Metacognition, Self Regulation, and Academic Learning: a study in the role of metacognition and self-regulation in GCSE English Literature classes, student metacognition, self-efficacy and academic anxiety.
Students tackling the new GCSE examination curriculum face the challenge of needing to know and memorise more information for their examinations, as most subjects no longer have coursework and students are assessed in examinations at the end of the course. This shift towards increased subject knowledge and one-off, high stakes examinations not only means students now have to memorize much more than students taking the previous GCSE examinations, but also that they also face increased pressure to perform to their best in a stressful high-stakes examination. There is some evidence to suggest that teaching students how to use metacognitive processes can improve their academic attainment.
My current research study is investigating if the explicit teaching of metacognition leads to better outcomes in GCSE English Literature-scored examinations, in both grades and memory for quotations than an implicit approach. It will also examine if the explicit teaching of metacognition can lead to an increase in self-reported self-efficacy and a reduction in self-reported academic anxiety.
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Following the delivery of a 3-month randomised control trial, which I designed and wrote for this study, we are now in the final stages of data collection and will soon be ready to analyse our findings and then publish. In the meantime, the study is registered with the OSF and you can find out more about this research project here .
Metacognitively 