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What does metacognition literally mean?

Author

Emma Payne

Published Jan 20, 2026

Metacognition Overview. Metacognition literally means "big thinking." You are thinking about thinking. During this process you are examining your brain's processing.

What does metacognition mean?

Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one's thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one's understanding and performance.

What does metacognition mean in education?

Metacognition is thinking about thinking. It is an increasingly useful mechanism to enhance student learning, both for immediate outcomes and for helping students to understand their own learning processes.

What does metacognition mean in writing?

Metacognition is an essential part of writing instruction: with a metacognitive focus, we help students activate their prior knowledge; practice and apply new strategies for the writing and research process; reflect on their strengths and challenges during major assignments; and articulate the differences between ...

Is cognitive and metacognitive the same?

The meaning of the term cognitive is related to the process of acquiring knowledge (cognition) through the information received by the environment, learning. While metacognition refers to the ability of people to reflect on their thought processes and the way they learn.

22 related questions found

What is metacognitive talk?

talking out loud can help learners to focus and monitor their cognitive processing…' Metacognitive talk. Metacognitive talk involves a person saying out loud what they are thinking while they are carrying out a task.

How do you explain metacognition to a child?

Metacognition is a child's ability to be aware of what they are thinking about and choosing a helpful thought process. This simply means that metacognition is thinking about thinking.

What are some metacognitive skills?

Here are a few examples of metacognitive skills:

  • Task orientation. ...
  • Goal setting. ...
  • Planning and organization. ...
  • Problem-solving. ...
  • Self-evaluation. ...
  • Self-correction. ...
  • Reading comprehension. ...
  • Concentration.

How do you develop a metacognitive?

Metacognitive Skills

  1. Know What You Don't Know. ...
  2. Set yourself great goals. ...
  3. Ask Yourself Good Questions. ...
  4. Prepare Properly. ...
  5. Monitor your performance. ...
  6. Seek out feedback and then use it. ...
  7. Keep a diary.

What are examples of metacognition?

Some everyday examples of metacognition include:

  • awareness that you have difficulty remembering people's names in social situations.
  • reminding yourself that you should try to remember the name of a person you just met.
  • realizing that you know an answer to a question but simply can't recall it at the moment.

What are metacognitive markers?

Metacognitive markers are symbols or codes used to express reactions to reading. Close reading is an approach to analyzing the details and meaning of a text.

What is the verb for metacognition?

Metacognitive verbs (MCVs) such as believe, know and think allow a speaker to describe the thoughts, feelings and perspectives of the self and others. As such, these words reflect the speaker's awareness of differing mental events and activities, or Theory of Mind (ToM).

How do you use the word metacognition?

By metacognition I mean knowledge about cognition itself and control of one's own cognitive processes. She has also examined closed-head injury with respect to working memory, metacognition, and reading ability.

What is a metacognitive reflection?

Metacognition is essentially reflection on the micro level, an awareness of our own thought processes as we complete them. Metacognitive reflection, however, takes thinking processes to the next level because it is concerned not with assessment, but with self-improvement (Watanabe-Crockett 2018)

What are the four types of metacognitive learners?

This is metacognition. Perkins (1992) defined four levels of metacognitive learners: tacit; aware; strategic; reflective. 'Tacit' learners are unaware of their metacognitive knowledge.

Is metacognition a disorder?

In clinical psychology, metacognitive strategies refer to the monitoring and control of thoughts related to a mental disorder. This includes both learned, unhealthy thought patterns that contribute to the problem, and learned behaviors used to break those patterns. Imagine a patient with generalized anxiety.

How do I teach my child to metacognition?

7 Strategies That Improve Metacognition

  1. Teach students how their brains are wired for growth. ...
  2. Give students practice recognizing what they don't understand. ...
  3. Provide opportunities to reflect on coursework. ...
  4. Have students keep learning journals. ...
  5. Use a "wrapper" to increase students' monitoring skills. ...
  6. Consider essay vs.

What comes to your mind when you hear about metacognition?

Metacognition is also about being aware of your own actions and the effect of these on others and the environment. It is about being able to take conscious steps to reflect and evaluate and make mid-course corrections to improve outcomes.

Is metacognition a learning theory?

The metacognitive theory is widely popular among educational and developmental psychologists. It can effectively explain how people regulate their own thinking to improve their efficiency in learning and work.

Why is metacognition important in life?

Metacognition is the ability to examine how you process thoughts and feelings. This ability encourages students to understand how they learn best. It also helps them to develop self-awareness skills that become important as they get older.

What is metacognitive experience?

Metacognitive experiences refer to a person's awareness and feelings elicited in a problem-solving situation (e.g., feelings of knowing), and metacognitive skills are believed to play a role in many types of cognitive activity such as oral communication of information, reading comprehension, attention, and memory.

Can metacognition be taught?

A metaphor that resonates with many students is that learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies offers them tools to "drive their brains." The good news for teachers and their students is that metacognition can be learned when it is explicitly taught and practiced across content and social contexts.

What are metacognitive questions?

5 Metacognitive Questions For Students Learning New Material

  • What stands out to me? What makes me wonder? ...
  • Which parts or terms are new to me, and which parts do I recognize? ...
  • How does this connect with what I already know? ...
  • What follow-up questions do I have? ...
  • Why is this idea important?