Metacognition research in education: topic modeling and bibliometrics

Abstract Metacognition, which involves the deliberate awareness and analysis of one’s own learning and thought processes, has gained significant traction among educational researchers. The burgeoning volume of metacognition studies underscores the importance of examining its current status and evolving trends. Leveraging topic modeling and bibliometrics on a dataset comprising 2568 papers spanning from 2000 to 2023, this study seeks to address questions like “What are the prevailing research themes in metacognition?” and “How has the level of research attention to these themes evolved over time?” This study also scrutinizes major journals, countries/regions, academic institutions, and collaborative networks, presenting a visual representation of their interconnections. Considering the analyses conducted, this study proffers several recommendations for the future of metacognition research. Firstly, it suggests the integration of metacognitive instruction, assessment, and feedback mechanisms into various educational domains, encompassing design, healthcare, language, teacher training, as well as special and early childhood education. Secondly, it advocates for the exploration and utilization of diverse metacognitive instructional strategies and analytics technologies to effectively bolster students’ metacognitive processes. Lastly, it underscores the significance of interdisciplinary collaborations between metacognition experts, educators, psychologists, computer scientists, and data scientists. Such collaborative efforts are envisioned to harness the potentials of big data and learning analytics technologies to inform pedagogical practices that nurture metacognitive skills. This study offers a comprehensive overview of metacognition research in the realm of education, shedding light on emerging trends in metacognitive instructional practices and providing valuable insights for charting the course of future investigations in this field.