Korea TESOL Journal

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Korea TESOL Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 Procedure Borrowing from the frameworks developed by researchers such as Oxford (1990) and Anderson (2002), the current study used the following approach in conducting metacognitive strategy training: 1. Determine language learning goals for each learner and devise strategies for achieving stated goals. 2. Conduct in-class strategy training and assign learner-chosen strategies to be done at home throughout the training period. 3. Discuss and reflect on the strategies the learners practiced in class and at home. 4. Evaluate the impact of the strategy-training program both qualitatively and quantitatively. The strategy training took place over five 90-minute class periods over the course of two weeks. Before it commenced, learners were informed of the purpose of the training: to develop metacognitive awareness and develop study strategies to reach individualized language learning goals. They were also informed that their data would be used in the current study. Goals and Objectives On the first day of training, students were given the “questionnaire for determining language learning goals and objectives” from Oxford (1990, p. 179) to complete in class. In this questionnaire, Oxford defines goals as long-term achievements, such as understanding 80% of a given news article or speaking with little or no hesitation. Objectives are defined as the tasks done to achieve a certain goal. An objective, therefore, may involve reading a news article in English twice a week until the learner is satisfied with the percent of the article that he or she understood. The students were told to make a list of their own language learning goals and to brainstorm some objectives to meet their goals. After completing the questionnaire, the students discussed their goals and objectives together, and were encouraged to comment and offer suggestions to their peers. The teacher also commented on the students’ goals and offered task suggestions. Completion of this questionnaire 128 Lee A. Mordell
Korea TESOL Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 accomplished two tasks: First, it helped learners recognize their learning needs, and second, it established specific tasks for the students to work on throughout the week. To ensure that students gained sufficient opportunity to work on their goals, homework was assigned nightly. For homework, students were encouraged to work on one of the objectives they wrote on the questionnaire and think about the effectiveness of that approach. The next day, the learners discussed which task they did, how it related to their goal, and offered suggestions and advice to their peers. This discussion was done at the beginning of each class throughout the training. One aspect of having metacognitive awareness is being able to identify the purpose of a language task. In-class training took place on the second day. The training involved completing a language task while thinking about the goal and objective of that particular task. Before completing a reading task, learners were told that the goal of the task was to improve reading speed and the objective was to read the article for gist in under two minutes. Students were instructed not to read every word and to focus on the key words of the article. In this way, metacognitive awareness of a language task’s purpose was invoked. For each task done in class, learners were explicitly told that the activity could be replicated outside of class and were encouraged to try it for homework. This procedure was repeated for each language task done in class for the remainder of the training. In addition to identifying the purpose of a language task, other metacognitive strategies were developed before beginning a task. Students centered their learning and focused on the task at hand by linking the task with previous knowledge. This was achieved through pre-reading or pre-listening tasks, such as conducting a classroom discussion on the topic related to the listening or reading material or brainstorming related vocabulary. Students also planned for the language they needed to complete a task. For instance, before a speaking task in which students describe a childhood memory, students were encouraged to use linguistic features that would be present in a typical version of this task, such as using the past tense, and linking ideas and events using cohesive devices while they discussed their ideas. The above metacognitive strategies allow learners to effectively plan for a task. After completing a task, learners were instructed to evaluate their performance. In practice, this can be achieved by a student monitoring how effectively he or she is performing a task. While Implementing Metacognitive Strategy Training with Korean Adult Learners 129
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