ROLE OF METACOGNITION AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Education is regarded as a process of human development which on one hand is aimed at developing a balanced personality of students and on the other, playing a leading role in shaping, reforming and transforming the society with time. Among the major goals of education, the one that is of prime concern is developing the capacities and potentialities of students to empower them with all powerful necessities in making a noticeable mark in any field. Education is generally seen as the foundation of society which brings economic wealth, social prosperity and political stability. Development of any nation largely depends upon the quality of education that is accessible to its citizens. Education is an investment and academic achievement is a major aspect of it. Over the past decades infinite emphasis has been placed on academic achievement of children. It has become a desired outcome of schooling and a lot of time and effort is devoted to it. Academic achievement is treated as an index of a child’s future in a highly competitive world. It is a multidimensional and multifaceted phenomenon influenced by a number of factors like intelligence, learning ability, creativity, personality, school environment, metacognition, locus of control, etc. Metacognition refers to higher order mental processes involved in the process of learning. It is the student’s own awareness and consideration of one’s cognitive processes and strategies (Flavell, 1976). Locus of control refers to a student’s perception about the underlying root causes of his/her academic successes or failures (Rotter, 1966, 1975). This paper reviews the role of these two factors in academic achievement, and suggests strategies and approaches to develop and modify them.