{"title":"What’s metacognition got to do with the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement?","authors":"Utkun Aydın, Meriç Özgeldi","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00797-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Research examining the joint relationships between test anxiety, metacognition, and mathematics achievement revealing the mediational role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement is sparse. A mediation study was designed to redress this imbalance. The Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS), Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Jr. MAI), and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were distributed to 943 (442 males and 501 females) Grade 7 <i>(n =</i> 477<i>)</i> and Grade 8 <i>(n =</i> 466<i>)</i> students aged between 11–12 (<i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 11.5, <i>SD = .</i>88) and 11–13 (<i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 12, <i>SD = .</i>91) years, respectively. In this study, multiple mediation models were tested to explore the role of metacognition as a mediator of the effect of test anxiety on mathematics achievement. Results indicate that although both test anxiety and metacognition were significantly related to mathematics achievement, metacognition was not a statistically significant mediator in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement. Specifically, the knowledge of cognition component of metacognition was the only significant mediator, mediating the relationship between off-task behaviors and mathematics achievement. Findings support the beneficial role of metacognition with the rewarding side of a key implication that without developing <i>metacognitive knowledge</i>, efforts at alleviating test anxiety to maximize achievement in mathematics may well be fruitless. Educational and practical implications are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00797-7","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATIONAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Research examining the joint relationships between test anxiety, metacognition, and mathematics achievement revealing the mediational role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement is sparse. A mediation study was designed to redress this imbalance. The Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS), Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Jr. MAI), and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were distributed to 943 (442 males and 501 females) Grade 7 (n = 477) and Grade 8 (n = 466) students aged between 11–12 (Mage = 11.5, SD = .88) and 11–13 (Mage = 12, SD = .91) years, respectively. In this study, multiple mediation models were tested to explore the role of metacognition as a mediator of the effect of test anxiety on mathematics achievement. Results indicate that although both test anxiety and metacognition were significantly related to mathematics achievement, metacognition was not a statistically significant mediator in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement. Specifically, the knowledge of cognition component of metacognition was the only significant mediator, mediating the relationship between off-task behaviors and mathematics achievement. Findings support the beneficial role of metacognition with the rewarding side of a key implication that without developing metacognitive knowledge, efforts at alleviating test anxiety to maximize achievement in mathematics may well be fruitless. Educational and practical implications are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The European Journal of Psychology of Education (EJPE) is a quarterly journal oriented toward publishing high-quality papers that address the relevant psychological aspects of educational processes embedded in different institutional, social, and cultural contexts, and which focus on diversity in terms of the participants, their educational trajectories and their socio-cultural contexts. Authors are strongly encouraged to employ a variety of theoretical and methodological tools developed in the psychology of education in order to gain new insights by integrating different perspectives. Instead of reinforcing the divisions and distances between different communities stemming from their theoretical and methodological backgrounds, we would like to invite authors to engage with diverse theoretical and methodological tools in a meaningful way and to search for the new knowledge that can emerge from a combination of these tools. EJPE is open to all papers reflecting findings from original psychological studies on educational processes, as well as to exceptional theoretical and review papers that integrate current knowledge and chart new avenues for future research. Following the assumption that engaging with diversities creates great opportunities for new knowledge, the editorial team wishes to encourage, in particular, authors from less represented countries and regions, as well as young researchers, to submit their work and to keep going through the review process, which can be challenging, but which also presents opportunities for learning and inspiration.