Training Of Metacognitive Strategies And The Developing Of Ss' Ability Of Learning Autonomy

Metacognitive strategy is a higher-order executive skill which involves an ability of consciously using metacognitive knowledge to set goals and plan, monitor and evaluate the learning process. If having a good command of metacognitive strategies, students are able to plan, to monitor or evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies use and to revise the plan while in learning process. According to the famous American professor Zimmerman, an autonomous learner can plan, self-monitor and self-evaluate his/her learning process (cited in Pang Weiguo,2003).Literature review reveals that among other factors, metacognitive strategies are presumed can help develop learners' autonomy. In particular, many studies show that metacognitive strategies training are useful in fostering learners' autonomy.An old Chinese saying goes: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime". The term "learning autonomy" is being mentioned more and more frequently in the books of teaching method, etc. To foster autonomous learners and autonomous individuals has become a primary objective of pedagogy. It has become increasingly apparent that "teaching learners how to learn" is crucial. To help language learners in developing autonomy in language learning emerges as a pedagogical goal of...