Metacognitive Transformation:

Enacting Pedagogical Memory at Times of Academic and Linguistic

Transition

Jennifer Eidum Zinchuk University of Washington

@jzinchuk / jzinchuk@uw.edu

Introduction

• Part of a larger research study defining metacognition and studying metacognitive practices in the writing classroom

• Responds to the need to evaluate metacognition at a moment in time.

• Methodological development of metacognitive framework.

Defining Metacognition

• Metacognition: “Thinking about Thinking”• Two components to metacognition:

• Metacognitive Awareness: awareness of a task and of thinking & learning strategies;

• Metacognitive Regulation: use of metacognitive awareness to monitor and control thinking and learning.

(Hacker; Negretti & Kuteeva)

Defining Metacognition

A. Metacognitive Awareness: Reflection

B. Metacognitive Regulation

1. Self-Assessment

2. Confidence (Locus of Control)

3. Self-efficacy / Help-Seeking Behavior

Pedagogical Memory (Jarratt, Mack, Sartor, Watson):• The process of remembering the past through the

lens of present, often collective, classroom experiences

Writing Through Transition

• Transition to college one of the most significant transitions in one’s life.

• For international students, it includes multiple transitions:• Language learner to language user• Foreign to American academic context• General learning to disciplinary learning

• This transition is not sequential; nor does it only happen once.

Power of Transition

King Beach “Consequential Transitions”• Transition: "developmental change in the

relation between an individual and one or more social activities”

• Consequential: "when it is consciously reflected on, struggled with, and shifts the individual's sense of self or social position"

Reflective struggle is key to learning and a force for change:

"consequential transition is the conscious reflective struggle to propagate knowledge linked with identity in ways that are consequential to the individual becoming someone or something new, and in ways that contribute to sociogenesis; the creation and

metamorphosis of social activity and ultimately, society" (Beach, p 57).

Writing Through Transitions

• Transitions, then, provide a powerful moment for individual and social change

• Also an important site for academic study

Context for English 108

• Administrators wanted to create a remedial writing course before school starts.

• Recognizing the problems with remediation, writing program faculty took a different approach to understanding “underprepared” students:• Students lack confidence in writing (I’m a “bad”

writer),• Students lack practice in writing (fluency and

comfort with writing tasks).

Writing Ready Enrollment

2004 2009 2011 20140

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Chart Title

International StudentsDomestic Students

Course Overview• Title: Writing Ready—Getting a Start on Writing in

College.• Recently, 20 sections taught by Graduate TAs.• Approximately 16 students per section (321 enrolled

in 2013).• Taught during Early Fall Start, one month before

regular Autumn Quarter begins.• 2 ½ hours per day, 4 days per week, for 4 weeks.• All students are incoming freshmen, they receive 5

credits on their Autumn Quarter transcripts.• The course has an additional fee ($1,494); most

students live in the dorms.

Overview of the Course

1) 2-week Writing Sequence

Writing Reading

• First day writing “Snapshot” of a memorable writing moment (positive or negative)

• My Writing Life – reflection on who you are as a writer

• My Learning Profile – analysis of who you are as a learner (integrating learning concepts with experiences)

• Read Kohl’s “I Won’t Learn From You”

• Read Ramirez and Beilock “Writing About Testing Worries Boosts Exam Performance in the Classroom”

• Read Meyer and Land “Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge”

Overview of the Course

2) Group Conference Presentation• Library research workshop• Individual research task (~Annotated bibliography)• Group Conference Presentation (+ attend and evaluate

others)• Conference analysis

3) Final portfolio • All class writing organized into portfolio• In-class writing reflection

Course Goal Statement

• We want students to leave English 108 with more Fluency, more Confidence, and more Self-efficacy with respect to writing, reading and learning in English.

Measuring Metacognition

• Analyze archive of student essays (approximately 150 “snapshot” and “reflection” pairs) from first and last day of course.

• Capture a picture of how students construct and use their pedagogical memories

• Create a framework that can measure students’ awareness of metacognitive practices

Measuring Metacognition• First Day – 1-hour timed writing “snapshot”

Tell me about one distinct moment in your writing life . . .

Say you were stuck and unable to write. What were you writing, when, and why were you unable to make

progress? You might write about a time when you found writing easy—when was that? How old were you? What were you writing? Why do you think now that it was “easy”

to do?

Measuring Metacognition• Last Day – 1-hour timed writing “reflection”

As you look back on all the work you have done these past four weeks, think about what kinds of difference

this class has or has not (!) made for you as a writer and learner.

What goals have you achieved, or begun to achieve? What hopes, questions and anxieties do you have going

forward into fall quarter? Have you discovered any useful strategies for addressing these questions and

anxieties?

Metacognition Framework (ver. 1)

Question A: Is the student able to reflect upon his/her prior writing experiences, demonstrating metacognitive awareness?

Question B: Does the student demonstrate an understanding of college reading and writing demands and an awareness of how his/her abilities match those demands?

Question C: Does the student show confidence in his/her abilities to face learning demands? (self-efficacy / confidence)

Question D: Does the student show evidence of reaching out for support or willingness to seek help when necessary (naming specific locations for support such as the writing center, libraries, office hours, etc.)?

Findings

• Looked at 9 random essays from one class• Rated first-day “snapshot” essay and last day

“reflection” essay on scale of 1-3• Average change from “Snapshot” to “Reflection”

.94

Average change for individual questions:

Question A: 1.0

Question B: 0.89

Question C: 1.0

Question D: 0.89

Findings: Embodied Practice• Student 3 (“Snapshot” essay)• “I think my writing is so poor. I always forget the

word when I want to write it. And I also don’t know if my sentences is right. I worry about I am really slowly when I am writing. I want to know how can I solve this problems. It’s big trouble to puzzle me.”

Findings: Embodied Practice• Student 3 (“Reflection” essay):• “I remembered I was really nervous because this

is is first time I took class in English…And I remembered the first office hour I was really nervous too. I sat down on the stairs and talk with my friend about tensioning. But when I talked with my teacher I found she is very nice. Even though I spoke not fluent, she listened to me. After I talked with her I felt relaxed and comfortable because she said: “Don’t afraid of anything and everything will be ok.”

Findings: Confidence

• Student 8:• “This class helped me to cross that learning

threshold from high school writing into college writing at a less-threatening pace, which, in turn, made that leap seem far smaller”

Findings: Self-Assessment

• Student 8: • “When I first walked into this classroom … I had

no idea where to begin. Now though, I have a systematic way for sitting down with a paper or a prompt and dissecting it so that I can reform and collaborate the ideas from my brain and the paper in front of me to create a college level piece of writing.”

Metacognition Framework (ver. 2)

Question A: To what extent is the student able to reflect upon her prior writing experiences, relating them to present learning demands?

Question B: To what extent does the student demonstrate an understanding of college reading and writing values (e.g. reading for main idea, analysis not summary, process not product, higher-order concerns not grammar, etc.)?

Question D: To what extent does the student show confidence in her ability to influence her learning outcomes and meet learning demands?

Question D: To what extent does the student show evidence of reaching out for support or willingness to seek help when necessary (naming specific locations for support such as OWRC, libraries, office hours, etc.)?

Next Steps

• Create rater training with samples• Rate essays with group of instructors• Revise framework• Use [adapted] framework to analyze

student spoken reflections, both focus groups and individual interviews

Looking Forward

• How can a framework like this be used to support our pedagogy?

• What are some of the cautions of using a framework to evaluate metacognition?

Questions?

Thank you!!

Jennifer Eidum Zinchuk, University of Washington, jzinchuk@uw.edu, www.globalpedagogy.com