A Comparative Study Of The English Meta-learning Ability Between Senior One Students With Different Levels Of English

Meta-learning ability plays an important role in students’ learning activities and has direct and close connection with students’ learning. In recent years, meta-learning ability has attracted the attention of more and more researchers. However, few studies focus on the differences of English meta-learning ability between high school students with different levels of English.In light of the situation mentioned above, this study is undertaken to investigate the English meta-learning ability of Senior One students, with a particular purpose to compare the differences of English meta-learning ability between high and low achievers as well as the causes that are responsible for these differences. The ultimate goal is to provide bases and suggestions for the teachers to train the English meta-learning ability of the students from different level groups. This study attempts to answer the three questions:(1) What is the general situation of the English meta-learning ability of Senior One students? (2) What are the differences in the English meta-learning ability between high and low achievers? (3) What are the causes that are responsible for the differences?The theoretical framework of this study is based on Krashen’s monitor model and Sternberg’s theory of intelligence. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in this paper. For quantitative part, a questionnaire adapted from Dong Qi’s meta-learning ability scale is employed, which includes three categories of eight dimensions (Before learning activity:Project, Preparation; During learning activity: Consciousness, Approaches, Domination; After learning activity:Feedback, Remedy, Summarization). The questionnaire is administered to 265 Senior One students from a middle school in a city and finally 265 valid questionnaires are collected. Afterwards, the data are processed by SPSS 19.0. For qualitative part, interviews of semi-structured with 8 students (four high achievers and four low achievers) are conducted to gather information so as to analyze the causes responsible for those differences.Detailed analysis of the survey data yields the following findings:Firstly, in general, the English meta-learning ability of Senior One students remains at relatively high level. Among them,59.6% are of the high level group,35.1% of the average level group and only 5.3% of the low level group. Among the eight dimensions of the English meta-learning ability, Remedy is of the highest level and Project of the lowest, and the level of Feedback is equal to that of Summarization. The order of the eight dimensions is as follows:Remedy> Preparation> Domination> Consciousness> Approaches> Feedback= Summarization> Project.Secondly, high achievers’English meta-learning ability is obviously higher than that of low achievers. Before learning activity, there exist significant differences in dimension of project between high and low achievers. During learning activity, the two groups reach significant differences in dimension of approaches and domination. After learning activity, there are obvious differences in dimension of feedback, remedy and summarization. However, in dimension of preparation and consciousness, there is no noteworthy difference between the two groups, although the level of high achievers in these two dimensions is higher than that of low achievers.Thirdly, results from interviews reveal the causes for the differences:(1) Causes for the differences before learning activity. Internal causes:high achievers can make study plans according to their specific situations and the goals involved in the plans are challenging but attainable; while low achievers cannot make plans according to their abilities and thus fail to complete them, which can affect their initiative to make plans. External causes:teachers often give high achievers evaluations on the formulation and completion of their study plans; however, for low achievers, teachers seldom access what they do. (2) Causes for the differences during learning activity. Internal causes: high achievers, with solid knowledge foundation, have been always at high level in the class and show strong interest in English; however, low achievers, with weak knowledge foundation, have poor academic achievements and take little interest in learning English. External causes:teachers often provide high achievers more instructions on learning methods, and ask them questions in class, which can urge them to concentrate on the lecture; while low achievers are always ignored by their teachers both in and after class. (3) Causes for the differences after learning activity. Internal causes:high achievers often attribute learning results to the level of effort and thus can consciously evaluate, remedy and summarize their learning; while low achievers tend to attribute their failure to the environment surrounding them. External causes:for high achievers, their teachers and parents encourage them to use extra time to reflect on and summarize their study; however, for low achievers, their parents tend to send them to auxiliary classes or hire tutors and gradually they become more dependent on others and reluctant to learn proactively.Some pedagogical implications yielded from the findings of this study are as follows:From the teachers’perspective, teachers should give timely positive feedback to the low achievers according to their formulation and completion of the plan. What’s more, teachers should take into account the education background of low achievers and assign them tasks appropriate for their level and provide them more instructions of learning methods or skills. From the learners’ perspective, students are supposed to make study plans according to their specific situations. Besides, students should attribute their learning results more to internal controllable factor. From the parents’ perspective, they should encourage their children to utilize spare time to adjust themselves instead of sending them to auxiliary classes blindly.