A Study On The Effectiveness Of Meta-cognitive Strategy Training For English Majors

“Meta-cognition” as a concept was first introduced by Flavell(1976). Since then it has been widely applied into the field of learning strategies with O?Malley(1990) and Oxford(1990) as the leading scholars. Meta-cognitive strategies refer to the strategies applied by learners to effectively regulate their own learning process, which, as a result, can promote their awareness of autonomous learning and improve their learning quality. Students in Independent College, as a special group of higher education in China, are different from those who study in the State-owned Universities in that they are generally short of the ideas and ability of independent learning. Within this research background, this study aims to investigate the application of these strategies for English majors in Independent College by addressing the following research questions:1. Before training, what are the characteristis of meta-cognitive strategies application in terms of planning, monitoring and evaluation for English majors in Independent College?2. What are the characteristics of meta-cognitive strategies application after training?3. How does the application of meta-cognitive strategies affect the English scores of English majors in Independent College?Based on the analytical framework built from O?Malley & Chamot?s(1990) classifications of meta-cognitive strategies, this thesis conducts an empirical research by employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The followings are the major findings of this study.1. The pre-questionnaire and pretest show that before training, there is no obvious difference in the application of meta-cognitive strategies in terms of planning, monitoring and evaluation between the two groups of participants. Their English scores are almost the same. Most students have a little idea of applying those strategies, but some even have no idea about that.2. The post-questionnaire on the one hand indicates that the experimental group has a better improvement after the strategy training; while on the other hand it also reveals that the application of monitoring strategies are not improved evidently. Reasons for this issue could be accounted by students? poor learning habits and the overall learning atmosphere in Independent College.3. Both of the post-test and the interview inform that meta-cognitive strategies have a considerable effect on the students? English scores. The more and the better they use these strategies, the greater their English achievements are.This study hopes to be implicative in cultivating the autonomous learning ability and the pedagogy of English majors in Independent College.