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Singaporean secondary three students' metacognitive knowledge about English oral skills learning
Author
Zhang, Donglan
Supervisor
Goh, Christine Chuen Meng
Abstract
The relevance of learners' metacognitive awareness to language learning has been gaining recognition over the past two decades (Wenden, 1991, 1995, 1998; Goh, 1997, 1998). Working within Flavell's (1979/1992) three-divisional framework of metacognitive knowledge (i.e., person, tasks, and strategy), this study explored 278 Singapore Secondary Three students' metacognitive knowledge about English oral skills (i.e. listening and speaking) learning and examined the relationship of the students' knowledge with their perceived use of strategies.
Two instruments were used to elicit the data -- a self-constructed Likert-scale questionnaire (the MAILSE) and a semi-structured daily guide. The data from the MAILSE were analysed to identify the students' metacognitive knowledge in terms of three categories (person, task and strategy) and nine subcategories (general person knowledge, specific person knowledge, knowledge about task nature, knowledge about task purposes, knowledge about task demands, knowledge about use-focused learning strategies, knowledge about form-focused learning strategies, knowledge about comprehension strategies, and knowledge about communication strategies). The responses to the MAILSE items were also analysed to examine the relations of metacognitive knowledge to perceived strategy use. The diaries were content-analysed for two purposes: to corroborate the findings from statistical analyses so that a certain degree of triangulation could be achieved and to obtain additional metacognitive knowledge that was not included in the MAILSE.
Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and percentages) showed that the students generally endorsed the types of metacognitive knowledge as included in the MAILSE. This indicates that the students were aware of the influence of the person-, task- and strategy-related factors on their English oral skills learning processes. Task knowledge was the most endorsed category (M=3.81. SD=.42). Among its three subcategories, the students' endorsement to the task-purpose and task-demand subcategories (M=4.01, SD=.55, M=3.85, SD=.52) indicates that they associated English oral skills ability with their academic and personal development and that they were aware of what knowledge and skills they needed in order to become good listeners and speakers of English. The responses to the items in task-nature subcategory showed that formal situations and unfamiliar topics tended to inhibit the students' oral and aural performance. While the students tended to believe in the usefulness of all the four kinds of strategies (i.e. use-focused, form-focused, comprehension and communication), use-focused learning strategies (M=3.75, SD=.55) seemed to be regarded as more helpful for oral skills development. A comparison of the students' responses to the two person-knowledge subcategories revealed that, while the students generally believed in the role of the ten cognitive and affective factors included in the MAILSE in learning to listen and speak well in English (M=3.62, SD=.42), they were not optimistic about their own efficacy across every area (M=3.38, SD=.44).
The diary reports corroborated some of the students' metacognitive knowledge obtained through the MAILSE. They also revealed additional types of the students' knowledge, which mainly concerned what the students believed to influence their efficiency as listeners and speakers of English and what they thought they should do so as to improve their ability to understand and communicate well in English. The knowledge that emerged from the diaries also fell into Flavell's framework. Two types of person knowledge identified represented the students' beliefs about their own efficacy as listeners and speakers of English and about their speaking partners. Two types of task knowledge had to do with the students' perceptions of the influence of the conversation subject and context on the success of oral communication. The reports on useful strategies fell into three groups: strategies for improving oral skills ability, strategies for understanding better, and strategies for making oneself understood.
The Pearson product-moment analyses showed that the students' metacognitive knowledge in general and strategy knowledge in particular was modestly related to their perceived use of strategies. All the nine metacognitive-knowledge subcategories were found to have statistically significant correlations to the perceived use of each of the four strategy groups. Concerning the relations between person knowledge and perceived strategy use, specific person knowledge seemed to have a comparatively stronger correlation with the use of all the four strategy groups than did general person knowledge, suggesting that the students' assessment of their own efficacy had a influence on their perceived use of strategies. Considering the students' low self-estimation and high regard for the value of English oral skills, this result indicates that these students were not held back by their limitations and chose to stay where they were. Instead, they tried to improve their oral skills ability by actively resorting to strategies they thought useful. This finding suggests that learners who have doubts about their capabilities do not all tend to slacken their efforts or give up when beset with difficulties, contrary to Stipek's (1993) observation. As for the relationships of task knowledge with perceived strategy use, while the students' knowledge about task purposes and task demands was respectively correlated to their perceived use of all the four groups of strategies, knowledge about task nature was not. Further analyses suggest that the students were aware what strategies could best solve their problems. Where the relationships of the students' strategy knowledge with their perceived use of strategies are concerned, while correlations existed between each of the four knowledge variables and each of the perceived use variables, prominent relations lay between each parallel variable, i.e., knowledge about use-focused learning strategies and their perceived use (r=.690, p<0.01), knowledge about form-focused learning strategies and their perceived use (r=.516, p<0.01), knowledge about comprehension strategies and their perceived use (r=.595, p<0.01), and knowledge about communication strategies and their perceived use (r=.628, p<0.01). Such correlational results point to the close relation of the students' belief in the usefulness of strategies with their perceived use of the strategies.
The findings shed some light on understanding Singaporean students' perceptions of English oral skills learning and their learning behaviours, and more importantly, they help us glean some ideas for assisting the students towards autonomy in English oral skills learning. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are also explored.
Two instruments were used to elicit the data -- a self-constructed Likert-scale questionnaire (the MAILSE) and a semi-structured daily guide. The data from the MAILSE were analysed to identify the students' metacognitive knowledge in terms of three categories (person, task and strategy) and nine subcategories (general person knowledge, specific person knowledge, knowledge about task nature, knowledge about task purposes, knowledge about task demands, knowledge about use-focused learning strategies, knowledge about form-focused learning strategies, knowledge about comprehension strategies, and knowledge about communication strategies). The responses to the MAILSE items were also analysed to examine the relations of metacognitive knowledge to perceived strategy use. The diaries were content-analysed for two purposes: to corroborate the findings from statistical analyses so that a certain degree of triangulation could be achieved and to obtain additional metacognitive knowledge that was not included in the MAILSE.
Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and percentages) showed that the students generally endorsed the types of metacognitive knowledge as included in the MAILSE. This indicates that the students were aware of the influence of the person-, task- and strategy-related factors on their English oral skills learning processes. Task knowledge was the most endorsed category (M=3.81. SD=.42). Among its three subcategories, the students' endorsement to the task-purpose and task-demand subcategories (M=4.01, SD=.55, M=3.85, SD=.52) indicates that they associated English oral skills ability with their academic and personal development and that they were aware of what knowledge and skills they needed in order to become good listeners and speakers of English. The responses to the items in task-nature subcategory showed that formal situations and unfamiliar topics tended to inhibit the students' oral and aural performance. While the students tended to believe in the usefulness of all the four kinds of strategies (i.e. use-focused, form-focused, comprehension and communication), use-focused learning strategies (M=3.75, SD=.55) seemed to be regarded as more helpful for oral skills development. A comparison of the students' responses to the two person-knowledge subcategories revealed that, while the students generally believed in the role of the ten cognitive and affective factors included in the MAILSE in learning to listen and speak well in English (M=3.62, SD=.42), they were not optimistic about their own efficacy across every area (M=3.38, SD=.44).
The diary reports corroborated some of the students' metacognitive knowledge obtained through the MAILSE. They also revealed additional types of the students' knowledge, which mainly concerned what the students believed to influence their efficiency as listeners and speakers of English and what they thought they should do so as to improve their ability to understand and communicate well in English. The knowledge that emerged from the diaries also fell into Flavell's framework. Two types of person knowledge identified represented the students' beliefs about their own efficacy as listeners and speakers of English and about their speaking partners. Two types of task knowledge had to do with the students' perceptions of the influence of the conversation subject and context on the success of oral communication. The reports on useful strategies fell into three groups: strategies for improving oral skills ability, strategies for understanding better, and strategies for making oneself understood.
The Pearson product-moment analyses showed that the students' metacognitive knowledge in general and strategy knowledge in particular was modestly related to their perceived use of strategies. All the nine metacognitive-knowledge subcategories were found to have statistically significant correlations to the perceived use of each of the four strategy groups. Concerning the relations between person knowledge and perceived strategy use, specific person knowledge seemed to have a comparatively stronger correlation with the use of all the four strategy groups than did general person knowledge, suggesting that the students' assessment of their own efficacy had a influence on their perceived use of strategies. Considering the students' low self-estimation and high regard for the value of English oral skills, this result indicates that these students were not held back by their limitations and chose to stay where they were. Instead, they tried to improve their oral skills ability by actively resorting to strategies they thought useful. This finding suggests that learners who have doubts about their capabilities do not all tend to slacken their efforts or give up when beset with difficulties, contrary to Stipek's (1993) observation. As for the relationships of task knowledge with perceived strategy use, while the students' knowledge about task purposes and task demands was respectively correlated to their perceived use of all the four groups of strategies, knowledge about task nature was not. Further analyses suggest that the students were aware what strategies could best solve their problems. Where the relationships of the students' strategy knowledge with their perceived use of strategies are concerned, while correlations existed between each of the four knowledge variables and each of the perceived use variables, prominent relations lay between each parallel variable, i.e., knowledge about use-focused learning strategies and their perceived use (r=.690, p<0.01), knowledge about form-focused learning strategies and their perceived use (r=.516, p<0.01), knowledge about comprehension strategies and their perceived use (r=.595, p<0.01), and knowledge about communication strategies and their perceived use (r=.628, p<0.01). Such correlational results point to the close relation of the students' belief in the usefulness of strategies with their perceived use of the strategies.
The findings shed some light on understanding Singaporean students' perceptions of English oral skills learning and their learning behaviours, and more importantly, they help us glean some ideas for assisting the students towards autonomy in English oral skills learning. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are also explored.
Date Issued
2001
Call Number
PE1128 Zha
Date Submitted
2001