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Role of Metacognition« Practice but | Practice and Response Home | Role of Contexts » Another colleague, Gerald Nelms of the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, reminds us that writers improve not only from automated processes built by practice but also and perhaps more crucially at the higher levels from metacognition, or critical reflection. As he puts it: Metacognition allows the writer to consider the relationship between context (purpose, audience, subject matter, ethos) and lower levels of discourse (organization, paragraphing, grammar, etc.). Metacognition allows the writer to recognize cues or signals for transfer (the inspiration or impetus to apply knowledge from one context to another). Practice tends to develop limited movement within particular contexts. It does not exercise the writer’s ability to generalize and conceptualize in ways that enhance transferability. In sum, I would argue that the better writing pedagogies are those that blend lots of writing practice with lots of reflection on that practice.
by Valerie Balester, July 2006 « Practice but | Practice and Response Home | Role of Contexts » |