Metacognitive Awareness of Higher Secondary Learners: The West Bengal Perspective

Abstract

“Thinking about one’s own thinking” is the umbrella term of metacognition. Metacognition has two components: self-regulation- which involves controlling our learning process, and reflection- which involves considering what we already know. When combined, these processes provide a significant component of learning and growth. Gaining these metacognitive skills involves studying particular learning techniques in addition to being reflective learners. Being conscious of your thoughts is known as metacognitive awareness. Being conscious of one’s own thought processes and tactics is known as metacognition. It helps learners to be more aware of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how the skills they are acquiring could be used differently depending on the circumstance. The major objective of the study was to analyse metacognitive awareness of higher secondary learners of West Bengal. For the study, a sample of 972 XI standard learners was chosen using the simple random sampling technique. A standardized Metacognitive Awareness Scale was developed by the researchers to assess higher secondary learners’ metacognitive awareness. Based on their metacognitive awareness, the study attempts to determine whether there are any notable differences across the several sub-samples: gender, locale and academic stream. The descriptive survey method was used to collect the data. The data has been analysed using the mean, standard deviation, percentage analysis and t-test. It has been found that there are no significant variations in the metacognitive awareness of West Bengal higher secondary learners based on their gender and academic stream but a discernible difference exists based on their locale.