Chinese EFL Learners' Metacognition And Achievement In English Learning

Metacognition refers to higher order thinking that involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. A simple definition of metacognition is "thinking about thinking". In the EFL context, teachers will consent that no task could be carried out successfully without a considerable degree of the learners' taking responsibility. Metacognition, as an essential part in promoting learner autonomy, has been one of the buzzwords in educational psychology. However, most of the limited studies related to the role of metacognition in facilitating learning are mainly done in foreign context, and more often than not, the results are inconsistent, or even contradictory to each other.With a view to promoting a comprehensible understanding of metacognition, the present study sets out to study students' metacognition in learning English as a foreign language at the tertiary level in China. The findings would be enlightening in guiding second language educators to judge learners' metacognition level and find ways to enhance it. Furthermore, the conclusion will lend support to the theoretical framework of metacognition.This research is a quantitative survey study based on theories of education, psychology, second language acquisition and cognition. The following conclusions are reached after employing several statistical analysis methods: First, in terms of metacognitive variables, it is the regulation, not the knowledge that distinguishes high-achievers from the low-achievers. Second, metacognitive regulations are positively correlated with the learning achievement of the subjects while metacognitive knowledge is not. Third, the predictive power of the employment of planning (including the implementation of plans) is the strongest among all the metacognitive variables.