Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning in Predicting University Students' Academic Achievement in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether perceived levels of self-regulated learning and metacognition predicted the ultimate grade point average (GPA) attained by 206 female and 70 male college seniors (aged 21 to 27) finishing their elementary education teaching certification studies at a university in Turkey. Data regarding individual levels of metacognition were collected through the administration of the “Metacognitive Skills Inventory for Adults” (Schraw & Dennison, 1994) and translated to Turkish by Ozcan (2007). A separate scale authored by Turan (2009) was administered to the same set of participants to obtain levels of perceived self-regulated learning. Findings indicated that students’ self-regulated learning and metacognition total scores correlated with each other but neither scale was predictive of the students’ GPAs at a significant level in the hypothesized positive direction. Interestingly, self- regulated learning scores were significantly related to GPA but in a negative direction.