The Effect of an Intervention Program Based on Social-Emotional Learning and Confidence Judgments on Writing for Third-Grade Students

The writing process poses a challenge for many students worldwide. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs can benefit students and influence their success in school. Specifically, the ability to regulate emotions can be a critical factor in academic achievement. Confidence judgments are a metacognitive process that occurs after a student provides an answer or solution, by which the learner evaluates the correctness of their response. This judgment is crucial for regulating learning. The study’s aim was to examine the effect of a unique intervention program that integrates the development of emotional regulation skills and fosters metacognitive abilities when writing for third-grade students at a public elementary school. This intervention was applied in an experimental group where each participant learned to regulate their negative emotions using a variety of strategies. Furthermore, during the intervention, each participant in the experimental group wrote a story for a picture and assessed their own performance upon completion of the task, utilizing a specialized ruler designed to enhance confidence judgment. To facilitate the acquisition of narrative writing skills in both the experimental and control groups, a metacognitive schema was employed. The study’s results indicate that experimental group participants demonstrated significant post-intervention improvement in written language skills, positive emotions, and metacognitive components, when compared to the control group, which showed no change. The assimilation and training of emotional skills and confidence judgments among third-grade students during writing is deemed necessary.