The role of metacognitive awareness as mediator and moderator in the nexus between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement

This study examines the mediating and moderating role of metacognitive awareness in the relationship between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement of university students in Ghana. Although self-regulated learning has attracted attention as a predictor of academic performance, few studies have examined how metacognitive awareness interacts with self-regulated learning to influence mathematics achievement in the Ghanaian context. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed. Data were collected from 315 university students, representing a population of 3,240, using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability tests in SPSS (version 27), and structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS (ver. 23). The findings revealed that self-regulated learning had a significant direct impact on mathematics achievement. Furthermore, metacognitive awareness did not mediate this relationship. Instead, it served as a significant moderator of the relationship between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement. The negative interaction coefficient indicates that the positive effect of self-regulated learning on mathematics achievement becomes weaker as students’ metacognitive awareness increases. This study contributes to the growing body of literature by clarifying the conditional role of metacognitive awareness and provides instructional implications for integrating metacognitive and self-regulatory strategies in mathematics education.