Metacognition Metacognition is one of the emerging concepts in the field of education (De Clerq, 2010). It was first introduced by Flavell in 1976. In its shortest sense, metacognition is about “thinking about thinking”.Despite straightforward definition, metacognition is a complicated construct that has been the object of research for more than 30 years (Weimer, 2012). Flavellfirst introduced the term metacognition as “one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes and products or anything related to them.” It includes “the active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes in relation to the cognitive objects or data on which they bear, usually in the service of some concrete goal or objective.”
Its purpose is to guide instructors in incorporating activities and discussions that will help learners understand how they learn, their strengths and their needs, and to better understand the learning process. Metacognition is the process of thinking about thinking. It is the process of developing self-awareness and the ability to self-assess. It is contemplation about one’s education and learning -- past, present, and future. Since adults are largely self-determining, helping them develop metacognitive skills is an essential element in any program intended to increase their autonomy.
In fact, most experimental tests of self efficacy’s causality employ novel tasks. Researchers have induced high or low self efficacy in college students by providing positive or negative feedback and found out that students whose self efficacy had been raised used more efficient problem solving strategies on a novel tasks than the students whose self efficacy had been lowered. (Bandura, 1986) observed that there are a number of conditions under which self efficacy beliefs do not perform their influential, predictive or mediational role in human functioning. Bandura suggested that when social constraints and inadequate resources impede academic performances, self efficacy may exceed actual performance because it is not so much a matter that students do not know what to do but rather that they are unable to do what they know. The basic idea behind the Self-Efficacy Theory is that performance and motivation are in part determined by how effective people believe they can be (Bandura, 1982; as cited in Redmond, 2010).
2.0 – LITERATURE REVIEW In any job, having the confidence in what we are doing is very important. It can determine our commitment in the things that we are doing. It also affect our job performance. Having said that, it is much related to our self-efficacy. According to Albert Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes.
Some involve global planning for learning or studying, some are mnemonic devices, some resemble problem-solving heuristics, some are mapping and structuring tactics that use key words or other cues detected in reading or listening, and some involve the metacognitive processes of comprehension monitoring or hypothesis generating and testing while learning. A particularly important general distinction concerns whether these individual strategies lead to deep (versus surface) approaches to instruction
Self-efficacy might be part of the Pygmalion effect by “persuasive influence” of others with “positive expectations”. Persuasion is a crucial source of information related to efficacy and is affected by credibility, agreement of multiple sources and knowledge of the source. Persuasive input can include ‘leader’s expectations’ of the efficacy of employees and is considered strong depending on the leader’s credibility. Therefore an employees’ self-efficacy can increase/decrease by the leader’s expectations. Locus of control, a motivational theory consists of both internal and external.
In the Educational Leadership article entitle “The Boss of My Brain”, authors Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers examines the explicit instruction in metacognition. Researchers stated that “explicit instruction in metacognition puts students in charge of their learning.” It was also stated that “meta-cognition supports learning by enabling us to actively think about which cognitive strategies can help achieve learning, how we should apply those strategies, how we can review our progress, and whether we need to adjust our thinking.” I believe this a unique teaching tool for teachers to implement with their students. With the use of metacognition, students whether they are struggling learners or gifted can learn how to use a variety of cognitive strategies to help improve their learning.
Observing the successes of others similar to oneself provides positively to self-efficacy while the exact opposite is also true – observing the failures of others similar to oneself may lessen self-efficacy. Another source of self-efficacy is social or verbal persuasion. Social persuasion is the words of encouragement or moral support from others regarding one’s performance that may transform one’s perceptions of efficacy. Self-efficacy can be persuaded if told by others that they have what it takes to succeed. Self-efficacy can also be weakened if told by others they do not acquire the proficiencies for success.
The individual’s self-efficacy will be high in that given area, and since he or she has a high self-efficacy, he or she is more likely to try harder and complete the task with much better results. The opposite is also true. If an individual experiences a failure, self-efficacy is likely to be reduced. However, if these failures are later overcome by conviction, it can serve to increase self-motivated persistence when the situation is viewed as an achievable challenge. Individuals are able to develop high or low self-efficacy vicariously through other people’s performances.
Self confidence is learning and working hard in a particular area mastering the skills needed to succeed difficult challenges. I gained full points in this section but its very crucial to have a clear set goal that builds self efficacy and self esteem to improve your self-confidence. ‘Bandura says that 'self-efficacy ' and 'confidence ' are not quite the same thing. Confidence is a general, not a specific, strength of belief. On the other hand, self-efficacy is the belief in one 's capabilities to achieve something specific.’ Understanding the level of self efficacy is very important so you can identify the areas in which you can improve by making reachable to satisfy your choices.