Metacognitive Realism: a cognitive style or a learning strategy?

Abstract

Learning implies the learner's ability to make a series of decisions and, in particular, the capacity to assess the quality and reliability of one's own knowledge incapsu‐lated in the question: “How far do I already know the content I am supposed to learn?” The authors address the following issues: (1) Is realism in metacognition a stable trait in learners?; (2) If not, by what is it influenced?. After a short review of the literature on the topic and the examination of experimental evidence, metacognition is considered as both a style and a strategy. The need for a taxonomy of metacognitive realism is demonstrated in order to clarify the topic and to facilitate applied research.