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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 7
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.107.14833
Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic
Performance Between USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’
Academic Performance Between USA, France, Australia, and
China
Martha Tchounwou
College of Science, Engineering, and Technology,
Jackson State UniversityJackson, Mississippi, U.S.A
Ebele. C. Okoye
School of Public Health,
Jackson State UniversityJackson, Mississippi, U.S.A
Faith Iseguede
School of Public Health,
Jackson State UniversityJackson, Mississippi, U.S.A
ABSTRACT
Prior research has emphasized the importance of metacognition as a contributing
factor to increasing students’ retention at colleges and universities. Enhancing
students' awareness of their cognitive skills is just as crucial. As students transition
from a frequently controlled and encouraging high school setting to an uncontrolled
universityorcollegeenvironmentwheretheyareexpectedtobecomeextremely self- directed and autonomous, it is crucial that they quickly develop the skills and
insights needed to become independent learners. However, many college students
are ill-equipped to deal with the difficulties and challenges their academic
environment presents, affecting their metacognitive skills. Metacognition is the
capacity to track and manage thoughts and learning. This research reviewed and
compared metacognition studies conducted on students inAustralia, China, France,
and the USA. These studies used self-regulated learning,self-efficacy, and meta- learning factors to evaluate metacognition performance among undergraduate
students, including 362 participants in the USA, 128 in Australia, 118 in France, and
517 in China. Results revealed a positive impact of metacognition skills on all
students, increasing their academic performance. However, compared to the
participants in China, the results revealed that the overall effect size of self- regulated learning on academic achievement in the USA,France, and Australia was
small because the Chinese students learned those metacognition habits at a very
young age. The results also indicated that their beliefs contributed significantly to
learning outcomes.
Keywords: Academic performance, Comparison, Efficacy, Metacognition, Emotional
Engagement, Behavioral Engagement, Achievement, Students
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Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic Performance Between
USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.14833
INTRODUCTION
Metacognition, which involves reflecting on one's thinking and learning methods, is essential
to learning [1]. Metacognitive techniques may boost students' academic performance by
enhancing their capacity to organize, track, and assess their learning [1].While there is evidence
to support metacognition's effectiveness in improving academic performance, it is imperative
to consider whether its impact is consistent across differenteducational systems and cultural
contexts. Research studies have investigated theefficacy of metacognition on academic
performance in different countries, including the United States, France, Australia, and China.
For example, a study by Schraw et al.
[2] found that metacognitive strategies were positively associated with academic performance
among American college students. Similarly, a study by Wagener [3] in France found that
metacognitive training improved academic performance among collegestudents. Also, another
metacognitive study conducted by Yang and Bai [4] on Chinese Ph.D. students of social
sciences at Australian universities showed an increase inacademic performance. In contrast,
a study by Wang et al. [5] in China found that while metacognition was positively associated
with academic achievement, the relationship was weaker than in Western countries. These
studies collectively demonstrate that metacognition can enhance academic achievement in
various cultural contexts [6].According to the educational system and cultural factors, its effects
may vary. For this reason, it's crucial to take cultural context into account while creating and
practicing metacognitive treatments. It is commonly known that a student's academic
accomplishment cannot be fully explained by their prior knowledge, competencies, and skills
[7, 8].
Despite having similar entrance scores, some students excel in the classroom, while others find
it difficult to stay focused. Significant disparities in students' abilities to noticeand control their
learning have been reported from studies on factors that predictacademic performance [8, 9].
Students must swiftly acquire the knowledge and abilities they need to become independent
learners when they transition from a frequently monitored and supportive school
environment (secondary education) to acollege/university environment where they are
expected to become highly self-directed and autonomous [10]. Yet, many new university
students (freshmen), and others lack the necessary skills to handle the challenges this
unfamiliar environment presents [11, 12]. Improved student monitoring of their learning
activities has one promising strategy to shiftthese narratives, which makes the need for
developing a metacognition intervention necessary, taking into consideration the academic
failure in colleges and the challengesstudents encounter [13].
In the study, we reviewed and compared the relationship between metacognition and
academic achievements among students in the United States and three other nations
including France, China, and Australia. Hence, our investigation wasdesigned to answer the
following research question: Is there an association between metacognition and students'
academic performance or achievements based on geographical location? This study clarified
the factors that affect academic performance at American, French, Chinese, and Australian
universities. It provided insight into the influence of metacognition on students' academic
achievements in the context of Westernuniversities and other institutions throughout the
world.
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Objectives
To reviewandcompare metacognition studies conducted on students inAustralia, China,France,
and the USA. These studies used various factors, including:
• Self-regulated learning
• Self-efficacy
• Meta-learning, and Location
To evaluate metacognition performance among undergraduate students, including 362
(265+97) participants in the USA, 128 in Australia, 118 in France, and 517 in China.
Hypothesis
This study hypothesized that there is a significant meta-cognition commonality between
students' academic performance in the United States, France, Australia, and China despite their
geographical locations.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Metacognition is defined as the capacity to reflect on and manage one's own cognitive and
learning processes. Metacognition allows students to reflect on and direct their learning; thus,
it may benefit learning [14, 15, 16]. While cognition is defined as thinking or learning,theprefix
"meta-" adds the layersof"at a later orhigher stage of development"and "more comprehensive."
Hence, metacognition refers to active, higher-order processing through reflection, monitoring,
self-regulation, evaluating, and directing thinking and learning processes.
Many studies have shown that metacognition improves student learning because it fosters self- awareness, which enables people to create efficient learning strategies and be more intentional
about learning [17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,31]. There is evidence that
college students with higher metacognitive knowledge and skills are more likely to perform
better than peers with low metacognition on a variety of learning and performance measures
than peers with low metacognition [32, 33, 34], even though most metacognition and
achievement research has been conducted on school- aged students [35, 36, 37].
According to Flavell [38, 39], metacognition is defined as the act of thinking about one's
cognitive processes. Metacognition has two components: (1) knowledge or awareness ofone's
cognitive processes, and (2) control over those processes. This statement served as the basis
for Brown's [40] later and widely accepted theory of metacognition, which saw metacognition
as a combination of knowledge and control over cognition. In reality, contemporary research
defines metacognition as a construct consisting of cognition management and knowledge of
cognition [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 2, 49]. The term"knowledge of cognition" describes what
students know about their cognitive potential, capabilities, and limitations. Declarative,
procedural, and conditional knowledge are threeforms of this knowledge.
In addition, Hertzog and Robinson [50] reviewed the evidence that higher intelligence is
strongly associated with metacognitive awareness. This is also considered a cognitive element.
They projected that more research would strongly confirm this notion. It is not surprising that
researchers have found links between metacognitive awareness skills and academic
achievements, taking into consideration the hypothesized linkage between metacognitive
awareness, intelligence, and problem-solving [51, 52, 53, 54, 55]. For instance, studies have
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Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic Performance Between
USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.14833
reported a link between metacognitive awareness and academic achievements. These studies
show that students with higher levels of metacognitive awareness outperform those with lower
levels of metacognition [22, 55]. Particularly, Isaacson and Fujita [22] discovered that
undergraduate students with higher metacognition knowledge outperformed those with lower
levels on examinations.
Self-regulated learning, self-efficacy, and meta-learning are the three variables considered in
this study.
Self-Regulated Learning
Self-regulated learning is an active process that implies the capacity to confront and resolve
issues while drawing on a variety of skills to achieve a particular learning objective[56, 57, 58].
Goal setting, self-efficacy, purpose/goal orientation, metacognitive monitoring, self-evaluation,
and other methods are all parts of self-regulatory learning [59]. Moreover, self-regulation of
learning, or the thoughts, emotions, and actions that students utilize to achieve their academic
goals, is closely related to meta-learning sinceit deals with students' self-awareness of their
learning processes [60, 61]. It is often challenging to discern between self-regulated learning
and metacognitive learning [62]. In some models, the terms "metacognition" and "self- regulation" are interchangeable; however, in other models, cognitive methods are seen as
crucial components of self- regulation.
In Western countries, researchers have established the positive effects of self-regulatory
learning on academic performance [63, 62, 64] and mastering motivation [65]. In China, Liu
and Chen [67] observed that undergraduate students' writing results were positively
correlatedwithonline self-regulatory learning.According toLietal.[68], self-efficacy,timevalue,
and time monitoring have a substantial relationship with educational progress in elementary
school kids. Self-regulated learning contributes to academic success insecondary school
[69, 70]. As a result, the association between self-directed learning andacademic performance
has a similar impact on Western education.
Self-regulated studying involves many strategies, including goal setting, self-efficacy, goal
orientation, metacognitive monitoring, self-evaluation, etc. [59]. As part of an overalltheory,
self-regulation helps students do better in school, but a meta-analysis study foundthat not all
self-regulation techniques work. Particularly, it was discovered that organization, peer
learning, and rehearsal learning were not significantly related to GPA[71]. To explain the lack
of effectiveness, Baumeister et al. [72] postulated the strength model of self-control, which
stated that psychological resources could be consumed usingself-regulatory strategies. If the
previous self-regulated method consumed too many psychological resources, the performance
of the subsequent strategy would decrease, leading to ego depletion [73]. These findings
suggest that to preserve psychological resources and maximize academic achievement, it is
imperative to identify the most successful teaching or student-related practices. Hence, the
current studydetermines themost effective and ineffective self-regulated learning strategies for
Chinese students in elementary and secondary schools.
Self-Efficacy
Numerous studies demonstrate how self-efficacy enhances performance and well-being[74, 75,
76]. A significant and close predictor of academic success is self-efficacy, whichis the idea that
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a person can manage difficult environmental demands by taking appropriate actions [74]. For
instance, highly self-efficacious students engage in more demanding and ambitious goals, insist
more on pursuing the goals, and typically succeedin a variety of academic subjects [77, 78].
While Bandura [74] suggested that self-efficacyis typically thought of as either task-specific or
domain-specific, some researchers have proposed the idea of generalized self-efficacy, which
refers to a broad and stable sense of one's ability to deal effectively with a variety of demanding
situations [79, 80].
Past research has shown that Snyder’s [81] cognitive goal-directed conceptualization of hope
predicts goal-directed behavior and student achievement [82, 83, 84, 85]. The definition of self- efficacy is "belief in one's capacities to plan and carry out the actions necessary to manage
potential scenarios" [86]. Self-efficacy, then, is the belief that a person can succeed using their
abilities in particular circumstances [87]. According to social cognitive theory [74], three
factors influence self-efficacy beliefs: (a) level or size (the degree of a task's difficulty); (b)
strength (the likelihood that a task will be completedat a given degree of difficulty); and (c)
universality (the extent to which magnitude and strength beliefs generalize across tasks and
situations). The research divides self-efficacyinto two categories: task-specific or state-like self- efficacy (SSE) and overall self-efficacy(GSE). It is a limited concept because earlier research on
it concentrated on the size andstrength of the self-efficacy factor [88, 89]. Moreover, Bandura’s
restrictive words "given situational demands", have given self-efficacy a narrow focus, making
it a task-specific concept. Also, numerous studies demonstrate how self-efficacy enhances
performance and well-being [74, 75, 76].
Meta-Learning
Meta-learning is conceptual, combination of knowledge, procedures, and attitudes. It
encompasses one's awareness of one's learning processes, specifically, one's understanding of
the learning behaviors and methods appropriate in a learning setting [90, 91]. It also includes
"knowledge of completion," in which students learn to value the knowledge they have acquired
and comprehend how to apply it [91].
Meta-learning also has to do with learners' attitudes, such as the conviction that they canuse
their information effectively and that they can self-regulate in the way that is most appropriate
for them [90]. According to this viewpoint, meta-learning is an active, internalprocess in which
learners' perceptions of themselves and their environment alter and canbe controlled [91, 92].
Engaging effectively in meta-learning improves academic performance [93]. When students
become more conscious of self-regulatory behaviors and understand the efficacy of different
learning strategies, they enhance their metacognition and become more effective learners [90].
Additionally, meta-learning can help students develop independent self-reflection [93, 92].
Meta-learning is strongly related to learning self-regulation because it deals withstudents'
awareness of their learning processes [60, 61]; that is, the ideas, feelings, andactions students
utilize to further their academic objectives [94]. Location of the studentsmay seem to be a
contributing factor. However, students enter colleges or institutions ofhigher learning with one
goal, to go through the matriculation process, and obtain a degree in their chosen field no
matter the country or geographical location.
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Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic Performance Between
USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.14833
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The proposed framework for this study is a theoretical framework for self-efficacy [74]. Self- efficacy theory: Over time, several theories and frameworks have proposed various
mechanisms to account for academic success or failure. Based on Bandura's social-cognitive
viewpoint, the self-efficacy theory was one of the first theories to show therelationship
between self-efficacy and achievement in the 1960s [74. Specifically, thetheory (Fig. 1, Panel
A) more clearly asserts that student self-efficacy is a significant directpredictor of performance
in educational tasks and evaluations [95], and educationalachievement is a measure of
student achievement.
The theory holds that students' judgments of their abilities and perceptions of how well they
perform in each area, particularly in core disciplines like math, are directly related totheir
perceptions of their academic accomplishments. Individual impressions and how they relate to
real completion are subject-specific because not all tasks are completed atthe same rate and
with the same success [95]. The model also emphasizes howsuccesses and task mastery
experiences contribute to self-efficacy growth. So, one of the most significant sources of self- efficacy is the information college students acquire regarding their real performance [96]. As a
result, students who feel successful at schoolare more likely to be content with their academic
performance. Moreover, self-efficacy demonstrates how past success predicts future success
[94]. Ultimately, self-efficacy theory postulates a bidirectional relationship between self- efficacy and achievement based on these theory-driven assumptions.
Fig. 1: Hypothetical link for self-efficacy theoretical frameworkSource: Olivier et al. (2019)
METHODS
Participants
For this study, twenty-six metacognition articles were searched and collected. Based onthe
preliminary review of their relevance to our research topic and research question five (5)
articles were considered and analyzed for this study. These articles include two (2) from the
United States of America (USA), two (2) from China, one (1) from France, and one (1) from
Australia.
The two USA studies were conducted at the Midwestern State University. In the first one,two
hundred sixty-five (265) undergraduates were enrolled in an educational psychologycourse,
starting in the fall semester of 2003, and ending in the spring semester of 2006 [97]. In the
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second one conducted by Ward and Butler [98],97 students including 55 females (56.7%) and
42 males (43.3%) enrolled in an introduction psychology course participated.
In the study conducted in France [3], the participants were comprised of hundred and eighteen
(118) students enrolled in their second year of psychology studies at the University of Angers,
France.
The study at the University of Queensland, Australia [99] had 128 participants who were
second-year undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Physiotherapy program.
For the study conducted in China [5], the participants were 517 sophomore students at a
Chinese University in the southeastern region of China. All participants studied medicine.The
participants were primarily male (81%) and ranged in age from 17 to 25 years, with a mean
age of 20.6 years and a standard deviation of 1.08 years.
In another study in China [100], Chinese academic databases were systematicallysearched
for empirical studies conducted in real-world teaching situations. Studies focused on
undergraduate students, and special education or online learning students were excluded.
Fifty-five cross-sectional studies and four intervention studies (which generated 264
independent samples) were included, for a total sample size of 23,497 participants.
Measures/Assessments
For the United States study [97], the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)
was used [101]. The MSLQ consists of 81 self-reported items divided into two broad categories:
(1) a motivation section and (2) a learning strategies section. The MSLQ is completely modular,
and thus the scales can be used together or individually, depending on the researcher's needs.
In another U.S. study [98], participants were askedto complete the Metacognitive Awareness
Inventory (MAI), a 52-item measure used to assess overall metacognitive awareness [2]. The
instrument measures the overall degree of metacognition awareness as well as the sub-factors
of cognition knowledge and cognition regulation.
For France study [3], metacognitive monitoring training was conducted using sheets based on
Nietfeld et al.’s cognition regulation model [13]. The students had to indicate their general
understanding of the day’s lesson on a 0-to-100 rating scale. Then, they wrote down the
concepts they found difficult to grasp and their plans to enhance their understanding of them.
For Australia study [99], assessment for both courses used for the study included a mid- semester written examination worth 20% or 17% of course assessment in Physiology I and II,
respectively, an end-of-semester written examination worth 55% in Physiology I or59% in
Physiology II, and either an assignment (in Physiology I) or three online content quizzes (in
Physiology II). In addition, both courses had meta-learning assessment tasks.
Regarding the Chinese study [102], the authors developed two surveys to measure Chinese
students’ self-efficacy beliefs and SRL strategies while studying English as a second language in
American classrooms through multiple interviews and observations [103]. When developing
these scales, Wang, and Pape [103] referenced Bandura’s [74] theoretical framework of self- efficacy, Zimmerman, and Martinez-Pons’ [104] self- regulated learning interview scale, and
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Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic Performance Between
USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.14833
Oxford’s [105] Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Similarly, in a meta-analysis of
another Chinese study [100], the randomeffects model was chosen, and publication bias was
also examined.
Analysis
For the United States study [97], analyses of correlation and paths using the Amos 5 program
[106] were conducted to examine the relationship between all variables as wellas to assess the
unique contribution of each predictor to students’ total scores variability. In another study
conducted at the University of Wisconsin, USA [98], Pearson'scorrelation method was adopted
for data analysis.
For the France study [3], monitoring sheetswere used as assessmenttools. The teacherspecified
that the monitoring sheets would not count toward their final grade but serve as a
complementary educational tool. For each student, the monitoring sheets’ content, andthe
grades for the two exams were recorded and paired.
For the study in Australia, the authors performed a t-test using PrismTM (GraphPad, SanDiego,
CA, USA) in order to compare participants' meta-learning tasks.
For the study in China [102], a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA)was
used to examine the interaction effect of time (two English written exams) and group
membership as well as the main effect of time and group membership.
RESULTS
Al-Harthy and Was [97] found that three predictors had positive direct effects on the totalscore:
self-efficacy (β =.42), rehearsal (β = -.16), and performance avoidance (β = -.13). There was a
significant direct effect of self-efficacy on mastery goal orientation (β =.18)and performance- approach goal orientation (β =-.34), as well as a moderate correlationto task value (r = .49).
Also, task value had significant direct effects on mastery goal orientation (β = .30) and
performance-approach goal orientation (β = -.15). Similarly, theresults of the study done by
Ward and Butler [98], revealed that Pearson’s r-correlationalanalysis was conducted between
overall metacognitive awareness, knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition and
average cumulative GPA. Accordingly, there was a significant weak correlation [r (95) =0.22, p
< 0.05] between the general metacognitive awareness (MAI) rating and the common
cumulative GPA. Consequently,individuals with better cognition and knowledge also had an
increased cumulative GPA.
For France study, the results revealed that the metacognitive monitoring training providedhad
an impact on the students' results. This simply means that Nietfeld et al.'s [13] metacognitive
intervention had a statistically significant effect on the students’performance.
The results of the study done in Australia revealed that the academic performance of students
before and after the introduction of meta-learning assessment tasks wasevaluated using a t- test, comparing the end-of-semester examination scores in Physiology I. During 2013–2015,
after the introduction of the meta-learning tasks, the examination scores of students (n = 640)
were significantly higher (68.2 ± 0.59%) than those of students (n = 754) during 2010–2012
(64.9 ± 0.45%; p < 0.05), before the introduction of the tasks. However, this change in
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examination performance cannot be solely attributed to the introduction of meta-learning tasks
and should be viewed with caution.
Li et al. [100], reported a correlation between specific self-regulated learning (SRL)
strategies (such as attribution or goal setting) and academic achievement andperformance.
This study included two hundred and sixty-three (263) independentsamples, and the results
revealed that five independent samples viewed SRL as anintegrated concept and reported
correlations between SRL and academic performance. The results of another Chinese study
show that there were statistically significantrelationships identified between participants’
use of SRL strategies and self-efficacybeliefs for completing English language tasks (r =
.52). Furthermore, students' self-efficacybeliefs were also significantly related to
their performance on English exams, and significant relationships were also noted between
participants’ performance on English-written exams and their oral English proficiency. All
studies indicated a positive impact of metacognition on students that increased their
academic performance.
When compared to the participants in China, the results revealed that the overall effect size of
self-regulated learning on academic achievement in the USA., France, and Australia was small
because the Chinese students learned those metacognition habits ata very young age. The
results also revealed that their beliefs contributed significantly to learning outcomes.
DISCUSSION
In the present study, the authors reviewed and compared the efficacy of metacognition on
academic performance at universities in the United States, France, Australia, and China. The
authors also examined the relationship between self-efficacy, self-regulation,meta-learning,
and academic performance.
In Western countries, researchers have proven the effectiveness of self-regulated learning on
academic achievement [63, 62, 64] and motivation for learning [65]. Thus, a study conducted at
a Midwestern State University in the USA [97] assessed the academic performance of 265
undergraduate students who enrolled in psychology courses at the university. And illustrated
the relationship between self-efficacy, task value, goal orientations, metacognitive self- regulation, and learning strategies. The results of the study revealed that students' self-efficacy,
task value, self-regulation, and elaboration aresignificantly positively correlated with total
scores.
Also, another study was conducted at a North American university, the University of Wisconsin,
USA [98]. This study investigated the relationship between metacognitive awareness and
academic performance among college freshmen. The results of the studyrevealed a significant
positive correlation between metacognitive awareness and academic achievement among
college freshmen as measured by cumulative grade pointaverage (GPA). This suggests that
students who have a greater level of metacognitive awareness tend to succeed academically
than those with a lesser degree of metacognitive awareness.
In comparison, the authors in the United States focused their studies more on metacognition as
a tool to improve academic performance. In contrast, other countries (such as China, Australia,
and France) have centered their studies on self-regulation to access and improve academic
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Tchounwou, M., Okoye, E. C., & Iseguede, F. (2023). Comparison of the Efficacy of Metacognition on Students’ Academic Performance Between
USA, France, Australia, and China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 252-271.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.14833
performance. In some models, the terms "metacognition"and "self-regulation" relate to the
same idea, but in other models, metacognitive methodsare seen as an essential component of
self-regulation. While metacognition studies conducted in the United States utilized MAI and
metacognitive awareness as instruments,other countries utilized metacognitive monitoring
training (conducted with sheets based on Nietfeld et al.'s study [13]—a weekly self-evaluation
and feedback done through monitoring sheets) and meta-learning tasks (an online assessment
task made available on the course Blackboard site for one week, and students could complete
the task at anytime during that week). Similarly, university students served as participants in
all studiesconducted in the United States and other countries (China, Australia, and France).
This was evident in a study conducted at the University of Queensland, Australia, to improve
students' understanding of physiology courses in biomedical science. In this study, a t-test was
performed using Prism TM (GraphPad, San Diego, CA, USA) to compare the meta-learning tasks
completedbytheparticipants.This is contrarytostudiesdone in the United States, as mentioned
above. In these studies, both correlation and path analysis were statistical tests used to analyze
and investigate the relationship between all variables involved in the study. Meta-learning
assessment tasks as part of course assessment in the Australian study were to improve
students' metacognition of their learning and, in doing so, promote lifelong learning skills. In
that study, the authors implemented such meta-learning tasks in science courses for allied
health students. Themajority of students reported that the meta-learning tasks had a positive
impact on their study, identifying various ways they felt the tasks had aided them.
The results from the Australian study show that meta-learning tasks impacted students'
performance, with higher examination scores from 2013–2015 compared to 2010–2012 before
the introduction of the task. Inductive thematic analysis conducted on students' responses
shows students used self-regulatory skills to conduct the meta-learning task. The responses
students gave to the tasks indicate that they believed that answering meta-learning questions
gave them opportunities to develop a direction for their learningthrough setting goals and
planning, improve their self-judgments through revising content and self-evaluation, and
become more reflective and self-aware learners by giving themopportunities to reflect on their
learning and study strategies. The meta-learning tasks may have prompted the completion of
the self-regulatory cycle, as indicated by Zimmerman [60].
In addition, research on metacognitive interventions demonstrates that efficient ones relyon
monitoring training and clarifying cognitive knowledge. Dunlosky and Metcalfe [107] claimed
that a judgment of learning is an essential component of metacognition becauseit provides
students with assessments regarding their performance. As explained earlier,research has
proven that this approach is interesting but always needs to be defined andadapted to fit each
learning task. Research conducted in France utilized the Nietfeld method for metacognitive
interventions [13]. This study aimed to improve students' academic performance during
differential psychology courses. The students were divided into two groups: a total of 39
students started monitoring training at the start of the semester, and a total of 43 students
started monitoring training in the middle. The study revealed that the group that began training
earlier achieved better results on the secondexam than the group that began training later [3].
This shows that metacognition monitoring training had an impact on students’ results, even
when they started later (theimpact was lessened) [3].