Jennifer Eidum Zinchuk
University of Washington
@jzinchuk / jzinchuk@uw.edu

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Part of a larger research study defining metacognition and studying metacognitive practices in the writing classroom
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Responds to the need to evaluate metacognition at a moment in time.
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Methodological development of metacognitive framework.

• Metacognition: “Thinking about Thinking”
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Two components to metacognition:
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Metacognitive Awareness: awareness of a task and of thinking & learning strategies;
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Metacognitive Regulation: use of metacognitive awareness to monitor and control thinking and learning.
(Hacker; Negretti & Kuteeva)

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):
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The process of remembering the past through the lens of present, often collective, classroom experiences

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Transition to college one of the most significant transitions in one’s life.
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For international students, it includes multiple transitions:
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Language learner to language user
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Foreign to American academic context
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General learning to disciplinary learning
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This transition is not sequential; nor does it only happen once.

King Beach “Consequential Transitions”
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Transition: "developmental change in the relation between an individual and one or more social activities”
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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).

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Transitions, then, provide a powerful moment for individual and social change
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Also an important site for academic study

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Administrators wanted to create a remedial writing course before school starts.
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Recognizing the problems with remediation, writing program faculty took a different approach to understanding
“underprepared” students:
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Students lack confidence in writing (I’m a
“bad” writer),
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Students lack practice in writing (fluency and comfort with writing tasks).

Название диаграммы
350
300
250
200
150
100
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International
Students
Domestic
Students
2004 2009 2011 2014

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Title: Writing Ready—Getting a Start on Writing in
College.
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Recently, 20 sections taught by Graduate TAs.
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Approximately 16 students per section (321 enrolled in 2013).
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Taught during Early Fall Start, one month before regular Autumn Quarter begins.
• 2 ½ hours per day, 4 days per week, for 4 weeks.
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All students are incoming freshmen, they receive 5 credits on their Autumn Quarter transcripts.
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The course has an additional fee ($1,494); most students live in the dorms.

1) 2-week Writing Sequence
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Writing
• First day writing “Snapshot” of a memorable writing moment (positive or negative)
My Writing Life – reflection on who you are as a writer
Reading
• Read Kohl’s “I Won’t Learn
From You”
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Read Ramirez and Beilock
“Writing About Testing
Worries Boosts Exam
Performance in the Classroom”
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My Learning Profile – analysis of who you are as a learner
(integrating learning concepts with experiences)
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Read Meyer and Land
“Threshold Concepts and
Troublesome Knowledge”

2) Group Conference Presentation
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Library research workshop
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Individual research task (~Annotated bibliography)
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Group Conference Presentation (+ attend and evaluate others)
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Conference analysis
3) Final portfolio
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All class writing organized into portfolio
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In-class writing reflection

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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.

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Analyze archive of student essays (approximately
150 “snapshot” and “reflection” pairs) from first and last day of course.
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Capture a picture of how students construct and use their pedagogical memories
• Create a framework that can measure students’ awareness of metacognitive practices

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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?

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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?

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.)?

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Looked at 9 random essays from one class
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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

• 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.”

• 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.”

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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”

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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.”

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, higherorder 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.)?

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Create rater training with samples
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Rate essays with group of instructors
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Revise framework
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Use [adapted] framework to analyze student spoken reflections, both focus groups and individual interviews

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How can a framework like this be used to support our pedagogy?
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What are some of the cautions of using a framework to evaluate metacognition?

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