Diagnosis of Prevalent Metacognitive Strategies among ESL Learners.

Abstract

The way in which learners of English as a second language (ESL) acquire language has been one of the seminal areas of investigation in language pedagogy which can effectively make an impact in attempts to materialize optimum input for ESL classroom. Having hypothesized that a combination of linguistic content assisted with metacognitive strategy is effective in harvesting outcomes in ESL context, the study endeavors to identify areas of metacognitive skills to be espoused in input. In order to determine the extent of metacognitive strategy and skills required for the learners, a diagnosis of the prevailing metacognitive strategy in use of the learners is crucial. Being considerate of what metacognitive strategies are students aware of in learning ESL and which strategies do they perceive as relevant for their studies, as research problems the study proposes a questionnaire aligned with taxonomy of metacognition that can be of definite viability to deploy in the investigation of prevailing metacognitive skills among learners. The questionnaire survey executed among 110 engineering undergraduates provides the data for the study. The questionnaire identifies learner traits that reflect metacognitive behavior which eases investigating the existing strategy in possession of learners. Such traits possessed by learner are interpreted in terms of the taxonomy of metacognition thus forming the portfolio of metacognitive strategy in use among the ESL learners. In the attempt of cataloguing the metacognitive strategy portfolio of ESL learners, the classification of strategy is done on the basis of the taxonomy of metacognition by Tarricone (2011). Taxonomy aligned diagnosis proves the prevalence of strategies of highly metacognitive nature among leaners. The general findings of the context further prove the instances in which learners find themselves capable of metacognitive feelings and judgements with regard to the use of strategies of metacognitive nature. The correlation analysis establishes the integrated nature of the four skills of language in ESL learning context, while instituting that there exists a correlation among planning, monitoring and control behaviors towards enabling metacognitive feelings and judgments.