An Empirical Study On Metacognitive Strategies In Spoken English Learning Of Non-English Majors In Sust

Metacognition is often defined as "thinking about thinking". Learner's metacognition is defined and investigated by examining their personal knowledge, task knowledge and strategic knowledge. Metacognition which exists in the process of executing and monitoring information is the individuals'knowledge about their own knowledge and the ability to monitor the process of activity. Metacognitive strategy belongs to the category of learning strategy and is conducted as the preparative stage before the practical use of learning strategies. The combination of metacognitive and learning strategies can help learners to be the excellent English commanders.This article is an empirical research on metacognitive strategies of non-English majors in Shandong University of Science and Technology. This study, based on a questionnaire survey among 240 non-English majors, aims to study the significance of metacognition awareness and strategy use in oral communication, and to describe the general features of strategy use in English speaking by non-English majors in SUST.The thesis contains the following seven parts. The first part is a general introduction of the whole thesis, concerning the general concept of metacognition, the objective of the study and the layout of the thesis. Chapter One is a brief literature review of metacognition. Historical views of theoretical and implicated research are covered. Chapter Two is the theoretical framework of the thesis. The definitions and contents of metacognition and the general idea of strategies in spoken English learning are provided. In this chapter, spoken English performance status of the non-English majors in SUST will also be listed. Chapter Three is the research methods of this thesis including the design, procedure and methods. Chapter Four classifies the process of oral communication into three stages of pre-speaking, during-speaking and post-speaking and studies the different characteristics shown from the data. Chapter Five analyzes the relationship between choices of English speaking strategies and some other factors which affect learning such as:age, gender, length of time on learning English, spoken English level and speaking ability, etc. The data analysis of above factors aims to make sure that these factors have positive effect on pedagogical implication. The last part of the thesis summarizes the study and points out the most important outcome of the study, along with some suggestions and limitations.This article is an empirical research on metacognition and metacognitive strategies among non-English majors in Shandong University of Science and Technology. It is believed that, in order to reach the spoken English requirements of today's society, metacognitive awareness and ability of strategy use should be first raised to make learning more efficient and effective.