IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p6275-d567360.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Metacognitive Instruction for Sustainable Learning: Learners’ Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Use of Metacognitive Strategies in Completing Integrated Speaking Tasks

Author

Listed:
  • Weiwei Zhang

    (Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand)

  • Donglan Zhang

    (Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand)

  • Lawrence Jun Zhang

    (Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand)

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigated English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of task difficulty and their use of metacognitive strategies in completing integrated speaking tasks as empirical evidence for the effects of metacognitive instruction. A total of 130 university students were invited to complete four integrated speaking tasks and answer a metacognitive strategy inventory and a self-rating scale. A sub-sample of eight students participated in the subsequent interviews. One-way repeated measures MANOVA and structure coding with content analysis led to two main findings: (a) EFL learners’ use of metacognitive strategies, in particular, problem-solving, was considerably affected by their perceptions of task difficulty in completing the integrated speaking tasks; (b) EFL learners were not active users of metacognitive strategies in performing these tasks. These findings not only support the necessity of taking into account learners’ perceptions of task difficulty in designing lesson plans for metacognitive instruction, but also support a metacognitive instruction model. In addition, the findings provide empirical support for the utility of Kormos’ Bilingual Speech Production Model. As the integrated speaking tasks came from a high-stakes test, these findings also offer validity evidence for test development in language assessment to ascertain sustainable EFL learning for nurturing learner autonomy as an ultimate goal.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiwei Zhang & Donglan Zhang & Lawrence Jun Zhang, 2021. "Metacognitive Instruction for Sustainable Learning: Learners’ Perceptions of Task Difficulty and Use of Metacognitive Strategies in Completing Integrated Speaking Tasks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6275-:d:567360
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6275/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6275/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Soonthareeya Sanium & Khajornsak Buaraphan, 2022. "Developing a Coding Scheme for Exploring Preservice Science Teachers’ Metacognition in a Method Course," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Xuemei Chen & Jean-Marc Dewaele & Tiefu Zhang, 2021. "Sustainable Development of EFL/ESL Learners’ Willingness to Communicate: The Effects of Teachers and Teaching Styles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6275-:d:567360. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.