Metacognitive Instruction, Metacognitive Development, Listening Comprehension Skill

The importance of metacognition in learning has been well recognized in cognitive psychology and second language learning. The present study, as a quasi-experimental research, examined the impact of the metacognitive strategy instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension skill. The participants of this research were 60 male and female Iranian EFL learners (30 male, 30 female) studying at Parsa English Institute, Tehran, Iran. They were selected out of 120 upper intermediate EFL learners based on their performance on the Nelson General English test and the listening section of an IELTS test. After assigning the participants randomly to the experimental and the control groups, they were given the listening section of an IELTS test as the pre-test of the study. The experimental group was provided with metacognitive training sessions separately (Chamot 2005). The instruction included teaching planning, monitoring, and evaluating strategies to the learners. The results of the study suggested that implementing metacognitive instruction improved learners’ metacognition and listening comprehension ability.

metacognitive instruction, listening comprehension, foreign language teaching, Iranian EFL learners