Is situational interest a metacognitive risk? An examination of contextual factors in classroom settings

Abstract

A recent study by Senko et al. (2022) posited the existence of an interest-overconfidence effect where situational interest predicted overconfident metacognitive monitoring judgments. This is concerning considering situational interest and metacognitive monitoring are both integral to self-regulated learning. The present study examined whether situational interest posed a ‘metacognitive risk’ among elementary children in classroom settings and whether this relationship depended on contextual factors, namely distributed practice and type of text. Fifth-grade students (N = 365) read one passage a week and reported their confidence and interest, for twenty-six weeks. The results offered a nuanced perspective to the interest-overconfidence effect, where situational interest was simultaneously associated with both increased overconfidence and better calibration. When students participated in more practice sessions situational interest had a positive effect on monitoring accuracy (better calibrated and less overconfidence). Finally, situational interest predicted more monitoring inaccuracies on expository texts than narrative texts. These findings inform practice regarding the contextual factors that foster increased metacognitive monitoring skills in classroom settings.