Abstract
Metacognitive monitoring is a significant predictor of academic achievement and is assumed to be related to language competencies. Hence, it may explain academic performance differences between native and non-native speaking students. We compared metacognitive monitoring (in terms of resolution) between native and non-native speaking fourth graders (~ 10 year olds) in two studies. In Study 1, we matched 30 native and 30 non-native speakers and assessed their monitoring in the context of a paired-associates task, including a recognition test and confidence judgements. Study 1 revealed that recognition and monitoring did not differ between native and non-native speaking children. In Study 2, we matched 36 native and 36 non-native speakers and assessed their monitoring with the same paired-associates task. Additionally, we included a text comprehension task with open-ended questions and confidence judgments. We replicated the findings of Study 1, suggesting that recognition and monitoring do not necessarily differ between native and non-native speakers. However, native speaking students answered more open-ended questions correctly than non-native speaking students did. Nevertheless, the two groups did not differ in monitoring their answers to open-ended questions. Our results indicate that native and non-native speaking children may monitor their metacognitive resolution equally, independent of task performance and characteristics. In conclusion, metacognitive monitoring deficits may not be the primary source of the academic performance differences between native and non-native speaking students.
Highlights
Can you imagine following a mathematics class in a foreign language when you were as young as ten years old? Across the world, many non-native speaking schoolchildren face such challenges every day
We focus on one consistent predictor of school achievement in primary school children, which is metacognitive monitoring (Freeman et al 2017; Roebers et al 2014), describing the ability to evaluate one’s ongoing cognitive processes (Nelson and Narens 1990; Schneider and Löffler 2016)
Descriptive statistics for the text comprehension task revealed that native speakers correctly answered more open-ended questions than non-native speakers
Summary
Can you imagine following a mathematics class in a foreign language when you were as young as ten years old? Across the world, many non-native speaking schoolchildren face such challenges every day. Non-native speaking children build a substantial and growing population in countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 2019), only very little is known about the mechanisms underlying their often observed underachievement In this contribution, we focus on one consistent predictor of school achievement in primary school children, which is metacognitive monitoring (Freeman et al 2017; Roebers et al 2014), describing the ability to evaluate one’s ongoing cognitive processes (Nelson and Narens 1990; Schneider and Löffler 2016). One can assume that test performance in a learning task is directly related to metacognitive monitoring and control processes in primary school children (Roebers et al 2014) Against this background, we hypothesize that differences in monitoring abilities contribute to non-native speaking children’s underperformance. In educational and developmental contexts, monitoring resolution measures are considered to provide the most valuable insights
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