A structural equation modeling of personality, metacognition and academic achievement and differences of learning styles for achievement

In this study, a structural equation modeling of students' personality, metacognition and academic achievement was made and the differences of learning styles for achievement were investigated. While 'structural equation modeling' was used to determine the correlations between personality, metacognition and academic achievement, one-way-ANOVA was used to test the differences of learning styles for achievement. For the pre-detection and elimination of errors resulting from the means of assessment, two-stage approach, which is frequently suggested in the relevant literature for structural equation studies. In the first stage, an assessment model, whose validity was tested by higher order confirmatory factor analysis was formed. In the second stage, a structural model was established by testing the structural correlations between the 'latent variables' included in the model for assessment. 1207 students studying in Abant İzzet Baysal University Faculty of Education in academic year 2008- 2009 participated in the study.To assess the metacognition of the students, the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, developed by Schraw and Dennison (1994) and adapted by Akın, Abacı and Çetin (2007); to assess the personality factors of the students, Adjective- Based Personality Test, developed by Bacanlı, İlhan and Aslan (2007) based on the Big Five Personality Dimensions; and as a means to collect data, the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, developed by David A. Kolb (1985) and adapted to Turkish by Akkoyunlu and Aşkar (1993) were used.The findings of the study showed the following:For the investigation of the relations between the personality and metacognitive variables and academic achievement, the relations between each of the five factors constituent of the personality and metacognition were analyzed. In this context, a significant negative correlation between neuroticism and metacognition was found. It was also found that there is a significant positive correlation between openness to experience and metacognition; a significant negative correlation between agreeableness and metacognition; and a significant positive correlation between conscientiousness and metacognition. A non-significant negative correlation was found between extroversion, the fifth factor of personality, and metacognition but the t-score for this correlation was found to be non-significant. Accordingly, out of the big five traits of personality, openness to experience and conscientiousness were found to be positively related to students' levels of metacognition. Neuroticism and agreeableness factors of personality are negatively related to metacognition. However, there is no significant correlation between extroversion and metacognition.A significant positive correlation between metacognition and academic achievement was found. Therefore, it can be said that when the metacognition levels of students are high, academic achievement is accordingly high and when the metacognition levels of students are low, academic achievement is accordingly low.According to the structural equation model used in the study, personality traits except for extroversion affect the metacognitive levels of students and metacognition affects academic achievement. The relation between personality and academic achievement is established through the mediation of metacognition.The results of the present study indicate significant differences between learning styles and levels of achievement and this difference is due to the fact that the average for achievement of the converger learning style is larger than that of the diverger learning style.