METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LISTENING AND THE ROLE OF STRATEGY TRAINING

Abstract

Listening is an essential skill and plays a crucial role in learning and using a second language. It is stated by various researchers that learners become successful and efficient listeners by means of employing strategies during listening (Gilakjani & Ahmadi, 2011). This study included the aim to provide learners with training in two different types of listening strategies, namely note-taking and shadowing. While there is abundant information on L2 learners’ metacognitive awareness in listening, there is the need to analyze metacognition in relation to different listening strategies. For this purpose, the present study intends to investigate the influence of note-taking and shadowing as two listening strategies on learners’ awareness of their own second language listening process. The specific research question asked was: Is there a significant difference in metacognitive listening awareness levels of students who receive shadowing training and who receive note-taking training? In order to gather data, the Meta-cognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) was implemented on 82 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners who were pre-intermediate level students at the language preparatory classes of a state university in Turkey. Half of the participants had shadowing instruction and practice, whereas the other half had note-taking instruction and practice in their listening lessons for six weeks. All of the participants answered the questionnaire both before and after the treatment period. In order to analyze the data, means were calculated and statistical tests were run. To compare the listening meta-cognitive awareness levels of students in the two groups, the Mann Whitney U-test was employed. Results show a statistically significant difference between the two groups on twelve items in various components of the scale, with the advantage of shadowing group.