Metacognitive Awareness of Undergraduate Students in Relation to their Academic Achievement

Abstract

Metacognition is an individual's knowledge of their own cognitive processes and their ability to control these processes by organizing, monitoring and modifying them as a function of learning. Students who succeed academically often rely on being able to think effectively and independently in order to take charge of their learning. These students have mastered fundamental but crucial skills such as keeping their workspace organized, completing tasks on schedule, making a plan for learning, monitoring their learning path, and recognizing when it might be useful to change course. Learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies offers students the tools to "drive their brains." Being metacognitive can be likened to being more conscious, reflective, and aware of one's progress along the learning path. The present study was undertaken to find out the relationship between metacognitive awareness and academic achievement of undergraduate students. The sample of the study comprised of 100 undergraduate students from various colleges of Chandigarh. Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) by Schraw & Dennison (1994) was used to measure the metacognitive awareness. The findings revealed a significant difference in academic achievement of undergraduate students with high and low scores in metacognitive awareness.