Exploring the Concepts of Socially Shared Metacognitive Regulation: A Scoping Review

The concepts of socially shared metacognitive regulation and socially shared metacognition (SSM(R)) have been used increasingly throughout educational sciences literature. SSM(R) reflects a reciprocal and consensual metacognitive regulation aimed at a joint goal during collaborative learning activity. Notwithstanding the number of studies, there is a lack of common concepts, operationalizations and measurements to elicit SSM(R) processes. Various conceptualizations of SSM(R) have resulted in inconsistencies within research and difficulties to generalize across studies. An overview of SSM(R) concepts is needed to obtain a framework for the constructs and operationalizations of SSM(R) to improve theoretical understanding. This scoping review presents an inventory and analysis of theoretical constructs and operational definitions of SSM(R). In this presentation, five frameworks of SSM(R) are introduced. The current research provides clarity into the terminology used in the field of SSM(R), identifies gaps in the literature and thereby points to possible future directions for research in education.