Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a group coaching program to promote metacognitive learning ability in an academic context for adult learners enrolled at a distance university. The topics and objectives of the group coaching program focused on understanding and applying the elements of ‘metacognitive knowledge’, and each session was conducted online by integrating ‘planing-monitoring-regulating’, an element of ‘metacognitive regulation’, into the REGROW model of coaching. To verify the effectiveness of the program, research participants were recruited from adult university students enrolled in A Cyber University and assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group was given the program, while the control group was given the program after the completion of the study. Metacognitive learning ability level and academic self-efficacy were tested before and after the program for both groups, and a satisfaction survey was conducted for the experimental group. Analyses of the data revealed that the experimental group showed higher scores on both the overall and sub-scales of perceived metacognitive learning ability and academic self-efficacy compared to the control group. Participants in the experimental group also reported high satisfaction with the program, increased knowledge of metacognition, awareness and application of metacognitive strategies, and found the group coaching approach beneficial. Based on these findings, implications, and suggestions for future research are presented.