Interaction of Learning Awareness and Task Difficulty in Single-Solution Anagram Performance

The study examined the changes in awareness after learning single-solution anagrams of 120 normal undergraduate students. Awareness of learning processes includes students' knowledge of learning strategies and ability to control their own cognitive activities. Students were administered a Learning Awareness Questionnaire in pre-post conditions and learning 15 single-solution anagrams. Anagrams of low, medium, and high difficulty were presented vertically or horizontally on a computer monitor. Accuracy and latency of response were the dependent measures. Latency for correct judgment was higher for vertical presentation regardless of difficulty. Response accuracy was higher for medium and high difficulty and comparable at low difficulty. The significant interactions of learning awareness x task difficulty suggested that the mean learning awareness score was lower for vertically presented anagrams and for the difficult task. Clearly task difficulty affects awareness of learning.