Argumentative abilities in metacognition and in metalinguistics: a study on university students

Abstract

The article presents a study on metalinguistic, cognitive and metacognitive abilities in university students. A sample of 353 students was recruited; 178 of which from scientific and 175 from humanistic Faculties, with gender balance (M = 178; F = 175) whose age range was between 20 and 25 years old. They were administered a metalinguistic ability test that assesses metalinguistic awareness at implicit and explicit levels (L and ML scores) and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices 38 (SPM38). In addition to the usual nonverbal administration of the matrices, candidates were asked to justify in written form the reasons for the solution indicated in each item. Three scores were considered for the SPM38: the ordinary score based on the number of correct nonverbal solutions (O.S.), a 7-point scale for assessing the argumentation of the correct solutions (C.ARG.S.) and a 6-point scale for assessing the argumentation of the incorrect solutions (I.ARG.S.). Significant gender and curriculum effects were found, with males and scientific students dominating at the nonverbal level while females and humanistic students dominated in the argumentative abilities related to the matrices and in all the scores of the metalinguistic test. A number of significant correlations were found between all the metalinguistic, cognitive and metacognitive abilities considered, with a prominent role of the metalinguistic abilities at the explicit level (ML score) that show a clear argumentative structure very similar to the C.ARG.S. argumentations in the matrices test

Study strategies of first-year undergraduates with and without dyslexia and the effect of gender

“…Previous studies also suggest the role of gender in academic performance (Pinto, Iliceto, and Melogno 2012;Abada and Tenkorang 2009;Jacob 2002;Sheppard 2009). Sheppard (2009) found that girls with dyslexia performed significantly better than boys with dyslexia on standardised school performance tests like SATs, CAT verbal and GCSE.…”

“…Metacognition is crucial in higher education as proper use of study strategies affects academic achievements in the long term (Metcalfe 2009). Pinto, Iliceto, and Melogno (2012) demonstrated that students are fairly proficient at calling upon metacognitive skills, as evidenced by their ability to explain how they arrived at the correct solution. The authors also observed clear gender and study-related differences in that male students and students in the hard sciences outperformed female students non-verbally, whereas female students and students in humanities outperformed their male peers in all metalinguistic abilities tested.…”

An investigation of relations between pre-service teachers' metacognition skill levels and their critical thinking situations

“…Öğrenmenin dinamik yapısında öğretmen adaylarının anlamlı öğrenmeler gerçekleştirebilmesi, eleştirel akıl yürütme becerilerini kazanmaları açısından eğitim programlarında eleştirel düşünme ve bilişsel farkındalık süreç ve becerilerine gereken önem verilmesi alan yazın taramasında (Nielsen, 2004;Yılmaz 2007;Demir, 2009;Lee, Teo ve Chai, 2010, Semerci ve Elaldı, 2011Özsoy ve Günindi, 2011;Pinto, Iliceto, Melogno, 2012;Demir, 2013) ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, bu araştırmanın çalışma grubunu oluşturan eğitim fakültesi öğrencilerinin geleceğin uzman bireyleri olacakları düşünüldüğünde, eleştirel düşünme ve bilişsel farkındalık beceri düzeylerinin belirlenmesi ile var olan profilin ortaya koyulmasının önemli olduğu düşünülmektedir.…”

Are belief‐based justifications associated with metalinguistic awareness? A cross‐sectional study in school‐age children

“…Second, previous research examined children's performance in a variety of metalinguistic tasks but did not investigate whether they were able to provide explicit justifications for their responses (Hakes, ). Consequently, we have considerable evidence concerning children's implicit (intuitive) knowledge of language rules but very limited information about the development of explicit metalinguistic awareness (Melogno, Pinto, & Levi, ; Pinto, Iliceto, & Melogno, ). In a similar vein, researchers have typically analysed children's responses to the FB questions but have never taken into account their responses to the justification questions.…”