Relationships Among Students' Metacognition In EFL Writing, Motivation And EFL Writing Proficiency

This empirical study is designed to explore the relationship between students'metacognition in EFL writing and their EFL writing proficiency, to investigate the relationships among students'English learning motivation, learning effort and their EFL writing proficiency, and to examine the correlation between students'use of metacognitive strategies in EFL writing and their English learning motivation. A total of 30 sophomore non-English major students in Hunan University are chosen as the subjects of this study, who are required to complete two questionnaires (The Metacognition in EFL Writing Questionnaire and The Motivation and Effort Questionnaire) and one writing test in a regularly scheduled English class. The statistical techniques employed for data analysis are descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Through the interpretation of the quantitative results, we have the following findings:1) The students in the present study use limited metacognitive strategies in their EFL writing. They know very well what good English writing should be like, and they also believe that EFL writing plays an important role in English learning. However, most of them still have many language barriers and negative experiences in EFL writing, and they attribute their lack in writing competence to many reasons.2) Metacognitive strategies are correlated positively with EFL writing proficiency in general, though some correlations are low and not significant due to the small sample size. Three types of metacognitive assessment are correlated negatively with EFL writing proficiency. Among them, the significant negative correlation between assessing the standards of good writing and EFL writing proficiency is unexpected. Metacognitive strategies and metacognitive assessment in EFL writing also have correlations with each other.3) Most students have not put much effort on English writing,even though it is one of the most important skills of language learning. They seldom practice English writing. They put little emphasis on the revision of their English writing. One reason for this situation may be that there is an implicit emphasis on spoken language in classroom-based foreign language learning.4) English learning motivation is not always significantly correlated with English learning outcomes (in this case, English writing proficiency). Both general English learning effort and English writing effort are positively correlated with English writing proficiency, but the correlations are low and not significant. The time students have spent on English learning after classes every week has a significant positive correlation with writing proficiency. Students'English learning motivation is correlated with their English learning effort.5) Students'use of metacognitive strategies in EFL writing has correlation with English learning motivation. Three motivational variables are significantly correlated with most metacognitive strategies, which are language preference motivation, social responsibility motivation and cultural interest motivation. Motivation has the strongest effect on strategy of vocabulary choice among the four metacognitive strategies.Based on the findings of the research, we have the following implications for the teaching and learning of English writing:First, a good English writing program should include instruction not only in basic language knowledge and typical writing methods but also in EFL writing metacognition, which consists of metacognitive strategies and metacognitive assessment. Metacognition is proved to play a very important role in English writing. Therefore, it is necessary to raise Chinese college students'awareness of metacognition in EFL writing.Second, English teachers should pay more attention to the cultivation of students'English learning motivation. It can facilitate learning when it is transferred into learning effort. Three types of motivation should be particularly encouraged, namely, language preference motivation, social responsibility motivation and cultural interest motivation. We should be careful with two motivational variables, which are immediate achievement motivation and learning situation motivation.Third, English writing deserves much more emphasis for both English teachers and English learners. English learners should spend more time and energy in improving their English writing ability. In the course of English teaching, more attention should be paid to the development of students'writing skill.