2.3.2　Metacognitive Listening Awareness and Strategies

2.3.2MetacognitiveListeningAwarenessandStrategiesThissectionfirstintroducesmethodsthatstudieshaveusedtoinvestigatemetacognitivelisteningawarenessandstrategies.Thenitreportsstudiesofmetacognitivelisteningawareness-raising.Finallythissectionreviewsresearchinmetacognitivelisteningstrategytraining.

2.3.2.1MethodstoInvestigateMetacognitiveListeningAwarenessandStrategies

Thescopeoflisteningstrategyresearchhasrecentlyexpandedtoemphasizelearners'metacognitiveknowledge.Listenersareaskedtoexplicitlyreporttheirperceptionsaboutthemselves,theirunderstandingoflisteningdemands,theircognitivegoals,theirapproachtolisteningtasks,andtheirlisteningstrategies.Toelicitlearners'metacognitiveknowledgeaboutlistening,variousprocedureshavebeenused,mostcommonlydiaries(Goh,1997),interviews(Goh,2002a),andquestionnaires(Goh,2002b;Vandergrift,2002&2005a).ResultsofthesestudieshaveshownthatL2learnerspossessknowledgeaboutlisteningprocess,albeittovaryingdegrees,andthatthisknowledgeappearstobelinkedtolisteningabilities.

Onecommonmethodthatresearchershaveusedtoassesslearners'metacognitiveawarenessinlisteningistheanalysisofdiaries.Goh(1997)administeredoneoftheearlieststudiesexaminingmetacognitiveawarenessofL2listenersthroughdiaries.FortyadultChineseESLlearnersinSingaporewereaskedtokeepadiaryfortenweeksabouttheirlisteningstudy,i.e.,theirreflectionsonwhattheydidtounderstandbetterandhowtheypracticedtheirlisteningafterclass.Goharguedthatkeepingadiaryprovidedtherightstimulusforstudentstoreflectontheirlistening.

Inadditiontosuchqualitativeanalysisoftextsasdiaries,questionnaireshavealsobeenused.Vandergrift(2005a)usedan18-itemquestionnairetoassessstudents'metacognitiveawarenessofthelisteningprocessesandstrategies.Participantsratedtheextenttowhichtheiteminthequestionnairedescribedtheiractualuseofeachstrategyonascalerangingfrom1to5.Ahighscoreindicatedstrongagreementwiththestatementoftheitem.However,resultsofthestudywerelimitedbecausethequestionnaireusedinthestudywasnotsufficientlycomprehensive(18itemsonly)andhadnotbeensubjectedtorigorousvalidationprocedures.

Tomakeupfortheinadequacyoftheinstrument,Vandergriftetal.(2006)developedtheMetacognitiveAwarenessListeningQuestionnaire(MALQ)toassessL2learners'awarenessandperceiveduseoflisteningstrategies.TovalidatetheMALQ,Vandergriftandhiscolleaguesconductedanexploratoryandaconfirmatoryfactoranalysiswithtwolargeanddifferentsamplesoflanguagelearners.BasedonFlavell's(1979)theoreticalmodelofmetacognition,theMALQconsistsof21itemsrelatedtofivemetacognitivefactors:problemsolving,planning-evaluation,mentaltranslation,personknowledgeanddirectedattention.Table4showsthestrategiesineachofthefivedistinctmetacognitivefactorsbasedonVandergriftetal.(2006,p.462).Participantsratedtheextenttowhichtheitemsinthequestionnairedescribedtheirperceptionandactualuseofstrategiesonascalerangingfrom1to6.Ahighscoreindicatedstrongagreementwiththestatementoftheitem.

TheMALQhasbeenusedextensivelytomeasurechangesinlisteners'metacognitiveawareness(e.g.,Mareschal,2007;O'Bryan&Hegelheimer,2009;Vandergrift&Tafaghodtari,2010),andthequestionnairecanbeadministeredretrospectively,i.e.immediatelyafteralisteningtask,oratanytimeduringalisteningcourse,dependingonitspurpose.Inadditiontobeingaresearchinstrument,thisquestionnairecanalsobeusedasateachingtoolforraisinglearners'awarenessaboutL2listening,aswasinthestudybyCoskun(2010).

Table4MetacognitiveStrategiesbytheFiveFactorsintheMALQ

(Source:Vandergriftetal.,2006,p.462)

2.3.2.2MetacognitiveListeningAwarenessRaisingStudies

Raisinglearners'metacognitiveawarenessaboutlisteninghasbeenadvocatedforalongtimenow(e.g.,Mendelsohn,1994).ESL/EFLteachersareadvisedtohelptheirstudentstodevelopmetacognitivelisteningawareness.Giventheimportanceofmetacognitiveawarenessinsuccessfullistening,researchersbegantoinvestigatetheeffectofraisinglearners'awarenessonlisteningcomprehension.Severalrecentstudieshaveshownthatmetacognitiveknowledgecanbeincreasedthroughclassroominstruction(e.g.,Vandergrift,2002&2003b)orpeer-peerdialogue(Cross,2010).

Vandergriftinvestigatedtheeffectofastrategy-basedapproachonstudentawarenessofthelisteningprocess.Intwoinvestigations,studentswereguidedintheuseofprediction,individualplanning,peerdiscussions,andpost-listeningreflections.Bothbeginner-levelelementaryschoolstudents(Vandergrift,2002)andbeginner-leveluniversitystudentsofFrench(Vandergrift,2003b)exposedtosuchanapproachfounditmotivatingtolearntounderstandrapid,authentic-typetextsandrespondedoverwhelminglyinfavorofthisapproach.Studentscommentedonthepowerofpredictionsforsuccessfullistening,theimportanceofcollaborationwithapartnerformonitoring,andtheconfidence-buildingroleofthisapproachforenhancingtheirabilitytocomprehendoraltexts.Vandergrift'ssequenceforguidedlisteningwasadoptedforteachingtertiary-levelChineseESLstudents;theytooreportedincreasedmotivation,confidence,andstrategyknowledge(Liu&Goh,2006).

Fromasocioculturalperspective,Cross(2010)administeredasmall-scalestudyexploringmetacognitiveawarenessofL2listeninginJapan.TwelveJapanesefemaleadultEFLlearnerswereputin6pairsandenrolledinfive90-minutelessons.Ineachlesson,theparticipantsfollowedthepedagogicalcyclebasedonVandergrift(2007),i.e.,thefivestagesconsistedofprediction:firstlistening,secondlistening,verification,andreflection(p.199).Thepedagogicalcyclewasmodifiedtoincludeexplicitsharing,selecting,andreflectingonlisteningstrategiesbylearnersasamechanismforstimulatingtheirmetacognitiveawareness.UnlikethestudiesbyVandergrift(2002&2003b),theparticipantsinthisstudydidnotreceiveanyinputfromtheresearcherthroughouttheresearch,butautonomouslycompletedthetasksequenceattheirownpaceguidedbyapromptsheet.ThelisteningtextsusedinthestudywereBBCNewsvideotexts.Eachofthefivelessonswasaudioandvideorecordedforsubsequenttranscriptionandanalysis.Attheendofeachsession,learnersspent15minutesindividuallywritinginadiarytheirreflectionsonthepedagogicalcycle,newsvideotext,successesanddifficulties,workingwiththeirpartner,andwhattheyfelttheylearnedfromtheirpartnerinthelesson.

ThestudyresultsofCross(2010)showedthatpeer-to-peerdialoguewasthecentralmechanismmediatingtheconstructionandco-constructionofmetacognitiveawareness,anditalsoactedastheprimaryunitofanalysis.Thequalitativeandquantitativeanalysisofthesixpairs'dialoguesandcorrespondingdiaryentriesshowedthatthroughthedialoguestheytookpartinaspartofthestructuredpedagogicalcycle,theywereabletoexploitopportunitiestoenhancetheirL2metacognitivelisteningawareness.

2.3.2.3MetacognitiveListeningStrategyTrainingStudies

Researchontheeffectsofmetacognitiveinstructionhasprovidedpreliminaryevidencethatperformance,confidence,andmotivationcanbeenhancedthroughclassroominstruction(e.g.,Goh&Yusnita,2006;Vandergrift&Tafaghodtari,2010).

Onecommonapproachtometacognitiveinstructioninlisteningisasequenceofactivitiesthatencourageplanning,monitoring,andevaluatingstrategiesusedwhenlisteningtoaselectedtext.Chamot(1995)suggestedaprocedurewhereteachersmodelhowtheythemselvesusestrategieswhenlisteningtoatapeorwatchingavideowithnewinformation.Beforelistening,theteacherwouldreadaloudaboutwhatheorshealreadyknowsaboutthetopicandwhatwordsonemightexpecttohear.Afterlisteningtoashortsegmentofthetext,theteacherwouldreadaloudagain,describingthementalprocessesinvolvedduringlistening,commentingalsoonwhetherthepredictionshavebeenconfirmedorrejected.Finally,theteacherevaluateshisorheruseofstrategiesfortheparticulartext.Listeningtasksthatguidestudentsthroughtheprocessoflistening,i.e.,byengagingthemintheuseofprediction,monitoring,evaluating,andproblemsolving,canhelplearnersdevelopthemetacognitiveknowledgecriticaltothedevelopmentofself-regulatedlistening.

Toexplorethebenefitsofmetacognitivelisteningtraining,Goh&Yusnita(2006)conductedasmall-scalestudywith10primaryschoolpupilsinSingapore.Eightlisteninglessonswereconducted.Eachlessonfollowedathree-stagesequence:listen,answer—reflect—report,anddiscuss.Inanadditionallessonconductedtheweekafterthelastlisteninglesson,eachpupilwroteashortreflectionontheirlisteningabilityattheendoftheeightsessionssoastoconsolidatetheirmetacognitiveknowledgeaboutthelisteningprocess.Toassessthevalueofmetacognitiveinstruction,theresearchersalsocomparedthepupils'listeningtestscoresbeforeandaftertheintervention.Theresultsledtheresearcherstoaconclusionthattheprocess-basedlessonshadtwobenefitsforyoungL2learners.Firstly,thepupilsreportedanincreaseintheirconfidenceandmetacognitiveknowledge.Morespecifically,theirstrategyknowledgehadincreased.Secondly,therewasstrongindicationthatmetacognitiveinstructionhadcontributedtothepupils'improvementinlisteningtestscores.

O'Bryan&Hegelheimer(2009)investigatedthemetacognitivelisteningstrategyuseandawarenessoffourintermediatestudentsoveraone-semester-longESLlisteningcourseatauniversityintheUnitedStates.Aseriesofdifferenttypesofclassroom-basedlisteningstrategiesweredesignedbytheinstructorsandtaughttothestudentsintheformofpodcastswhichfocusedoneitherdemonstratingorencouragingstudentstoreviewandpracticelisteningstrategies.Atthebeginningandtheendofthelisteningcourse,theMetacognitiveAwarenessListeningQuestionnaire(Vandergriftetal.,2006)wasadministeredasapretest-posttestinstrumenttoexploretheimpactoflisteningstrategyinstructionandtoassessthestudents'growingmetacognitiveawarenessofstrategies.Verbalprotocols,semi-structuredinterviewsandstudentnoteswerealsousedasinstrumentstocollectdatafortheinvestigationofthestudents'listening.Thestudyidentifiedstudents'useofsuchmetacognitivestrategiesasdouble-checkmonitoring,comprehensionmonitoring,problemidentificationandadvancedorganization.Theinvestigationofdevelopmentofmetacognitiveawarenessthroughoutthesemesteridentifiedincreasedawarenessinproblemsolvingstrategiesandpersonknowledgebutnochangeintheawarenessofplanning-evaluationstrategiesusedbythestudents.Contrarytotheresearchers'hypothesis,thestudyfoundthatthelowest-proficiencystudentdemonstratedanincreaseintheuseofmentaltranslationstrategiesafteraonesemester'slisteningcourse,aresultmatchingVandergrift's(1997b)finding.

Thisstudysetafineexampleofusingmixedmethodapproachesforbothqualitativeandquantitativedatasoastoachieveinsightintostudents'listeningcomprehensionstrategiesandthedevelopmentofstudents'metacognitiveawarenessinlistening.WhiletheMALQprovidedaquantitativemeasure,additionalqualitativedatasuchasinterviewsandnoteshelpedtogiveafullerunderstandingofstudents'responsesontheMALQ.However,thefindingsofthestudycannotbegeneralizedasthesampleconsistedofonlyfourstudents(duetoclassabsence,onlythreeparticipantscompletedtheMALQ).

Vandergrift&Tafaghodtari(2010)carriedoutanempiricalstudytoinvestigatetheeffectsofametacognitive,process-basedapproachtoteaching106FSL(Frenchasasecondlanguage)university-levelstudentsL2listeningoverasemester.Theexperimentalgrouplistenedtotextsusingamethodologythatledlearnersthroughthemetacognitiveprocesses,whereasthesametextsweretaughttothecontrolgroupwithoutanyguidedattentiontolisteningprocesses.Alisteningtestwasadministeredatthebeginningandtheendofthestudy,andthedevelopmentinthestudents'metacognitiveknowledgeaboutlisteningwasmeasuredusingtheMALQ(Vandergriftetal.,2006)atthebeginning,middle,andendpointsofthestudy,immediatelyafteralisteningactivity.Resultsdemonstratedthatthegroupreceivingthemetacognitiveinstructionsignificantlyoutperformedthecontrolgrouponthefinaltestoflisteningcomprehension,andthelessskilledlistenersintheexperimentalgroupmadegreatergainsthantheirmoreskilledpeersinthegroup.ThestudyalsoprovidedevidenceofagrowingawarenessofthemetacognitiveprocessesunderlyingsuccessfulL2listening.

ArecentstudybyCoskun(2010)investigatedtheeffectofmetacognitivestrategytrainingonthelisteningperformanceoffortybeginning-levelstudentsatapreparatoryschoolofaTurkishuniversity.Thestudentsweredividedintoanexperimentalgroupandacontrolgroup(twentystudentsineachgroup).Eachlisteningtaskintheexperimentalgroupfollowedthe「CALLAstrategytrainingmodel」(Chamot&O'Malley,1994),i.e.,preparation,presentation,practice,evaluationandexpansion.Themetacognitivestrategiesembeddedinthelisteninginstructionincludedplanning,monitoring,evaluationandproblemidentificationstrategies.Asastrategytraininginstrument,theMALQdesignedbyVandergriftetal.(2006)wasutilizedtokeepthestudents'metacognitivestrategyawarenessfreshthroughoutthetrainingandtohelpthemtouse,identifyanddeveloplearningstrategiesinasystematicway.Twolisteningcomprehensiontestswereadministeredatthebeginningandendofthetrainingasthepre-testandposttest.Bothtestsweredesignedtobesimilartothelisteningactivitiesinwhichthestrategytrainingwasembedded.Thefirstpartofthetestswasguessingaboutthemaintopicofthetextafterlisteningtoonlythebeginningoftherecording.Thesecondpartofthetestsrequiredthestudentstolistentotheentiretextandanswersomerelatedmultiplechoicequestions.Resultsshowedasignificantdifferenceintheposttestsoresinfavoroftheexperimentalgroup.CoskunthusconcludedthatthemetacognitivestrategytrainingfacilitatedL2listeningcomprehension.

ThoughthelasttwostudiesreviewedaboveinvolvedlisteningcomprehensiontestsandtheMetacognitiveAwarenessListeningQuestionnaire(MALQ),noattemptwasmadetoinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenstudents'listeningproficiencyandtheirmetacognitivelisteningawareness.Totheauthor'sknowledge,therehasbeennostudycarriedouttodateinvestigatingtherelationshipbetweenlearners'listeningproficiencyandtheirmetacognitivelisteningawareness,inspitetheMALQcouldbeutilizedinthisway.

Findingsfromabovethestudieshaveindicatedthatmetacognitiveinstructioninlisteningcanbebeneficial.Goh(2008)summarizedthebenefitsofmetacognitiveinstructioninthefollowingways:

1.Itimprovesaffectinlistening,helpinglearnerstobemoreconfident,moremotivatedandlessanxious;

2.Ithasapositiveeffectonlisteningperformance;and

3.Weaklistenerspotentiallybenefitthegreatestfromit.(p.196)

Thequalitativestudiesreviewedabovepointtothepromiseofastrategy-basedapproachtoteachingL2listening.Althoughtheresultsfromthesestudieshavebeenencouraging,mostofthestudiesinvolvedverysmallsamples.ExceptforVandergrift&Tafaghodtari'sstudyin2010,thesamplesinmostofthestudieswereunder20.Thustheirresultsarenotgeneralizable.

AnotherissueishowtobestutilizetheMALQ.Besidesusingitasatooltodescribeorassesschangesinlearnermetacognitionresultingfrominstruction(asinO'Bryan&Hegelheimer,2009;Vandergrift&Tafaghodtari,2010;andCoskun,2010),quantitativedatacollectedfromtheMALQcanbecorrelatedwiththeparticipants'listeningtestscores.Bypresentingcorrelationsbetweenlisteningproficiencyandmetacognitiveawareness,studiesinthisareacanexaminetherelationshipbetweendifferentlisteningstrategiesandlisteningcomprehension,whichisapurposeofthepresentresearch.