Analysis of Metacognition Concept - Essay Example

Running Head: METACOGNITION Metacognition [The [The of the Metacognition Metacognition is the concept regarding an understanding of how our mind works i.e. we learn how to go about learning something; we learn both, what we are capable and incapable to do. We also develop an apparatus of mind, which we use to interpret and predict other people's behavior, which is a fundamental aspect of human interaction. It is an important learning mechanism as through it we learn to adapt our behavior to the accepted norms and values of society. Observational learning can be in relation to the acquisition of social rules by children. Despite methodological problems with research conducted by the social learning theorists, this theory has been influential in offering a possible explanation for how people learn behaviors. The concepts of expectancy and inhibition are introduced through it. Expectancy is that which actually maintains behavior after it has been observed. It is a mental phenomenon, which goes on inside the child's own head. This really is an improvement on the work of behaviorists such as Skinner, who would have stated that if something were non-observable couldn't be studied. The context of teaching has changed over the past two decades, and it is going to continue to change even more so in the coming century. Our democratic society is being transformed as we rapidly move toward an information society and a global economy. The changes are taking place more quickly than schools seem able to accommodate. From cognitive theorists to political leaders, individuals outside schools are pressuring educators to teach students how to frame and solve problems, to think critically, to develop a multicultural awareness, and to demonstrate mastery of basic skills. All of these demands have significant implications for teaching. The complexity of social learning also implies that children need to have perfect models to learn from, and proper social expectations around them, if they are not to find themselves later in opposition to their society. Educators have realized that for students to be successful in the twenty first century they are going to need to be lifelong learners. Helping them to achieve the skills that they will need to become successful lifelong learners requires a different approach to teaching and learning. The direct instruction method that was primarily used in the earlier part of the century, though still effective for teaching of some skills, is losing out to a more cooperative approach to learning. The new approach involves students working collaboratively toward common goals, teachers being 'experts', coaches, and facilitators of learning and allowing students to discover answers for themselves (Conway, 1994). Despite having the repertoire of strategies for learning to read, some students will fail to access the appropriate strategies (Wong, 1996). This is an important point regarding metacognition because it means that students have not learned efficient techniques to make them aware of their knowledge. The development of metacognitive skills is the crux of the problem facing students. Without engaging in these skills in a sophisticated manner, the idea of self-knowledge and the appropriate use of the knowledge will be unrealizable. Also, the role of motivation and, hence, self-regulation is paramount when discussing the importance of the relationship between metacognitive awareness and self-regulation. Good students know that if they stay and watch television all night instead of studying for their English test that is scheduled for the morning, they will fail if they do not go to bed at a reasonable time. What is the difference between those students who can distinguish of getting a good nights rest and feeling fresh on the day of the test, compared to those who would rather watch wrestling the night before The difference relates to the spontaneous and learned developments of various cognitive strategies in students as they effectively tackle academic work (Wong, 1996). In other words, as children get older, they differentiate relational strategy knowledge and general strategy knowledge. For example, Wong (1996) states relational strategy knowledge allows students to understand which strategies are more useful at particular times and which strategies are applicable in specific circumstances. On the other hand, general strategy knowledge consists of valuing a plan-full and strategic approach to learning because it increases the likelihood of successful outcomes in learning and performance; (b) realizing that learning involves effort, and (c) children come to realize that they are the very agents of their own successful learning as they deploy task-appropriate strategies and effort in learning (Wong, 1996). Now that we have emphasized the importance of metacognition and the connection between motivation and learning, we can directly apply this theoretical construct to reading. The following addresses the particulars involved in the relationship between students and some of the less sophisticated metacognitive skills they display in their reading habits. First, students who are experiencing difficulty with reading are not very efficient at reading compared to good readers. As mentioned earlier, good comprehenders have a knack for summarizing, predicting, and clarifying what they have read, and they frequently use questions to guide their understanding (Wong, 1996). If children can read the words on a page accurately and fluently, they will be able to construct meaning at two levels. To begin with, they will have some kind of literal understanding, however, this is not enough. Children must eventually actively guide themselves through text by asking questions like, why am I reading this and how does this information relate to my reasons for doing so What is the author's point of view Do I understand what the author is saying and why, and so on. It is this second or higher order of comprehension that leads readers to reflective, purposeful understanding of the meaning of what they have read. Some educators would call this reading between the lines but the step towards higher-order metacognitive skills is not so easy. Because reading development requires the acquisition of phonemic awareness and the other phonological processing skills, student's cognitive resources are all dried up by the time they reach the second level. Therefore, students must master decoding in order to move up to higher-order metacognitive skills in reading (Wong, 1996).This process can leave a student mentally and physically drained; hence, motivation and effort can decline in one's pursuit of higher-order metacognitive skills. Deficits in developing and maintaining motivation to learn to read can be a major factor that limits the amounts of improvements that a child may make in reading. It is clear that difficulties in learning to read are very demoralizing to children (Wong, 1996). For example, in primary grades reading makes up a substantial portion of academic activities, and those students who have trouble with reading, are quickly noticed by peers and teachers (Wong, 1996). Over time, the inverse relationship between the ease of learning to read and the effort required to learn to read will take its toll on many would-be, but now discouraged readers. Another problem that can further exacerbate reading problems is the development of reading fluency. Although reading words accurately is a necessary skill in learning to read, the speed at which this is done becomes a critical factor in ensuring that students understand what they read. If a reader does not recognize words quickly enough, the meaning will be lost. A reader has only so much attentional capacity and cognitive energy to devote to a particular task. If the reading of the words on the page is slow and labored, the reader cannot remember what he or she said, much less relate the ideas they have read about to their own background knowledge. Also, informed instruction by the teacher is absolutely necessary in the remediation of reading problems. However, many teachers do not have a specialized education in teaching reading development. Teachers must be adequately trained in order to link instructional strategies with theoretical frameworks. Instead of teachers learning to teach reading by methods, we must develop teacher training through conceptual frameworks in order to teach the range of skills required to learn to read. How do you promote the development of metacognition First described by Flavell (1978) and Brown (1978) (Paris & Winograd, 2003) metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is an awareness and analyses of your own effective thinking, effective because it helps guide you onto the path of being an effectual learning, or as Croskerry (2003) describes it, metacognition is a "reflective approach to problem solving that involves stepping back from the immediate problem to examine and reflect on the thinking process." There are three important components of metacognitive strategies, what the strategy is (declarative knowledge), how the strategy operates (procedural knowledge), and when and why a strategy should be applied (conditional knowledge) (Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1983).Effective metacognitive learners are more likely to understand their own learning process, have a range of learning skills that they use strategically and automatically, plan and set goals as well as monitoring their performance (McInerney & McInerney, 2002). Individual differences in metacognitive abilities may be caused by biological differences (nature) or through differences in individual learning experiences (nurture) (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007). Students do develop some metacognitive strategies as part of their normal observation and learning ( McInerney & McInerney, 2002) and research shows that the acquisition of metacognition can be promoted through instructional intervention (Boekaerts, 1997). Brown (1980) suggests metacognitive teaching strategies for students reading which include, understanding the purpose of the reading task, thinking about which parts of the message are important, focusing on the main topic, monitoring your progress to ensure or check that you understand exactly what it is you are reviewing, and questioning yourself to see if you fully understand what you have read and if not, trying other tactics or strategies. McInerney & McInerney (2002) suggest various methods for teachers' to promote metacognition to students including; providing clear goals for students, setting an appropriate degree of challenge in the tasks, giving students freedom for self-direction, reducing students' focus on competitiveness and, most importantly, supporting the development of the belief amongst students that everyone can influence their own thoughts and behavior. To conclude, teachers must be trained to assess and identify problem readers at a young age. However, at present, teachers are left on their own to obtain specific skills in teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, reading fluency, and comprehension by seeking workshops at professional days. Furthermore, researchers need to do a better job at defining what is LD in order to help teachers make sense of the scientific research. Teachers can only help students when their knowledge base is increased by solid research designed to support the identification of LD accurately. Students will suffer if the educational community is unable to come to a consensus in what constitutes LD. It will be interesting to see how educational authorities at the school, government and research levels will decide on what is best for those with LD. References Boekaerts, M. (1997). Self-regulated learning: A new concept embraced by researchers, policy makers, educators, teachers, and students. Learning and Instruction, 7(2), 161-186. Brown, A. I. (1978). Knowing when, where, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in Instructional Psychology. New York: Halstead Press. Brown, A. L. (1980). Metacognitive development & reading. In R. J. Spiro, B. Bruce, & W. F. Brewer (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading comprehension. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Conway, J. (1994). Learning to teach (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill, Inc. Croskerry, MD, PhD, P. (2003). The Importance of Cognitive Errors in Diagnosis. Academic Medicine, Vol . 7 8 , NO. 8 Flavell, J. H. (1978). Metacognitive development. In J. M. Scandura, & C. J. Brainerd (Eds.), Structural/process theories of complex human behavior. The Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordoff. McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2002). Educational Psychology: Constructing Learning. Sydney: Pearson Education. Paris, S and Winograd, P. (2003). The Role of Self-Regulated Learning in Contextual Teaching: Principals and Practices for Teacher Preparation.. Eric Education Resources Center. Paris, S.G., & Winograd, P.W. (1990). How metacognition can promote academic learning and instruction (pp. 15-51). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Paris, S.G., Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. (1983). Becoming a strategic reader. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 293-316. Siegal, L (1989). Is IQ necessary in the definition of learning disabilities Introduction to the special series. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 469-479. Torgensen, J.K. (1991). Learning disabilities: Historical and conceptual issues. In B.Y.L. Wong (ED.), Learning about learning disabilities (pp.3-37). San Deigo: Academic Press. Wong, B.Y.L (1986). Problems and issues in the definition of learning disabilities. In J.K. Torgenson & B.Y.L. Wong (Eds.), Psychological and educational perspectives on learning disabilities. New York Academic Press. Wong B.Y.L. (1991). How do the results of metacognitive research impact on the learning disabled individual Learning Disability Quarterly, 189-195. Wong, B.Y.L. (1991). The relevance of metacogniton to learning disabilities. Learning about learning disabilities (pp.231-258). San Diego: Academic Press. Wong, B.Y.L. (1996). The ABCs of learning disabilities. San Diego: Academic Press. Woolfolk, A. & Margetts, K. (2007). Educational psychology. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Read More