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Metacognitive instruction for listening in an ESL classroom
Author
Lam, Aileen Wanli
Supervisor
Cross, Jeremy
Abstract
This study looked at the role of metacognition in listening in an ESL classroom (Vandergrift, 1997; Goh, 2002) in a private school that offered intensive English courses. It aimed to create awareness about person, task and strategy knowledge and to enhance students’ knowledge, awareness and regulation of their metacognition, using a perceptions survey, Vandergrift’s pedagogical cycle, guided reflections (Goh, 1997) and the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal & Tafaghodtari, 2006).
This study was carried out in a private school in Singapore. Participants were enrolled in an upper-intermediate intensive English course that led to the IELTS examinations and was a pre-requisite for university entrance if they did not have IELTS results. Two intact classes took part in this study with one class as the experimental group and the other as the control group.
The experimental group completed the MALQ before and after the intervention. Participants went through 10 lessons using a metacognitive cycle and listening diaries to enhance their metacognition. The control group was exposed to the same listening text for the same number of times without using the MALQ, the metacognitive cycle and the listening diaries. The experimental group and control group both completed a pre-test and post-test consisting of an IELTS test and a designed test. Meanwhile, a stimulated-recall session using the MALQ was conducted with 6 participants of different proficiency levels from the experimental group.
The research questions that guided this study were 1) Did the experimental group demonstrate an increase in metacognitive knowledge? 2) Did the experimental group show an increase use of metacognitive strategies? and 3) Did the experimental group outperform the control group in the post-test by the end of the intervention period? Quantitative data in the form of pre-test and post-test results and the MALQ were analyzed statistically using the paired and unpaired t-test while qualitative data in the form of stimulated recall based on the MALQ and listening diaries were analyzed by categorizing the data into person, task and strategy knowledge (Flavell, 1979). A paired t-test was also carried out on each item of the MALQ.
This study found that the intervention did indeed increase the overall metacognitive knowledge including an awareness of metacognitive strategies. However it was unable to ascertain if the usage of metacognitive strategies increased. There was also a statistically significant improvement in the test score of the experimental group although the experimental group did not significantly outperform the control group.
This study was carried out in a private school in Singapore. Participants were enrolled in an upper-intermediate intensive English course that led to the IELTS examinations and was a pre-requisite for university entrance if they did not have IELTS results. Two intact classes took part in this study with one class as the experimental group and the other as the control group.
The experimental group completed the MALQ before and after the intervention. Participants went through 10 lessons using a metacognitive cycle and listening diaries to enhance their metacognition. The control group was exposed to the same listening text for the same number of times without using the MALQ, the metacognitive cycle and the listening diaries. The experimental group and control group both completed a pre-test and post-test consisting of an IELTS test and a designed test. Meanwhile, a stimulated-recall session using the MALQ was conducted with 6 participants of different proficiency levels from the experimental group.
The research questions that guided this study were 1) Did the experimental group demonstrate an increase in metacognitive knowledge? 2) Did the experimental group show an increase use of metacognitive strategies? and 3) Did the experimental group outperform the control group in the post-test by the end of the intervention period? Quantitative data in the form of pre-test and post-test results and the MALQ were analyzed statistically using the paired and unpaired t-test while qualitative data in the form of stimulated recall based on the MALQ and listening diaries were analyzed by categorizing the data into person, task and strategy knowledge (Flavell, 1979). A paired t-test was also carried out on each item of the MALQ.
This study found that the intervention did indeed increase the overall metacognitive knowledge including an awareness of metacognitive strategies. However it was unable to ascertain if the usage of metacognitive strategies increased. There was also a statistically significant improvement in the test score of the experimental group although the experimental group did not significantly outperform the control group.
Date Issued
2011
Call Number
PE1128 Lam
Date Submitted
2011