Metacognitive Monitoring In Relation To Academic Achievement In Reading And Writing By 1st And 2nd Year Undergraduates

Abstract

Metacognitive monitoring as a key component of general metacognition is part and parcel of most of the academic activities students at university are involved in. It refers to ‘learners’ estimates of their own knowledge, that is, learners’ knowledge of strategies that support cognition and their knowledge of conditions that dictate when and how to execute strategies that might influence their own learning’ (Valdez,2013). For reading and writing at the undergraduate stage of instruction, monitoring is crucial since it determines academic performance in these two demanding skills and in other subjects that require reading extensively and composing in the same time. The study at hand investigates the correlation between metacognitive monitoring of first and second year university students and their academic achievement in reading and writing. It employed the Taxonomy of Metacognitive Judgments to collect data on monitoring and the Reading/Writing test scores for achievement data. The results revealed an important correlation between the aforementioned variables and calls for instruction in metacognitive development that can assist students with the reading and writing skills necessary for independent learning in college.