An Experimental Study On Promoting Learner Autonomy Of Higher Vocational College Students Through Metacognitive Strategy Training

During the recent three decades, cultivating learner autonomy has become a hot issue in the field of foreign language teaching and a new trend in the future. A great number of linguists and researchers both abroad and at home have made a large body of researches on autonomous learning from different perspectives. However, previous studies mostly focus on comprehensive theoretical foundation. Meanwhile metacognitive strategy, the most important part of the learning strategies, has attracted linguists’ attention. Wenden (1985) states that learning strategy is the key to facilitating learner autonomy while metacognition strategy is considered as the key to learning strategy. Wu Duqing (2002) also views that metacognitive training is the main channel to promote students’ autonomous learning. The previous studies on metacognition strategy also stay on the theoretical background and the relationship between its application and second language proficiency. The strategy training, though conducted, covers comprehensive strategies, which are metacognition, cognition, and social/affective strategies. The researches with focus on metacognitive strategy training are rarely seen. To probe into the effectiveness of metacognitive strategy training in promoting learner autonomy, the author attempted to integrate metacognitive strategy training into English class and carried out a one-semester metacognitive strategy training among non-English majors in high vocational colleges.The thesis first reviewed the literature on learner autonomy, metacognitive strategy, in which the inter-relation between the two concepts was explored, and then expounded the methodology and procedure of metacognitive strategy training. The one-semester teaching program was carried out among90students of Jincheng Institute of Technology. The experimental class involves45students, majoring in Mechanical and Electronical Technology, and the comparison class involves45students, majoring in Informational Technology. In the present study, the Metacognitive Strategy Questionnaire and the Learner Autonomy Questionnaire were designed and the tests before and after the training were carried on to provide data for detailed quantitative analysis of the influence of metacognitive strategy training on learner autonomy and language proficiency. In addition to the questionnaires and tests, interview and learners’ journal were adopted to give qualitative analysis students’ transformation of metacognitive awareness, metacognitive strategies, concerning establishing plan, setting up goal, self-monitoring and self-evaluation as well as learner autonomy. Pre-test results indicated that there was no significant difference between the experimental class and the comparison class on attitudes towards English learning, cognition for their own English proficiency, identification of their own learning problems and learning habits. Learner autonomy is deficient among students from two classes, but many students have realized this point to some degree. Besides, most of subjects have vague ideas of learning strategies, and even the students with a comparatively good performance in English entrance examination are often unclear about their own English learning strategies or methods.During the training process, the subjects in experimental class received metacognitive strategy training while the students of control class followed the traditional teaching model. The metacognitive strategy training was divided into in-class strategy instruction and extracurricular reinforcement according to the students’ real language conditions.Before the training, the subjects of the experimental class were required to set learner profile, which involves learning journal and self-evaluation sheet. The students were directed with concepts and relative theories of metacognitive strategies and learner autonomy and instructed to enrich their own learner profiles by making plan regularly, setting up goal according to learning situation, monitoring and evaluating their own English study. In addition, the teacher took responsibility for checking the subjects’ leaner profiles. Extracurricular learning is an important component of college English learning and a crucial precondition to enhance autonomous learning ability. Therefore, metacognitive training should not be confined within the English classroom but reinforced in extracurricular learning as well.Both experimental class and control class were required to fill in Metacognitive Strategy Questionnaire and Learner Autonomy Questionnaire before and after the training. The data was processed by SPSS13.0. The descriptive analysis, Independent-sample T-test and Paired-sample T-test were performed in the data comparison between pre-training and post-training in order to evaluate the effectiveness of metacognitive strategy training on fostering students’learner autonomy. By comparison of pre-and post-test results of two classes it was indicated that there was a great increase on their employment of metacognitive strategies and an obvious change in their attitudes towards learner autonomy. Follow-up interview and learner journal showed that most of the subjects of the experimental class held positive attitudes towards metacognitive training and their learning motivation and confidence of English learning were raised as well. They had the ability to carry out self-regulated plan, monitor the implementation of plan and their learning process and evaluate their learning results. To sum up, the metacognitive training was greatly effective in enhancing their employment of metacognitive strategies or at least in their awareness of metacognitive strategies employment. The subjects in experimental class became much more autonomous in English learning after the metacognitive strategies training.By quantitative and qualitative analysis, the thesis comes to the conclusion that by metacognitive strategies training the learners’ metacognitive awareness could be raised, the employment of metacognitive strategies could be promoted effectively and language proficiency was improved accordingly as well. In the end, some pedagogical enlightenment is provided for EFL learning and teaching in Chinese college. Although the training in the thesis might be a little premature, it should not serve as a temporary expedient measure in fostering learner autonomy. Instead, the metacognitive strategies training ought to be consistently integrated into English classroom.