Promoting students’ metacognition and self-regulatory efficacy through metacognitive scaffolding in mobile technology-enhanced interactive classrooms: The moderating role of inner speech

Supporting students with effective and sustainable self-regulated learning in mobile technology-enhanced learning environments has become increasingly crucial. This study investigated the effects of metacognitive scaffolding (MS) and inner speech on students’ metacognition and self-regulatory efficacy in mobile technology-enhanced interactive classrooms. A total of 161 eighth-grade students participated in this experiment, and four different conditions (social-and-individual MS, social MS, individual MS, and non-MS support) were randomly assigned to the four groups. The research findings suggested that while groups with MS support significantly promoted students’ metacognition and self-regulatory efficacy compared with the non-scaffolding group, there were no significant differences observed among the three experimental groups. Inner speech could moderate the effect of MS. For students with high-level inner speech, the groups that received MS support outperformed the non-scaffolding group; the group receiving both social and individual MS did not show a synergistic effect; and no significant differences were found between the social MS group and the individual MS group. Notably, for students with low-level inner speech, the social MS group showed a significantly higher level of metacognition than the individual MS group; however, across all groups, differences in self-regulatory efficacy were not significant. The study offers important insights regarding the MS implications in mobile technology-enriched learning environment.