Development of L2 Listening Metacognitive Awareness via Online Metacognitive Listening Practice

Introduction

Metacognition is commonly defined as “the ability to think about our own thinking or 'cognition' and to think about how we process information for a range of purposes and manage the way we do it” (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012, p. 84). Metacognition usually involves knowledge about cognition (i.e. metacognitive knowledge) and strategy use or regulation of cognition (Brown, 1983; Flavell, 1979; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010). As a complex cognitive skill, listening comprehension is often regarded as the most challenging for second language (L2) learners (Chang & Read, 2006; Martínez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2006; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010). Given its transient nature, the skill of listening usually requires more top-down processing (e.g. the involvement of metacognition) than the skill of reading (Lynch, 2009). Metacognition regulates the whole cognitive process of L2 listening (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012). Research has shown that L2 learners’ metacognitive awareness can significantly predict variances of their listening comprehension ability (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal & Tafaghodtari, 2006; Tafaghodtari & Vandergrift, 2008; Vandergrift & Baker, 2015). Meanwhile, skilled listeners reported more metacognitive awareness than less-skilled listeners (Goh, 2008; O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Vandergrift, 2003; Bourdeaud’hui, Aesaert & Braak, 2021). This raises the necessity of training listeners, especially less-skilled listeners, to develop their metacognitive awareness. Recent literature (Milliner & Dimoski, 2021; Sato, 2020; Sato & Lam, 2021; Teng, 2020) has examined the effects of raising metacognitive awareness in developing the L2 skills of reading and speaking and some affective factors, such as WTC and self-efficacy. Similarly, in the L2 listening field, past decades witnessed a growth of empirical research (e.g. Ahmadi Safa & Motaghi, 2021; Bozorgian, 2014; Cross, 2011; Goh & Taib, 2006; Mahdavi & Miri, 2019; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010) focusing on instruction to enhance metacognitive awareness (metacognitive instruction) to develop L2 learners’ listening performance.

An often-used model in metacognitive instruction research is Vandergrift's metacognitive pedagogical cycle (Vandergrift, 2004), which combines daily listening activities with metacognitive materials (Goh, 2008) to allow learners regularly to experience the metacognitive processes of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and problem-solving during the listening process. Studies (e.g. Bozorgian, 2014; Cross, 2011; Mahdavi & Miri, 2017; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010) have provided abundant evidence for the pedagogical cycle in enhancing L2 learners' listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness.