Actionable companion · Self-regulation & metacognition

Learning with agency: Music engagement, metacognitions, and performance outcomes: an empirical investigation among Chinese advanced music students

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide, separate from the original research. Proposed actions are not claims or recommendations attributed to the source authors. No independent peer review of this guide is asserted.

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Evidence and context

Title and abstract screening; stage labels describe reported settings, not verified numerical ages. Design labels require full-text appraisal. Reported stage(s): Age / stage not established. Verify the participant population and task before transferring the findings.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the linked source license:

Abstract Background This study investigates the role of engagement and metacognitive factors in predicting performance outcomes among advanced Chinese music students. Drawing on theoretical frameworks in metacognition and self-regulation, the research tests a set of hypotheses examining both direct and mediated pathways linking students’ engagement with performance success. Building on the metacognitive model of Wells and Matthews and the theory of self-regulated learning, this study conceptualizes three dimensions of metacognitive functioning—cognitive confidence, need to control thoughts, and positive beliefs about worry—as cognitive, regulatory, and motivational mediators that explain how engagement translates into performance achievement. Methods The study sample consisted of advanced music students from various conservatories in China. Descriptive and correlation analyses were performed using SPSS version 29.0, while structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted with SmartPLS 4. Results Findings support the direct influence of music students’ engagement on performance outcomes, highlighting the importance of proactive involvement in practice. Cognitive confidence is shown to mediate this relationship positively, while the need to control thoughts has a minor mediated effect, and positive beliefs about worry demonstrate a negligible impact. Conclusion These findings emphasize the multifaceted role of metacognition in music education, suggesting that metacognitive skills such as planning, monitoring, and self-regulation significantly enhance learning processes and performance. Practical implications include recommendations for music educators to incorporate metacognitive training into their curricula, fostering students’ cognitive awareness and adaptive learning strategies. This study contributes to the growing field of metacognitive research in music education, offering insights into optimizing performance outcomes through targeted engagement and reflective practice. Keywords: music engagement, metacognition, performance outcomes, self-regulation, music education

What kind of evidence is this?

Intelligent tutoring & adaptive learning · Design requires full-text appraisal

Stage: Age / stage not established. Screening labels describe reported context and study-design language. They are not a risk-of-bias rating or proof of effectiveness for an age band.

Study methods · source passage

As the study aimed to test the hypotheses among advanced music students, the inclusion criteria were defined as being a music student with at least 4 years of music education. Information about the research was disseminated through popular social networks, including WeChat and Weibo, to recruit participants. These platforms were selected due to their widespread use among students and young professionals, making them effective channels for reaching the target group. WeChat’s versatile functions, such as direct messaging and public group posts, allowed for targeted recruitment, while Weibo provided a platform for broadcasting participation invitations and engaging a broader audience. Data collection was carried out using Wenjuanxing (wjx. cn), a widely used web-based survey platform in China. This platform is known for its user-friendly interface and reliable functionality, which facilitated seamless data collection. Wenjuanxing supports a range of question formats and provides strong data security, ensuring that participants can easily access and complete the survey from both desktop and mobile devices. Before initiating the study, ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the (masked for review) University, ensuring adherence to ethical research practices. Participants were provided with detailed information about the study’s purpose and methodology and gave informed consent, which included permission for data collection and the publication of results. This structured, ethically compliant approach ensured the reliability and validity of the collected data. The data are publicly available under the Creative Commons 4.0 License agreement in the OSF project of the study (reviewers’ link: https://tinyurl.com/y6x5bkv5).

Limitations and uncertainty · source passage

While the present study provides valuable insights into the relationships between music students’ engagement, metacognitive beliefs, and performance outcomes, several limitations should be acknowledged. One major limitation is the cross-sectional design, which limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Although structural equation modeling was employed to test the relationships among variables, the data were collected at a single point in time, making it difficult to establish definitive cause-and-effect relationships. Future research could benefit from a longitudinal design that tracks changes in engagement, metacognitive beliefs, and performance outcomes over time to better understand causality and developmental patterns in these constructs.

Design the system before the pilot

Document the learner model, mastery rule, hint sequence and adaptation signal. Compare adaptive routing with the same content in a non-adaptive sequence. Check whether early errors lead to persistent low-expectation pathways.

Use plan–attempt–check–reflect prompts and compare confidence with actual performance. Keep learner choice and reflection visible.
Measure engagement separately from achievement. Check whether novelty-driven participation persists and whether it translates to independent performance.

A 90-day district pilot

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Have the curriculum lead and a teacher read the methods and limitations. Record the study design, sample, comparator, outcomes and evidence gaps. Define a local question that the study can help inform.
Days 16–30 · Design. Treat the paper as background evidence until its population is verified in the full text. Do not assign an age-specific intervention or extend adult results to children. Name an accountable owner and set the baseline, success threshold and budget before implementation.
Days 31–60 · Test. Start with a small voluntary cohort, preserve an accessible non-AI route and require teacher review. Use synthetic or de-identified examples; approve data handling and tool terms through district processes.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Extract the participant ages or education stage, recruitment, task and comparator before selecting a local pilot. If these cannot be established, retain the paper for design discussion rather than age-band efficacy claims. Compare with baseline, document uncertainty and stop or revise if learning worsens, access is unequal or critical errors persist.

The board decision brief

Report the learning problem, evidence quality, participating population, total cost including review time, measured benefit, errors, access differences and remaining uncertainties. Make a dated recommendation to stop, revise or expand. A positive perception survey alone does not establish learning improvement.

Attribution and reuse

Jieru Zhang. Music engagement, metacognitions, and performance outcomes: an empirical investigation among Chinese advanced music students. Frontiers in Psychology (2025-12-17). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1712501

Companion prepared 2026-10-30. Original authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract is an attributed source extract; the implementation plan is new AI-assisted editorial material, offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license. This guide has not undergone independent peer review.