An action research project on the use of metacognitive strategies to enhance students’ listening comprehension in TOEIC tests at an english centre in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES


AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE USE OF
METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE STUDE

S’

LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN TOEIC TESTS AT AN
ENGLISH CENTRE IN HANOI
(Nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng chiến lược siêu nhận thức để

cải thiện khả năng nghe hiểu của học sinh trong bài thi TOEIC tại một
trung tâm tiếng Anh tại Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI, 2019


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES


NGUYỄN THU THỦY

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE USE OF
METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’
LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN TOEIC TESTS AT AN
ENGLISH CENTRE IN HANOI
(Nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng chiến lược siêu nhận thức để

cải thiện khả năng nghe hiểu của học sinh trong bài thi TOEIC tại một
trung tâm tiếng Anh tại Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HANOI, 2019


DECLARATION
I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:
“An action research project on the use of metacognitive strategies to enhance
students’ listening comprehension in TOEIC tests at an English centre in Hanoi”
is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for Degree of
Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and
International Studies, Hanoi. I commit that this thesis has not been submitted
anywhere for any degree.

Hanoi, 2019

Nguyễn Thu Thủy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe great many thanks to so many people who have supported me all the
way throughout my study to this final achievement.
It is with deep gratitude that I wish to thank Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn for his
wholehearted guidance, valuable suggestions and academic advice during the course
of writing this thesis, without which this work would hardly have been accomplished.
I also wish to acknowledge all the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate
Studies for giving me assistance and the lecturers who conducted the Master course
for me with valuable knowledge.
Last, to my family, words are not enough to express my gratitude. I am grateful
to my parents, my child, and my dear husband. Without their help and
encouragement, I could not have completed this study.

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ABSTRACT
This research intended to explore the potential effects of instructing students
to use metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension in the TOEIC tests. An
action research approach was employed. The research project lasted 8 weeks. During
8 weeks of the project, participants were given instructions on using metacognitive
strategies to improve their listening comprehension in the TOEIC tests.
The researcher used survey questionnaires, interviews, pre-test and post-test
to collect data from the students. The pre-questionnaire was chosen to elicit the data
about the students’ employment of metacognitive strategies in listening

comprehension in the TOEIC tests before the intervention. The post-questionnaire
and the interview was conducted to collect students’ feedbacks on instructing
metacognitive strategies in the TOEIC tests after the intervention. Two TOEIC
listening comprehension tests were given at the beginning and the end of the course
in order to assess the students’ listening comprehension improvement.
Concerning the results of the study, instructing metacognitive strategies has a
positive effect on the students’ listening comprehension and there was a slight
improvement on the students’ listening comprehension in the TOEIC tests.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .....................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ......................................................................vii
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1
1. Rationale of the study ....................................................................................... 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study ...................................................................... 2
3. Research methodology ..................................................................................... 2
4. Scope of the study ............................................................................................ 3
5. Structure of the study ....................................................................................... 3
6. Significance of the study .................................................................................. 3
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 5
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................ 5
1. Listening .......................................................................................................... 5
2. Listening comprehension.................................................................................. 6
3. Overview of the TOEIC listening test ............................................................... 7
4. Metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension ...................................... 13

4.1. Definition of metacognition ..................................................................... 13
4.2. Definition of metacognitive strategies ...................................................... 13
4.3. Differences between cognitive and metacognitive strategies .................... 14
4.4. The role of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension .............. 15
4.5. Types of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension .................. 16
5. Related previous studies ................................................................................. 22
6. Summary ........................................................................................................ 24
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................. 25
1. Action research .............................................................................................. 25
1.1. Definition of action research .................................................................... 25
1.2. Rationale for the use of action research .................................................... 27
2. Settings .......................................................................................................... 27
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3. Participants..................................................................................................... 28
4. Data collecting instruments ............................................................................ 28
5. Research procedure ........................................................................................ 30
6. Structure of the metacognitive strategy training sessions in listening ............. 31
7. Data analysis procedure .................................................................................. 34
8. Summary ........................................................................................................ 35
CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 36
1. Students’ employment of metacognitive strategies before the intervention ..... 36
2. The students’ improvement in the TOEC listening test ................................... 41
3. The students’ feedbacks on the instructions of using metacognitive strategies in
listening comprehension in the TOEC tests after the training ............................. 43
4. Summary of the chapter.................................................................................. 51
PART THREE. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................... 52
1. Summary of major findings ............................................................................ 52
2. Recommendations .......................................................................................... 53

3. Limitations of the study .................................................................................. 54
4. Suggestions for further study .......................................................................... 55
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ I
APPENDICES....................................................................................................... III
Appendix 1......................................................................................................... III
Appendix 2.......................................................................................................... V
Appendix 3...................................................................................................... XIII
Appendix 4...................................................................................................... XIV
Appendix 5.................................................................................................. XXVII
Appendix 6........................................................................................................XL
Appendix 7..................................................................................................... XLV
Appendix 8........................................................................................................LX

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure
Figure 1: Action research cycle
Tables
Table 1. The description of the research program
Table 2. The students’ overall awareness of metacognitive strategies in listening before the
intervention
Table 3. The students’ awareness of planning strategies in TOEIC listening comprehension
before the intervention
Table 4. The students’ awareness of monitoring strategies in TOEIC listening
comprehension before the intervention

Table 5. The students’ awareness of problem solving strategies in TOEIC listening
comprehension before the intervention
Table 6. The students’ awareness of evaluation strategies in TOEIC listening comprehension
before the intervention
Table 7. TOEIC pre- and post-test score
Table 8. Paired Samples Statistics
Table 9. Paired Samples Test
Table 10. The students’ impression of the listening lessons
Table 11. The students’ involvement in the listening lessons
Table 12. The students’ levels of motivation in the listening lessons
Table 13. The students’ self-assessment of their listening improvement
Table 14. The students’ assessment of the use of metacognitive strategies in listening
comprehension
Table 15. The effectiveness and importance of metacognitive strategies in TOEIC listening
comprehension
Table 16. The students’ difficulties in TOEIC listening comprehension after applying
metacognitive strategies
Table 17. The students’ assessment of the teaching method
Table 18. The students’ evaluation of the way teacher instructed metacognitive strategies
Table 19. Metacognitive strategies that the students use to practice listening at home
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PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Facts have shown that the TOEIC test, which composes of two sections:
listening and reading, is currently enjoying its popularity in both workplaces and
universities in Vietnam. The teaching and learning of listening in preparation for
the TOEIC tests is more demanding because it requires the test takers to process
information while listening. Successful listening skills require the usage of

effective strategies. Without effective listening strategies, students’ listening
becomes challenging, problematic and ineffective. There are various ways of
classifying listening strategies. However, the classification of the strategies into
cognitive, metacognitive, and social-affective strategies, which are based on
cognitive theory (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990), seem to be the most popular. A
listener might use a cognitive listening strategy to comprehend or make progress,
but a metacognive-strategy user would monitor the process and include both selfreflection and self-direction. Learners who have developed their metacognitive
awareness are likely to become more autonomous. Therefore, Goh (2008)
believed that metacognitive strategies instruction could potentially enhance
learners’ knowledge about their listening and learning process. Metacognitive
strategies instruction can also bring positive effects on listening comprehension
and enhance students’ level of confidence, create more motivation and lessen
anxiety in learners during the listening process.
Despite its advantages, many students do not have adequate knowledge of
metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension. Moreover, literature review
shows that little attention has been paid to giving students instructions in using
metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension. Consequently, the listening
proficiency of Vietnamese students has not reached satisfactory level. From the
dissatisfaction with the current situation, and the desire to make intervention to
improve the situation of teaching and learning listening, I decided to conduct:

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“An action research project on the use of metacognitive strategies to enhance
students’ listening comprehension in TOEIC tests at an English centre in Hanoi”.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The ultimate aim of the study is to see whether giving students instructions in
using metacognitive strategies help them improve their listening comprehension
in the TOEIC tests.

The objectives of this research are:
-

To find out the students’ employment of metacognitive strategies in listening
comprehension in the TOEIC tests before the intervention;

-

To investigate the extent to which giving the students instructions on
metacognitive strategies help them improve their listening comprehension skill
in TOEIC tests;

-

To find out the students’ feedbacks to the instructions of metacognitive strategies
in listening comprehension in TOEIC tests
3. Research methodology
Action research is appropriate for this research because the researcher has an
impact on learners through the involvement of the teacher in the process of
teaching and learning. The combination of different instruments, namely
questionnaires, interviews, pre-test and post-test in this research is hoped to gain
reliable data and help the researcher have a close investigation into the problems.
Pre-questionnaire will be conducted in the first week. It aims at investigating
the use of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension by students before
the intervention. Post-questionnaire and interview will be delivered in the last
week of the research. Post-questionnaire is used to collect feedback from students
about giving instructions of metacognitive strategies. Interviews are applied to
clarify the information collected from the questionnaires.
Pre-test and post-test are designed based on the actual TOEIC listening test.
They are marked to reveal any improvements students have made during the

research progress.
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Specifically, the study is conducted to answer the following research
questions:
 How did the students use metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension
in preparation for the TOEIC tests before the intervention?
 To what extent does giving students instructions on metacognitive strategies
help them enhance their listening comprehension in the TOEIC tests?
 What are the students’ feedbacks to the instructions of metacognitive strategies
in listening comprehension in the TOEIC tests?
4. Scope of the study
Due to the limited knowledge and time of the researcher, the investigation
could only be carried out on a small scale. This action research will be conducted
for only 8 lessons in the context of a certain group of 13 students from a class in
the English centre.
5. Structure of the study
This study is divided into three parts:
Part one “Introduction” presents the rationale of the study, aims, objectives,
research questions, scope, and methods of the study.
Part two “Development” consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 – Literature
review deals with the theoretical foundation for the research. Chapter 2 –
Methodology describes the methodology applied in the study including
participants, instruments, as well as the procedures of conducting the study.
Chapter 3 – Research findings and discussion presents the results of the research
and data analysis, from which major findings are revealed and discussed.
Part three “Conclusion” summarizes the major findings as well as points out
the limitation of the study. Suggestions for further study based on major findings
are also mentioned in this part.

6. Significance of the study
Metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension may provide a new look
into the teaching and learning of TOEIC listening skills especially at my English
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centre. Hopefully, it would enable students to learn listening and apply
metacognitive strategies in their listening comprehension. Also, these strategies
would be a helpful reference to teachers in the problems of insufficient methods
for teaching TOEIC listening. Apart from my centre, the study can also be
feasible for ESL or EFL teachers and students in other educational institutes.

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PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will explore some theoretical background relevant to the study. It firstly
discusses the concept of listening, the TOEIC listening test, metacognitive strategies
in listening comprehension, and later reviews previous studies related to the research.
1. Listening
It is believed that listening is a significant and essential element of communication in
a native language and in second language as well. As it was estimated that adults
spend 40-50% of their communication time on listening, (Holden, 2004), listening is
the most frequently used language skill.
There are a number of definitions of listening; however, the researcher would only
name some typical and most recent ones.
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, listening means paying attention to sound
(e.g. listen to music) or to hear something with thoughtful attention and giving

consideration (e.g. listen to a plea)
(Retrieved from />The definition in the dictionary merely describes what is on the surface, but not the
nature of “listening”.
Rost (2002) defines listening, in its broadest sense, as a process of receiving what the
speaker actually says; constructing and representing meaning; negotiating meaning
with the speaker and responding, creating meaning through involvement, imagination
and understanding. Similarly, Helgesen (2003) states that “listening is an active,
purposeful processing of making sense of what we hear.”
From these definitions, it is clear to summarize that the listener is doing more than
simply decoding what is heard. Listening is receiving what the speaker says then
actively interpreting what the listener hears with what he/she already knows.
In short, Vandergrift (2003) asserts a more precise definition of listening, which is a
receptive skill, a complex, active process of interpretation in which listeners try to
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suit what they hear with their prior knowledge. Therefore, students should work to
develop aural proficiency skills and strategies to help them manage the listening
comprehension process.
2. Listening comprehension
Listening comprehension is defined by O'Mally, Chamot, and Kupper (1989) that "an
active and conscious process in which the listener construct meaning by using cues
from contextual information and from existing knowledge, which relying upon
multiple strategies resources to fulfill the task requirement".
Buck, G (2001, p.31) shares the ideas that “listening comprehension is an active
process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge to the
incoming sounds” in which “different types of knowledge are involved: linguistic
knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge”. However, this definition did not explain
what is linguistic and non-linguistic.
Based on their definitions, listening comprehension is not a passive activity in which

listener receive information and then comprehend it but is a process-oriented activity
which process the aural input and combine background knowledge to information in
the listening text. Specifically, listeners must discriminate between sounds,
understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intention,
retain and interpret this within the immediate as well as the larger socio-cultural
context of the utterance (Wipf, 1984). It requires listeners to be active processors of
information and to make meaning from the oral input by drawing from their
background knowledge of the world and the second language and produce
information in their long term memory and make their own interpretations of the
spoken passages. (Young, 1997).
There are two distinct processes involved in listening comprehension. Listeners use
'top-down' processes when they use prior knowledge to understand the meaning of a
message. Prior knowledge can be knowledge of the topic, the listening context, the
text-type, the culture or other information stored in long-term memory. Listeners use
content words and contextual clues to infer what the intentions of the speaker may
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have been. On the other hand, listeners also use 'bottom-up' processes when they use
linguistic knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. They build meaning
from lower level sounds: syllables, words, grammatical relationships, to lexical
meanings in order to arrive at the final message. In bottom-up processing, the learner
uses sound input to guess what a word might be, based on matching initial sounds to
his known lexicon. Listening comprehension is not either top-down or bottom-up
processing, but an interactive, interpretive process where listeners use both prior
knowledge and linguistic knowledge in understanding messages. The degree to which
listeners use the one process or the other will depend on their knowledge of the
language, familiarity with the topic or the purpose for listening. For example,
listening for gist involves primarily top-down processing, whereas listening for
specific information involves primarily bottom-up processing.

Based on the above mentioned statements, listening comprehension is a cognitive
skill, an active and conscious process, in which listeners focus their own attentions
on taking the information from the aural input, comprehend the meaning of the input,
and combine them with the contextual information and background knowledge to
produce output (O’Malley, Chamot & Küpper, 1989). It may develop through
acquisition of learning strategies. Consequently, having knowledge and the use of
effective strategies such as metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension can
help learners to understand most of the language input.
3. Overview of the TOEIC listening test
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is defined as a
standardized test that measures learners’ listening and reading skills. Since 1979, test
taker numbers have steadily increased and today the TOEIC test is one of the most
internationally recognized English proficiency exams in the world. An increasing
number of companies worldwide use the TOEIC to set targets for English proficiency
for the purposes of hiring new workers, transfers to different companies, or for
promotion to management positions. TOEIC is also being used within academic
contexts as a way of screening candidates for their graduate programs.
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Traditionally and popularly, TOEIC is a paper-and-pencil test consisting two
sections: listening and reading comprehension. There are 100 multiple-choice
questions in each section. Each section score scales ranging from 5 to 495 and total
score scales ranging from 10 to 990.
TOEIC listening is a kind of listening comprehension. Firstly, the listening section
requires test takers to be familiar with different native speaking accents, including the
US, Canadian, British, and Australian speakers. Many students have difficulty
understanding speakers with other accents. To overcome this, it is important that
students be exposed to a variety of English accents. Secondly, students need to be
aware of the sound changes that occur in natural English speech. The sound of words

spoken in natural conversation can differ dramatically from words spoken in isolation
(e.g. going to and gonna). Helping students become aware of the ways that sounds
are combined, dropped, and changed in natural speech can significantly improve their
listening comprehension, both for the TOEIC test and in the real world. Thirdly,
listening section in TOEIC test requires students to understand language in use
(conversational English). The English used in the TOEIC test reflects everyday usage
as encountered in offices, shops, and on the street in English speaking environments
around the world. In order to do well on the test students must be given exposure to
English as it is really used. Finally, success on the TOEIC test requires an extensive
range of vocabulary and knowledge of how these words change and are organized
grammatically. Vocabulary is one of the most significant factors in doing well on the
test, and any effective study program should include an organized system for noting
and reviewing words and phrases that students encounter as they study.
The TOEIC listening test includes 100 questions with a time limit of approximately
45 minutes. It is divided into 4 sections, namely: picture description (10 questions),
question and responses (30 questions), short conversations (30 questions) and short
talks (30 questions). The listeners’ ability to understand what they hear and choose
the correct answer is evaluated. It might be a detail to remember, an inference to
make, or main idea that they need to comprehend.
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Part 1: pictures description (10 questions)
In this part, examinees see a picture and hear four descriptive statements about it. The
picture can represent people, things, actions and places. Listeners must select the
statement that best describes what is presented in the picture. Listeners hear the
sentences only once, and must make their choice immediately after that. The
photographs show people in typical workplace settings as well as in everyday
situations. There are three question types in this part. They are: location questions,
action questions (active or passive form), situation questions (the condition of things

in the pictures)
The best way to approach these questions is to scan the picture completely and
identify what’s happening. Part 1 requires predicting the type of possible statements
students may hear, brainstorming nouns and verbs related to the picture before they
listen, determining the focus or main idea of the picture, identifying common
distractors such as similar sounding words or words of the same form but different
parts of speech, and understanding natural spoken English.
For example:
[Audio script]
(A) The firefighters are rescuing a woman.
(B) The firefighters are riding in a truck.
(C) The firefighters are holding a hose.
(D) The firefighters are holding a child.

The correct answer is C

Part 2: Questions and responses (30 questions)
In this part, the test taker will hear a short exchange between two speakers with a
question and three possible responses. They must choose the response that best
answer the question. The question may ask about people, location, time, an activity,
an event, emotions, reasons or opinions in everyday conversational English. The
question types include 3 types: Questions with an interrogative word (Who, whose,
9


whom, what, which, where, when, why, how), questions with no interrogative word,
(be/do, auxiliary verbs, modal verbs) and other types of questions like indirect
questions, tag questions, negative questions, alternative questions, declarative
sentences, requests and suggestions.
In order to do well in part 2, students need to identify the correct responses to each

type of questions, listen for answers with related details or explanations, listen for
key words (nouns, verbs, question words) to help them avoid distractors and find the
correct answer choice, distinguishing between confusing words, be aware of the
language commonly used in social interactions including offer, request, and opinions.
For example: [audio script]
What are you going to do after the meeting?
(A) I went to a natural history museum.
(B) I have to finish a marketing report.
(C) I didn't know about his birthday.

The correct answer is B.
Part 3: Short conversations (30 questions)
In this part, examinees will hear 10 short dialogues. After each conversation, they are
asked to answer 3 questions about what the speakers say. There are four possible
answers for each questions. The questions will ask about the general idea of the
conversation or specific details. Students will be asked to identify an activity, an
emotion, a relationship, or the location of the speakers. In some cases, they may have
to do some minor calculations based on measurements in the dialogues. They will
need to use short term memories as well.
Tactics in part 3 include previewing each set of 3 questions and predicting possible
vocabulary and expressions that are related, identifying the key words in the questions
together with their corresponding answer choices, paraphrasing, identifying same
word distractors, inferring things about the situation, be familiar with language
common to negative responses.
For example:
[Audio script]
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Questions 41 through 43 refer to the following conversation.

(W) Hello, Excelsior Hotel. How may I help you?
(M) Hi. I telephoned yesterday to make a reservation for two single rooms over the weekend of
the first. I'd like to add a third room to my reservation.
(W) OK, let me check availability for you. I'll need your last name and reservation number,
please.
(M) Certainly. The last name is Jordan and my number is 1076KJ.
41. What is the man doing?
(A) Changing a flight reservation
(B) Changing a hospital room
(C) Reserving an extra hotel room
(D) Canceling a hotel room
42. What information does the woman need?
(A) A telephone number and address
(B) A name and reservation number
(C) A name and cell phone number
(D) A date of birth
43. What is "Jordan"?
(A) The woman's name
(B) The man's given name
(C) The man's family name
(D) The man's pet dog

Part 4: Short talks (30 questions)
In this part, the test takers will hear a short monologue, followed by 3 questions. The
difference from part 3 is that instead of a conversation, the listening features a single
speaker giving a talk: a news report, an advertisement, an acceptance speech, a
weather forecast and etc.
There are 4 types of questions in this part, which are: main idea questions, fact and
detail questions, inference questions, and cause and effect questions.
Similar to part 3, this part requires students to pick out the key words from the

questions and also the answer choices to help predicting what students are going to
hear and focus on what students have to listen for, brainstorm words related to the
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answer choices to identify information in the talk that restates the answer choices,
understand the main idea of the talk, listen for meaning, not just the key words.
For example:
[Audio script]
Questions 71 through 73 refer to the following news report.
(W) The top business story today is American Aircraft Manufacturer's success at drumming up
business in Europe. AAM has won a slew of aircraft orders worth 1.6 billion dollars. They have
received 30 orders for their new model, the 62F plane, to be delivered in such countries as England,
Norway, France, and Germany. With the total European orders, AAM will be manufacturing 60 more
planes than it sold in all of 1995. The company has pulled itself from the brink of failure to expected
net profits of no less than 13 billion dollars this year. This unexpected turnaround is thanks to the
innovative marketing approach implemented by CEO, Mark Simpson, since he took over the
company in April. Mr. Simpson was unavailable for comment.
71. What is the top story?
(A) AAM's plans to build factories
(B) AAM's success in foreign sales
(C) AAM's impending financial failure
(D) AAM's new commercial airplanes
72. To which countries will AAM deliver aircraft?
(A) England, Norway, Spain, and Austria
(B) England, Norway, France, and Germany
(C) England, Sweden, France, and Germany
(D) England, Denmark, Italy, and Germany
73. Who is credited with this change?
(A) AAM

(B) European orders
(C) Mark Simpson
(D) Credit cards

The definition of listening, listening comprehension and listening in the TOEIC
test helps the researcher to understand the theoretical background of the terms
related to “listening” in the research.

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4. Metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension
As stated above, listening in the TOEIC test is listening comprehension which
requires strategy use and teaching students how to use strategies can enhance the
process of listening comprehension. Among those, metacognitive strategies are
considered effective tools for successful listening. With the help of metacognitive
strategies, language learners’ performance is improved in a number of ways,
including better use of prior knowledge, better use of strategies, and better preparation
to make conscious decisions about what they can do to improve their learning.
4.1. Definition of metacognition
In cognitive psychology, metacognition is defined as an executive control which
includes monitoring and self-regulation. It refers to thinking about one’s thinking or
the human ability to be conscious of one’s mental processes (Nelson, 1996). In this
definition, it is not quite clear to the readers what is “thinking about one’s thinking”.
According to Flavell (1976), metacognitive knowledge is “one’s knowledge
concerning one’s own cognitive processes and products or anything related to them”,
and the capacity for “active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration
of these processes in relation to the cognitive objects or data on which they bear,
usually in the service of some concrete goal or objective”. This definition seems to
cover the concept of metacognition in the most complete sense.

Based on the above mentioned characteristics of metacognition, metacognition are
thoughts or behaviors consciously employed by the learner to think about the learning
task, plan for the task, monitor the task, and evaluate how well he/she has completed
the task.
4.2. Definition of metacognitive strategies
The mental processes that listeners use to understand spoken English can be broadly
described as listening comprehension strategies. Listening should be approached as a
skill requiring strategy use and teaching students how to use these strategies leads to
improvement in listening ability. Among well-known language learning strategies in
listening are metacognitive strategies.
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O’Malley and Chamot (1990) states that “metacognitive strategies involve thinking
about the learning process, planning for learning, monitoring comprehension or
production while it is taking place, as self-evaluation of learning after the learning
activity is completed” (p. 137). Therefore, these strategies have an executive function.
Goh (1998) defines metacognitive strategies as the techniques that “involve thinking
about the way information is processed and stored, taking appropriate steps to manage
and regulate these cognitive processes” (p. 126).
According to Liu (2008), metacognitive strategies include skills which require more
complex processes involving attention, strategic thinking, and the ability to engage
in self-monitoring and self-evaluation.
Each of the definition above mention aspects of metacognitive strategies. The
definition of metacognitive strategies proposed by Holden (2004) has summed up all
previous definitions: metacognitive strategies are the actions that learners use
consciously while listening to a spoken text attentively, dealing with knowing about
learning. With the help of this language learning strategy, learners are involved in
thinking about the process of learning while they are planning, monitoring, and
evaluating their own learning. Learners checkup and appraise their comprehension of

the listening text.
4.3. Differences between cognitive and metacognitive strategies
The cognitive strategies are separate learning activities and they are basically
activities that are used by learners in order to understand the linguistic input and get
knowledge. For example, when a learner finds a difficult word in a text and inferring
the meaning of that word from the context, in fact he used the cognitive strategy. In
addition, cognitive strategies are those that control the input or use a certain skill to
complete a particular task. According to O'Malley and Chamot (1990), cognitive
strategies enable learners to understand and produce new language by many different
ways. Cognitive strategies may include repeating, translation, grouping, note taking,
deducting, imagery, auditory representation, transferring…

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On the other hand, the metacognitive strategies refer to the actions that learners use
consciously while listening to a spoken text attentively. Metacognitive strategies are
rather a sequence of tactics that are used. They may include planning for learning,
thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, monitoring of one's
production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed.
In short, the distinguishing feature between cognition and metacognition is that a
listener might use a cognitive listening strategy to comprehend or make progress, but
a metacognition would monitor the process (Flavell, 1985), and include both selfreflection and self-direction.
4.4. The role of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension
Metacognitive strategy is not one single tactic or skill, but rather a sequence of tactics
that are used. In details, using metacognitive strategies means learners thinking about
their understanding in the language. Listeners build on more insights in the listening
process, and are able to question themselves. They involve themselves in the process
of connecting new information to known material, creating practice chances, and of
self-evaluation. L2 learners focus on their learning processes, arranging and planning

their learning activities, and then evaluating their learning progress. For instance,
while listening, listeners review new information and link it with already known
material, and pay extra attention to main ideas. After lectures, they self-identify errors
in their understanding, try to avoid errors the next time, self-evaluate their progress,
and come to better understand the new language in the future. Then they set shortterm and long-term goals in order to use English in academic settings (Oxford, 1990;
Vandergrift, 1997, 2003a).
The definition of metacognition, metacognitive strategies, the difference between
cognition and metacognition and the role of metacognitive strategies provides the
researcher and also the readers with conceptual framework of metacognitive
strategies.

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4.5. Types of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension
(O’Malley and Chamot, 1990, p. 137, 138) proposed the following categories of
metacognitive strategies that can be used to carry out listening tasks:
a) Planning: Organizing concept or principle of an anticipated learning task;
proposing strategies for handling an upcoming task; generating a plan for the parts,
main ideas, or language functions to be used in handling a task.
b) Directed attention: Deciding in advance to attend to a learning task and to ignore
irrelevant distractors; maintaining attention during task execution.
c) Selective attention: Deciding in advance to attend to specific aspects of language
input or situational details that assist in performance of a task; attending to specific
aspects of language input during task execution.
d) Self-management: Understanding the conditions that help one successfully
accomplish language tasks and arranging for the presence of those conditions;
controlling one’s language performance to maximize use of what is already known.
e) Self-monitoring: Checking, verifying, or correcting one’s comprehension or
performance in the course of a language task

f) Problem Identification: Explicitly identifying the central point needing resolution
in a task or identifying an aspect of the task that hinders its successful completion.
g) Self-evaluation: Checking the outcomes of one’s own language performance
against an internal measure of completeness and accuracy; checking one’s language
repertoire, strategy use, or ability to perform the task at hand.
h) Production evaluation: Checking one’s work when the task is finished.
i) Performance evaluation: Judging one’s overall execution of the task.
j) Ability evaluation: Judging one’s ability to perform the task.
k) Strategy evaluation: Judging one’s strategy use when the task is completed.
l) Language repertoire evaluation: Judging how much one knows of the L2, at the
word, phrase, sentence, or concept level.
CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach) was developed by
Chamot and O’Malley (1994, p.43-44) as a metacognitive strategy training model. It
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