Explicit and implicit confidence judgments and developmental differences in metamemory: an eye-tracking approach

In the present study, primary school children's ability to give accurate confidence judgments (CJ) was addressed, with a special focus on uncertainty monitoring. In order to investigate the effects of memory retrieval processes on monitoring judgments, item difficulty in a vocabulary learning task (Japanese symbols) was manipulated. Moreover, as a first exploratory step to uncover fast and retrieval bound (implicit) monitoring processes that take place before explicit CJ are openly reported, fixation time allocation during recognition and monitoring was recorded with an eye-tracking device. Results revealed developmental progression in uncertainty (but not in certainty) monitoring between the age of 7 and 9years. Differences in CJ across levels of item difficulty point to a substantial impact of retrieval processes on 9-yr-olds' but not on 7-yr-olds' monitoring. Eye-tracking data revealed an overall bias towards medium and high CJ, and confirmed evidence on developmental progression in monitoring skill

Estimación de Logro Infantil en Pruebas de Matemáticas y Ciencias Naturales a lo largo de un Curso. Un Estudio Piloto.

Abstract Introduction. The metacognitve ability to accurately estimate ones performance in a test, is assumed to be of central importance for initializing task-oriented effort. In addition activating adequate problem-solving strategies, and engaging in efficient error detection and correction. Although school children’s’ ability to estimate their own performance has been widely inves-tigated, this was mostly done under highly-controlled, experimental set-ups including only one single test occasion. Method. The aim of this study was to investigate this metacognitive ability in the context of real achievement tests in mathematics. Developed and applied by a teacher of a 5th grade class over the course of a school year these tests allowed the exploration of the variability of performance estimation accuracy as a function of test difficulty. Results. Mean performance estimations were generally close to actual performance with somewhat less variability compared to test performance. When grouping the children into three achievement levels, results revealed higher accuracy of performance estimations in the high achievers compared to the low and average achievers. In order to explore the generaliza-tion of these findings, analyses were also conducted for the same children’s tests in their sci-ence classes revealing a very similar pattern of results compared to the domain of mathemat-ics. Discussion and Conclusion. By and large, the present study, in a natural environment, con-firmed previous laboratory findings but also offered additional insights into the generalisation and the test dependency of students’ performances estimations. Keywords: metacognition, primary school, performance estimation, mathematics, scienc

The contribution of interference control for young children`s working memory performance: Insights from eye-tracking

In the present study, the role of visual attentional processes for working memory performance in a sample of 6-year-olds was investigated. This was done by combining an individual differences approach with an experimental manipulation: For the individual differences approach, participants were grouped based on their performance in a classical interference control task, and their working memory skills were systematically compared. For the experimental manipulation, the need to control interference while performing a working memory task was increased in one condition through presentation of distracting stimuli. In a between-subject design performance in this condition was contrasted with a control condition without distractors. Additionally, fixation time during stimuli presentation were quantified by tracking participants` gazes. Results revealed that children with higher interference control skills showed superior working memory performance. Increasing the need to inhibit attention towards task-irrelevant information through presentation of distractors decreased working memory performance. The present study offers supporting evidence for a close relationship between young children`s working memory and attention

Can you see me thinking (about my answers)? Using eye-tracking to illuminate developmental differences in monitoring and control skills and their relation to performance

This study focuses on relations between 7- and 9-year-old children's and adults' metacognitive monitoring and control processes. In addition to explicit confidence judgments (CJ), data for participants' control behavior during learning and recall as well as implicit CJs were collected with an eye-tracking device (Tobii 1750). Results revealed developmental progression in both accuracy of implicit and explicit monitoring across age groups. In addition, efficiency of learning and recall strategies increases with age, as older participants allocate more fixation time to critical information and less time to peripheral or potentially interfering information. Correlational analyses, recall performance, metacognitive monitoring, and controlling indicate significant interrelations between all of these measures, with varying patterns of correlations within age groups. Results are discussed in regard to the intricate relationship between monitoring and recall and their relation to performance

Entwicklung eines Selbstbeurteilungsinstruments für berufsspezifische Sprachkompetenzen von Fremdsprachenlehrpersonen

Beitrag präsentiert an der Ringveranstaltung Forschung und Entwicklung in der Fremdsprachendidaktik, 21. November 2016, Fribour

Towards Higher Authenticity in Language for Specific Purpose Testing. Assessing Target Language Proficiency in Foreign Language Teacher Education

EALTA Conference, Budapest, Hungary, June 2020, [Conference canceled]Profession-related language competences like those identified in the Profession-Related Language Competence Profiles (PRLCP, Kuster et al., 2014) are deemed central to effective foreign language teaching (Bleichenbacher et al., 2017). With their focus on testing general language ability, international language diplomas applied in foreign language teacher education to certify trainee teachers’ target language (TL) skills fail to sufficiently assess profession-related language competences (Bleichenbacher et al., 2014c). To address this gap, an online-administered competence-oriented performance test was developed for the TLs English and French. With its objective to assess the skills required in authentic foreign language classroom contexts, it is imperative that it be of high ecological validity and establish a strong connection to the “real world” (Blömeke et al., 2015; Council of Europe, 2001). To meet this prerequisite, video-vignettes simulating prototypical classroom situations from the first-person-perspective were created to elicit spoken TL productions (Jeffries & Maeder, 2005). To prompt (near)authentic written TL productions, authentic pupil writing samples were implemented. Both forms of stimuli serve to establish a near-authentic context in test tasks. This paper reports on a novel approach to language performance testing by highlighting how an innovative use of technology is combined with responding to the local needs of foreign language teacher education. The authors present the test development and implementation, preliminary test results and implications on using (video)vignettes to achieve higher ecological validity in language for specific purpose testing

Can you see me thinking (about my answers)? Using eye-tracking to illuminate developmental differences in monitoring and control skills and their relation to performance

Metacognition and Learning, Vol 9, No 1 (2014), 1-23This study focuses on relations between 7- and 9-year-old children's and adults' metacognitive monitoring and control processes. In addition to explicit confidence judgments (CJ), data for participants' control behavior during learning and recall as well as implicit CJs were collected with an eye-tracking device (Tobii 1750). Results revealed developmental progression in both accuracy of implicit and explicit monitoring across age groups. In addition, efficiency of learning and recall strategies increases with age, as older participants allocate more fixation time to critical information and less time to peripheral or potentially interfering information. Correlational analyses, recall performance, metacognitive monitoring, and controlling indicate significant interrelations between all of these measures, with varying patterns of correlations within age groups. Results are discussed in regard to the intricate relationship between monitoring and recall and their relation to performance

Profiling teachers' foreign language competences

Paper presented at the Eaquals International Conference, 27. April 2017, Rig

Children's performance estimation in mathematics and science tests over a school year: A pilot study

The metacognitve ability to accurately estimate ones performance in a test, is assumed to be of central importance for initializing task-oriented effort. In addition activating adequate problem-solving strategies, and engaging in efficient error detection and correction. Although school children's' ability to estimate their own performance has been widely investigated, this was mostly done under highly-controlled, experimental set-ups including only one single test occasion. Method: The aim of this study was to investigate this metacognitive ability in the context of real achievement tests in mathematics. Developed and applied by a teacher of a 5th grade class over the course of a school year these tests allowed the exploration of the variability of performance estimation accuracy as a function of test difficulty. Results: Mean performance estimations were generally close to actual performance with somewhat less variability compared to test performance. When grouping the children into three achievement levels, results revealed higher accuracy of performance estimations in the high achievers compared to the low and average achievers. In order to explore the generalization of these findings, analyses were also conducted for the same children's tests in their science classes revealing a very similar pattern of results compared to the domain of mathematics. Discussion and Conclusion: By and large, the present study, in a natural environment, confirmed previous laboratory findings but also offered additional insights into the generalisation and the test dependency of students' performances estimations