press.
[11] Flavell, J. H. (1985). Cognitive development (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice-Hall Inc.
[12] Flavell, J. H. (1987). Speculations about the nature and development of metacognition. In F. E. Weinert & R. H. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, Motivation and Understanding (pp. 21-29). Hillside, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[13] Garner, R., & Alexander, P. (1989). Metacognition: Answered and unanswered questions. Educational Psychologists, 24, 143-158.
[14] Maqsud, M. (1997). Effects of metacognitive skills and nonverbal ability on academic achievement of high school pupils. Educational Psychology, 17, 387-397.
[15] Pintrich, P. R., & De Groot, E. V. (1990). Motivation and self –regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82: 33 – 40.
Desh Bhagat University,
Off to NH-44, Amloh Road, Mandi Gobindgarh,
District Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab- 147301, India