Metacognitive awareness levels of pre-service teachers

Abstract

The effectiveness of teachers' use of their metacognitive skills is closely related to the success of the learning process. Nowadays, it is imperative for students to use self-regulatory and metacognitive skills to cope with the changes happening around the world. This study seeks to determine if the metacognitive awareness levels of pre-service teachers vary when they are grouped according to gender and year level. The sample size of this study is 120 pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education program at a state university in the Philippines. Two instruments were utilized in this study which are the Personal Information Form and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) adapted from Schraw and Dennison (1994). Generally, results show that pre-service teachers’ metacognitive awareness levels were high. Independent sample t-test result shows that there is a significant difference between the pre-service teachers’ metacognitive awareness when they are grouped according to their gender. Similarly, a statistically significant difference was also found when they were grouped according to year level using one-way ANOVA. The results of this study suggest that teacher training programs should be organized with the objective of promoting the enhancement of metacognitive awareness knowledge and skills of pre-service teachers. Having high metacognitive awareness can improve the learning experience of the students; thus, it minimizes the difficulties that they may encounter. For the increased validity of the study, it is recommended to use a qualitative research approach.