Acta Psychologica Sinica

Abstract

Introduction
Metamemory refers to a system concerns with person’s knowledge and regulating about memory. This research explored the specific process of metamemory monitoring and control development characterized by Chinese learning disabled children in 4–6^th grades of primary schools.

Method
Using 2 × 3 × 2 mixed design, this experiment examined metamemory monitoring and study-time allocation strategies of 4^th to 6^th grade learning disabled children under self-paced time and item-by-item judgment conditions. The subjects were 58 learning disabled children and 60 average children.

Results
The result showed no significant difference between learning disabled children and average children in differentiating difficulties of the study material. Both average and learning disabled children from 5^th and 6^th grades were able to distinguish among the different degrees of learning material difficulty. However, 4^th grade children could not do make the difficulty differentiation. For 5^th and 6^th graders, statistically significant differences were found between learning disabled children and average children in judgment of learning (JOL). Ratings by learning disabled children were lower than those provided by the average-ability children. There was no significant difference on JOL rating between the two groups of 4^th graders. The 5^th and 6^th grade average ability children were able to allocate different time according to the difficulty of the learning material. The correlation between judgment of learning material easiness and corresponding time allocation was negative and significant. The 5^th and 6^th grade learning disabled children were able to allocate time according to learning material difficulty. However, there was no significant correlation between easiness judgment and time allocation.

Conclusions
These findings suggest that the relation between metamemory monitoring and time control was not well established for children with learning disabilities in the period of 4^th–6^th grade. It’s an important difference between learning disabled children and average children from the perspective of metacognitional development.

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