Metamemory and metalinguistic development: Correlates of children’s intelligence and achievement

The interrelationships between metamemory and metalinguistic development and their association with verbal intelligence and academic achievements were examined for 80 children in first and third grades. At both grade levels, metamemory correlated significantly with metalinguistic development. The moderate strength of the association was to be expected from a contrast of the two distinct theoretical constructs that are only indirectly linked within the more general concept of metacognition. For children of both ages, relationships between metamemory and metalinguistic level and those between a combined index of metacognition and achievement did not remain significant when the effects due to verbal intelligence were partialed out. The association between the combined index and a metareading assessment was significant for first-grade children, independent of verbal intelligence.