Should they change their answers or not? Modelling Achievement through a Metacognitive Lens

ABSTRACT

Α frequently used indicator to reflect student performance is that of a test score. However, although tests are designed to assess students’ knowledge or skills, other factors can also affect test results such as test-taking strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to model the interrelationships among test-taking strategy instruction (with a focus on metacognition), answer changing bias and performance on multiple-choice tests among college students through structural equation modelling. This study, which was based on a sample of 1512 students from Greece, has managed to extend the findings of previous research by proposing a model that demonstrates the interplay between these variables.

KEYWORDS:

• Test-taking strategies
• SEM
• metacognition
• answer changing bias
• item review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elena C. Papanastasiou

Prof. Elena C. Papanastasiou, the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Nicosia, has received her Ph.D. in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from Michigan State University and an Honors B.Sc. in Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Prof. Papanastasiou specialises in psychometrics, scale development, evaluation, as well as in applications of advanced statistical methods. Her methodological work includes applications of structural equation modelling, hierarchical linear modelling, and other advanced multivariate parametric and non-parametric techniques. Through various projects, Dr. Papanastasiou has been involved in funded research projects in the USA as well as in Europe such as the CSRC/TEAMING project which aims to form a centre of excellence promoting STEAM in Cyprus. Dr. Papanastasiou also serves as the General Assembly representative of Cyprus in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), while in 2014, she had also been elected in the Standing Committee of the organisation. In 2018, she was awarded the status of Fellow of the Association of Educational Assessment-Europe in which she currently serves as a Council Member.

Agni Stylianou-Georgiou

Dr Agni Stylianou-Georgiou studied at the University of Cyprus, Cyprus (B.A. in Elementary Education, 1998) and at the University of Connecticut, U.S.A. (Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, 2003). She is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Nicosia teaching courses in the area of Educational/Cognitive Psychology. Her research interests are in the areas of metacognition (metanavigation in hypertext, test-taking metacognition), technology-enhanced collaborative learning environments and creative problem solving for curriculum design. She has been involved in EU funded projects targeting the role of ICT in enabling a pedagogy for autonomy for teacher professional development (EUROPAL/ COMENIUS), fostering dialogue and argumentation for cultural literacy learning in schools (DIALLS/ H2020) and promoting innovative training via embodied learning and multi-sensory techniques for inclusive education though a community of practice (INTELED/ERASMUS). She is currently engaged in the CSRC/ TEAMING project which aims to form a centre of excellence promoting STEAM in Cyprus. She is also a team member in a project funded by Creative Europe/MEDIA aiming to develop an upper preschool animated TV series, collaborating with an international team to define its educational curriculum. Her research work has been presented at International Conferences and published in International Conference Proceedings and Journals.