A Study Of Metacognition In English Major Writing Teaching

Among the five communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, translating) in English, writing is regarded more and more important. But to our dispointment, many students don't know how to improve their writing skill in English. In the traditional teaching approach, teachers tend to overemphasize the importance of linguistic knowledge and writing theory while ignoring the cultivation of the student's autonomous learning competence. In order to change the traditional writing instructive method, this paper attempts to set up teaching principles of English writing under the theoretical framework of metacognition constructed by Flavell, aiming at motivating students,conveying writing knowledge and improving writing ability.This paper reports a four-month empirical study in Xiaogan University. The subjects in the experimental group involved 70 second-year students in the English Department. Three questions are disgussed in the study: 1) To what extend do English majors know and use metacognitive strategies?2) Can metacognitive strategies training enhance the students' metacognitive awareness? 3) Can metacognitive strategies training improve the students' English writing ability?Results of the study indicate that: 1) The English majors frequently use self-monitoring strategies, self-evaluation strategies, but occasionally use plan strategies and self-management strategies; 2) Metacognitive strategies training can enhance the students' metacognitive awareness; 3) Metacognitive strategies training may exert a positive effect on the students' writing ability. So the teachers should help students improve their writing ability and comprehensive linguistic ability through the application of the metacognitive strategies.