Vygotsky as Precursor to Metacognitive Theory: I. The Concept of Metacognition and Its Roots

Abstract The concept of metacognition is briefly discussed. It is ascertained that controversial definitional issues are associated with the knowledge/control distinction encompassed by the concept, with the problem of what is meta and what is cognitive, and with the difficulty in determining the transsituational quality of metacognition. The four historical roots of metacognition mentioned by Brown (1987) are then summarized. It is acknowledged that the concept of metacognition owes much of its present fuzziness to the existence of historically separate roots. It is indicated, however, that the influence stemming from the developmental theory of Vygotsky (1978) actually may provide leads to a clearer conceptualization of metacognition.

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