The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension on non english major freshmen a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in TESOL

“Having knowledge and the use of effective strategies in listening comprehension can help learners to understand most of language input to which they listen to” Fateme, Aliakbar, & Akbar

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH OPEN UNIVERSITY -

THE EFFECT OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION ON NON- ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts

(TESOL)

Submitted by PHAM THI KIEU TIEN

Supervisor

Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu

Ho Chi Minh, September 2016

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this MA thesis submitted today entitled “The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text

of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh, August 2016

Pham Thi Kieu Tien

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Apart from my effort, it would not be possible to complete this thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from friends, caring and encouragement from my family

Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu, for his patience, enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and motivation I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared a lot about my work, and who responded to my questions as well as supporting me to the completion of my thesis

I also would like to thank my friends at Van Lang University who were willing to help, give their best suggestions and share experience Special thanks go to the sixty students who kindly accepted to participate in this thesis

Finally, I am most grateful to my family members, especially my husband, who were always a source of understanding, support and inspiration

ABSTRACT

The thesis aims to find out the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non-English major freshmen at Van Lang University Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were employed in this study Sixty first year non- English major students at Van Lang University participating in this study are divided into experimental group and the control group Listening tests, questionnaire and interview were used as tools for data collection The study found that metacognitive strategies enhanced non-English major freshmen‟s listening comprehension at Ho Chi Minh University Besides, students employ more problem- solving strategies and directed attention strategies, planning and evaluation strategies and person knowledge strategies, except that they do not use mental translation strategies when listening The majority of students use metacognitive strategies when they listen because they have good attitude about using these strategies in listening comprehension

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of authorship……… i

Acknowledgment……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……… iv

List of tables and Figures……….viii

Abbreviations……… xi

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Problem statement 3

1.3 Research aims 5

1.4 Research questions 5

1.5 Research significance 6

1.6 Thesis structure 7

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Overview of listening comprehension 9

2.1.1 Definition of listening skill 9

2.1.2 Concept of listening comprehension 11

2.1.3 Stages of listening comprehension 12

2.1.4 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension 17

2.2 Learning strategies 18

2.2.1 Overview of learning strategies 18

2.2.2 Classification of learning strategies 19

2.3 Metacognitive strategies 21

2.3.1 The concept of metacognition 21

2.3.2 Components of metacognition 22

2.3.3 Metacognitive strategies 23

2.3.4 Classification of metacognitive strategies 24

2.4 Importance of metacognitive strategies on language learning 25

2.5 The relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension 27

2.6 Empirical studies 28

2.7 Summary of Chapter 2 35

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 36

3.1 Research design 36

3.2 Research site 37

3.2.1 Research setting 37

3.2.2 Research participants 38

3.3 Data collection 39

3.3.1 Instruments 39

3.3.2 Data collection process 46

3.4 The listening program of experimental group and control group 47

3.4.1 Materials 47

3.4.2 Intervention of experimental group 48

3.4.3 Listening guide sheet 51

3.4.4 Listening lesson plan for experimental group 55

3.4.5 Listening process of control group 57

3.4.6 Listening lesson plan for control group 57

3.5 Pilot study 59

3.6 Data analysis approach 60

3.6.1 Validity and reliability issues 60

3.6.2 Mean 62

3.6.3 t- Test 62

3.7 Summary of Chapter 3 63

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 64

4.1 Participants‟ performance at pre- test and posttest 64

4.1.1 Independent samples t-test of control group and experimental group in Pretest 64

4.1.2 Pair samples t- test of control group in Pretest and Posttest 66

4.1.3 Pair samples t- test of experimental group in Pretest and Posttest 67

4.1.4 Independent samples t- test of control group and experimental group in Posttest 69

4.2 Questionnaire data analysis: Participant‟s response to the use of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension 71

4.2.1 Participants‟ response to their individual information 71

4.2.2 Participants‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension 71

4.2.3 Participants‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening comprehension 76

4.2.4 Participants‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening comprehension 79

4.2.5 Participants‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening comprehension 82

4.2.6 Participants‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening comprehension 85

4.3 Interview 91

4.4 Discussions of findings 103

4.5 Summary of chapter 4 111

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 112

5.1 Conclusion 112

5.2 Implications 113

5.2.1 Implications for teachers 114

5.2.2 Implications for students 116

5.3 Limitations of the study 116

5.4 Recommendations for the further research 118

REFERENCES 119

APPENDICES 131

APPENDIX 1 131

APPENDIX 2 131

APPENDIX 3 138

APPENDIX 3A 146

APPENDIX 3B 147

APPENDIX 4 151

APPENDIX 4A 158

APPENDIX 4B 159

APPENDIX 5 163

APPENDIX 6 164

APPENDIX 7A 165

APPENDIX 7B 168

APPENDIX 8 171

APPENDIX 9 177

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES

Table 3.1: Questionnaire of Vandergrift et al (2006)………43 Table 3.2: Listening instruction stages and related metacognitive strategies, by L Vandergrift and C Goh (2012)……… 49 Table 3.3: Listening guide sheet (Fahim, M., & Fakhri Alamdari, E., 2014)…………52 Table 3.4: Main teaching stages and procedures for the experimental group…………55 Table 3.5: Main teaching stages and procedures for the control group……….58 Table 4.1 Group Statistics on pretest of control group and experimental group…… 65 Table 4.2 Results of Independent Samples T- test on Pretest of Control Group and Experimental Group……… 65 Table 4.3 Paired samples group statistics for control group Pretest and Posttest…….66 Table 4.4 Results of paired samples test for control group in Pretest and Posttest… 66 Table 4.5 Paired samples group statistics for experimental group Pretest and

Posttest……… 68 Table 4.6 Results of paired samples test for experimental group in Pretest and

Posttest 69 Table 4.7 Group Statistics on posttest of control group and experimental group… 69 Table 4.8 Results of Independent Samples T- test on Posttest of Control Group and Experimental Group……… 69 Table 4.9 Students‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension……… 72 Table 4.10 Students‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening

comprehension……… 76 Table 4.11 Students‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening

comprehension……… 80 Table 4.12 Students‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening

comprehension……… 82

Table 4.13 Students‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening

comprehension……… 85

FIGURES

Figure 1: Illustration of data analysis of question 1……….72

Figure 2: Illustration of data analysis of question 10……… 73

Figure 3: Illustration of data analysis of question 14……… 74

Figure 4: Illustration of data analysis of question 20……… 74

Figure 5: Illustration of data analysis of question 21……… 75

Figure 6: Illustration of data analysis of question 2……….79

Figure 7: Illustration of data analysis of question 6……….77

Figure 8: Illustration of data analysis of question 12……… 78

Figure 9: Illustration of data analysis of question 16……… 89

Figure 10: Illustration of data analysis of question 3……… 80

Figure 11: Illustration of data analysis of question 8……… 81

Figure 12: Illustration of data analysis of question 15……….81

Figure 13: Illustration of data analysis of question 4……… 83

Figure 14: Illustration of data analysis of question 11……….83

Figure 15: Illustration of data analysis of question 18……….84

Figure 16: Illustration of data analysis of question 5……… 86

Figure 17: Illustration of data analysis of question 7……… 86

Figure 18: Illustration of data analysis of question 9……… 87

Figure 19: Illustration of data analysis of question 13……….88

Figure 20: Illustration of data analysis of question 17……….88

Figure 21: Illustration of data analysis of question 19……… 89

ABBREVIATION

VLU : Van Lang University

MALQ : The Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire

TOEIC : Test of English for International Communication

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Under the effect of globalization, each individual needs to improve themselves to be competent in foreign languages Among many languages, it is estimated that more than 50 countries of the world use English as their official language and most of others use it as a foreign language (Crystal, 2003), including Vietnam Vietnam‟s open door policy has ushered into a new era, which attracts foreign direct investment (FDI) in many industries, where English is used as a major means of communication For that reason, English becomes more and more necessary for students as well as workers in particular, and all people in general to use and be able to communicate with foreigners To meet that demand, English in Vietnam is now introduced to 3rdgraders at school, and such a shift shows how important English is Besides, English is considered the important subject that is taught together with maths, literature, physics, biology, etc and is an ever- increasingly essential requirement for students to enter high school or university

However, using English is not easy because it requires users to master many skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing skill Obviously, for language learners, listening is perhaps considered the most difficult skill (Huang, 2003) Of the four macro skills, listening is a very important skill in acquiring a language “L2/FL listening is the most fundamental macro skill” (Rost, 2002; Richard, 2005) “Listening accounts for 40- 50% of communicating, with speaking at 25- 30%, reading at 11-

16%, and writing at 9%” (Mendelsohn, 1994) People use listening action nearly twice

as much as speaking and four to five times as reading and writing (Rivers, 1981; Morley, 1991) The major role of listening is to provide input information for understanding and remembering to apply it into other communicative skills (Gass & Selinker, 2008) Moreover, Huong (2011) reported that according to the results of a survey conducted by prestigious English centers- British Council and Apollo Vietnam, Vietnamese learners are placed at the eighth position in reading and writing, but at the eighteenth position in listening and speaking among twenty countries examined So, teaching English listening is an important concern in Vietnam educational tendency, especially in university to prepare undergraduates for real communication in their workplace

Teaching English listening requires teachers not only teach students the content of the passage but also teach them the ways to learn listening better Strategies are one of the effective ways for students to learn listening themselves According to Oxford (1990), knowledge of strategies is important for language learners because of two reasons Firstly, strategies are essential tools for active self- directed involvement to develop communicative competence Secondly, learners with appropriate learning strategies have greater self- confidence and learn more effectively “Having knowledge and the use of effective strategies in listening comprehension can help learners to understand most of language input to which they listen to” (Fateme, Aliakbar, & Akbar, 2012, p.843) Furthermore, many authors have proved the importance role and good effect of listening strategies, especially metacognitive strategies Previous research indicated that more- skilled learners use more metacognitive strategies than less- skilled learners (Baker & Brown, 1984; O‟Malley & Chamot, 1990; Rubin, 1987) “Metacognitive learning strategies help learners to know what to do when they come across difficulties” (Zahra Ratebi & Zahra Amirian, 2013, p 141)

1.2 Problem statement

It is very difficult for students to get high score in listening tests because of many reasons Goh (2000) states many reasons for Chinese students‟ failure at listening comprehension, similar to the Vietnamese context (Tran, 2014) Learners cannot know the familiar words and pay attention to next part when they think about the previous part They have the tendency to forget the spoken discourse and miss the listening text as soon as they start listening Other reasons are that they immediately forget information they received before they misunderstand subsequent parts because

of previous problems Last but not least, they cannot recognize key points in the text

as well as pay attention to intended message These reasons make listening comprehension problematic for not only Chinese students but also Vietnamese students and all English learners all over the world as well

According to Tran (2014), there are two reasons for failing the listening course Firstly, proficiency students lack sufficient knowledge about vocabulary and pronunciation so that they do not listen well enough Secondly, when listening, they lack of the so-called strategies “These very strategies are the ways or the methods to make the best use of available knowledge to get high score” (p.2) In fact, the strategies are important as the knowledge because they can help learners get good results in not only learning but also listening

The above reasons are problems which Vietnamese learners frequently face with Besides, in Vietnamese condition, English training curricula at university levels mainly focus on vocabulary, grammar structure and reading comprehension skills (To Minh Thanh, 2006) According to Pham (2014), students often do reading comprehension

and many grammar exercises and in the last two years, they have started reading their specialized materials depending on the university and major Tran (2012) stated that most of English teachers (from her short interview) have not focus much on teaching listening because classes are usually large and they do not have enough time to cover all skills Therefore, students do not pay due attention much to listening They find that

it is difficult to have listening course when entering the university The results of listening tests depend on many factors including the listening strategies that students have

Non-English major freshmen at Van Lang University also find listening comprehension difficult to learn The researcher has observed the students and figured out the reasons for this problem First, they listened very little in high school due to the examination system, which forms poor listening skills Second, they have less time in practicing English in class because non- English major students just spend 4- 5 periods

a week on the four skills of English Third, they lack the English environment outside classroom to practice Finally, the most important reason is that students do not possess listening strategies They do not know how to listen effectively There are many strategies in listening comprehension According to Oxford (1990), learning strategies include metacognitive strategies category; which are essential strategies to help learners succeed in SL/FL learning acquisition

The results of applying metacognitive strategies in listening may be different from various studies based on the learning culture, the countries, sample size, the way which teachers model metacognitive strategy, and the intervention programs, etc Many studies about the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension were conducted all over the world and the results we received are quite different because of

the level of participants and nationalities Besides, the sample sizes should also be considered the reason for this case However, there are just some studies in Vietnam about this issue, especially at Van Lang University As a result, the present study, carried out at Van Lang University, is to seek whether there is any effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension for non- English major freshmen and whether non- English major freshmen use metacognitive strategies in listening after they have been introduced about them

According to Liu (2007), students who are not good at English listening often lack their listening strategies, especially non- major freshmen As a result, they face difficulty when studying listening It is not wrong to say that lacking strategies leads to ineffective listening comprehension or ineffective listening studying students often lack strategies It cannot be denied that strategies have a very important role to listening So, the purposes of this study are:

a To investigate the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen

b To examine the use of metacognitive strategies in listening

c To explore non- English major freshmen‟s attitudes about using metacognitive strategies

1.4 Research questions

In this study, the researcher would like to find answers to the following two questions:

1 What is the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen?

2 To what extent, do freshmen use the metacognitive strategies in listening?

3 What are non- English major freshmen‟s attitudes about using metacognitive strategies?

The hypotheses of this study are that the metacognitive strategies have good effect on improving listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen at Van Lang University and demonstrate that these students show positive attitudes to metacognitive strategy and use metacognitive strategies in listening after taking the intervention If this happens in these cases, the study may have good contribution to teaching English listening

1.5 Research significance

The analysis of metacognitive strategies can bring advantages for not only students but also English teachers The study is conducted with the hope that its findings can provide an overview about the result of using metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension in Vietnam, especially at Van Lang University For Vietnamese English teachers in general and teachers at Van Lang University in specific, they can apply metacognitive strategies as one of their listening teaching technique The study also introduces Vietnamese students the information of metacognitive strategies and listening so students can understand more about these two areas and easily apply them

in other situations The study is hoped to contribute to changing the concepts and belief

of students in Vietnam and the Van Lang University, developing their autonomy as

well as encouraging them to use metacognitive strategies when listening Finally, it may provide some aspects for further research in this area of interest

1.6 Thesis structure

The thesis concludes five chapters: chapter 1 – Introduction, chapter 2 – Literature Review, chapter 3 – Methodology, chapter 4 – Finding and Discussion and chapter 5 – Conclusion

In the Introduction, there are the background of the study, the problem statement of the study, the research aims, the research questions, the research significance and thesis structure

In Chapter 2, the theoretical background of metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension is introduced Besides, the relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension was also introduced in this part Lastly, it includes some empirical studies of other researchers

In Chapter 3, the methodology used in the study is described It provides the detail information about the research site, participants, the design of the study, procedure of the study, research instruments and the validity and reliability

In Chapter 4, the data collected from t- Test, questionnaire and interview are analyzed, followed by the discussions of these findings

In Chapter 5, a conclusion, implications, limitations, and recommendations are presented

Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature relevant to this study The chapter contains five main parts First, it begins with the overview of listening comprehension definition of listening skill, the concept of listening comprehension, and stages of listening comprehension The second part is about learning strategies, including an overview of learning strategies and classification of learning strategies The third part deals with metacognitive strategies, where concepts of metacognitive strategies and metacognition, classification of metacognitive strategies, and importance of metacognitive strategies on language learning are presented The fourth part is about the relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension which shows the combination ideas of other authors about these two subjects Finally, some previous researches that have explored the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension in many other conditions are introduced

2.1 Overview of listening comprehension

To have correct definition of listening comprehension, it is necessary to know the definition of listening skill first

2.1.1 Definition of listening skill

Listening has emerged as an important component in the process of second language acquisition (Feyten, 1991) Besides, listening is the ability to identify and understand what people are saying (Howatt & Dakin, 1974) Besides, Buck (2001) defines listening as:

“the ability to 1) process extended samples of realistic spoken language, automatically and in real time; 2) understand the linguistic information that is unequivocally included in the text; and 3) make whatever inferences are unambiguously implicated by the content of the passage (p.114)

Listening relates to making sense of spoken language, followed with sounds and visual input, help speakers understand the context in which they are listening and listening is an „active‟ process (Schmitt, 2002) In fact, listening is a complex process that the listeners need to concentrate totally on the listening stages Rost (2002) said that “listening is an intention to complete a communication” and it is a complex process of “receptive orientation” (what others say), “constructive orientation” (construct and present meaning), “collaborative orientation” (negotiate and response) and “transformative orientation” (create meaning, imagine)

In general, listening is a complex and active process that related to symbols, sounds, communication, knowledge and input The process of listening happens inside the brain to convey the exact information To listen well, apart from the outside condition, listeners have to know how to control their thinking and focus on the exact information This study is about to help learners control their mental process while conveying the information in their brain

2.1.2 Concept of listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is not easy and simple concept to acquire Buck (2001) said about the complexity of the listening process, so listeners have to use a broad variety of sources of knowledge, linguistic and non-linguistic, to interpret the incoming data Nowadays, people pay much more attention to listening comprehension because teaching English through communicative approach is introduced to students more in order to help students improve their communicative skill Understanding definition of listening is a good condition to learn new language as well as language- using habit like foreigners so that students can apply it in suitable situations

Moreover, it is hard to have a well- defined definition of listening comprehension (Liu, 2007) According to Hariri (2014), in listening comprehension, people do not just listen to what is read or talked, but they have to decode meaningful parts of speech to

understand them Vandergrift‟s (1999) in his article “Facilitating Second Language Listening Comprehension: Acquiring Successful Strategies” is a good summary of listening comprehension:

Listening comprehension is a complex, active process in which the listeners must discriminate

between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain what was gathered in all of the above, and interpret it within the immediate as well as the large social structural context of the utterance Coordinating all of this involves a great deal of mental activity on the part of the listener (p 168)

For the present study, it plays an essential and valuable role to help the researcher enlarge her knowledge about listening comprehension Actually, teachers should know more about other definitions to have a general and clear overview about the topic

Holden (2004) stated that listening comprehension is a passive activity because listeners have to receive the audio input process and output of what they have comprehended; therefore it is considered a complicated activity and need mental exertion to understand it However, according to Thomson (2003), in the process of listening comprehension, the listeners are active, not passive Jinhong (2011) stated that “We can indicate that listening comprehension is a process-oriented activity in which listeners need to deal with the input actively step by step” (p.6) In other words,

“listening comprehension is a mental exertion when listeners deal with the aural language input” (p.7) Besides, “listening comprehension is a creative activity Listeners construct or assign meanings based on the given information or their experience and background knowledge” and “listening comprehension is an interactive activity as both speakers and listeners are involved” (p.7)

From the above- mentioned definitions, we can conclude that listening comprehension

is a complex process It requires time to study and strategies to master Besides, knowing that listening is very important, teachers have to prepare well before going to class as well as help students match the appropriate strategies to each situation and develop listening process

2.1.3 Stages of listening comprehension

“In a typical lesson, there are “pre” activities, “while” activities, and “post” activities” (Brown, 2006)

Pre- listening stage

According to Field (1998, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002, p.243), the pre- listening stage aims: “to provide sufficient context to match what would be available

in real life and to create motivation” and through certain activities in this stage help students have general overview about what they are going to listen for (Vandergrift, 2008) Teachers have to create, prepare the exercise as well as the activities to help students involve in this stage Lindsay & Knight (2006) also state a similar idea that pre- listening stage helps students prepare what they are going to listen

Wilson (2008) acknowledges that the activities in this stage help students have a successful opportunity for the listening tasks Therefore, teachers need to be flexible and creative in teaching so as to engage students in the activities Through a variety of activities, students have to think, brainstorm, discuss and predict what they are going

to listen in this stage

 discussing the topic or situation to the listening text

 a question or answer session to the listening text

 brainstorming

 games

 looking at some pictures and talking about the topic

These activities in this stage provide background information for students to facilitate their listening Last but not least, Rost (1990) points out some more activities that are related in following skills:

 discriminating between sounds

 recognizing words

 identifying grammatical groups of words

 identifying expressions and set of utterances that act to create meaning

 connecting linguistic to non- linguistic and paralinguistic cues

 using background knowledge to predict later to conform meaning and recalling important words and ideas

Based on the condition and level of students, teachers will certainly have different ways to teach students in this stage

While- listening stage

In this stage, according to Field‟s idea, teacher often focuses on “Preset task/Preset questions” and “checking answers” (1998, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002) The definitions of Rixon (1986) and Vandergrift (1999) are that this stage includes exercises and activities which the students do while listening to the text The purpose

of activities in this stage is to improve students‟ skill which elicits the information from spoken language (Underwood, 1990) To explain this term, the goal of while- listening

is to find out the message and meaning of what being said

Moreover, in this stage, teacher should let students listen more than once (Harmer, 2008) If they listen once, they cannot get more details of the text because the aim of the first listening time is for students to get familiar with the text Besides, students can get general idea of the text and understand the speakers‟ idea and the context better before listening (Wilson, 2008; Wang, 2011) When students listen more than once, they can get more specific details and the missing information (Wang, 2011) In Vietnamese condition, students find some difficulties in listening because they are

taught grammar more than listening in order to pass the exam English teachers should let students listen at least three times, so they can have enough time to understand the information and develop their skill gradually by themselves They have less stressful and anxious when listening three times than when listening only once

Some researchers like Underwood (1990), Yagang (1993, as cited in Kral, 1994), Field (1998, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002) and Celce- Murcia (2001) have supposed some kinds of while- listening activities:

 true/ false statement

 storyline picture sets

 completing Figures/ pictures

Teachers need to be well- prepared for while- listening stage before going to class because it helps students not only gain the knowledge from the text but also develop their listening skill gradually

Post- listening stage

In Field‟s view, this stage contains “examining functional language” and “inferring vocabulary meaning” (1998, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002) According to Rixon (1986), this stage is prepared to review the meaning and content of the text, to expand some language aspects in the text or to some extra activities which based on the text Underwood (1990) stated that post listening stage include all the activities related

to particular listening text and this stage is done after completing the listening

Underwood (1990) also pointed out three purposes of listening activities Firstly, the activities are to check if students understand the necessary information whether they are able to complete the tasks in while- listening stage or not Secondly, this stage is to help teachers figure out the reasons why students do not understand or miss the information in the text Lastly, this stage also helps students evaluate how successful they have when doing the tasks and they can improve other skills when teachers integrate listening skill with others in this stage It is also to review what students have learned and to provide feedback (Lindsay & Knight, 2006) Some researchers like Underwood (1990), Yagang (1993, as cited in Kral, 1994) and Field (1998, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2000) have supposed some kinds of post- listening activities:

 multiple choice

 interview

 discussion

 reading or writing

 true- false statement

 problem solving and decision making

2.1.4 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension

Underwood (1989) stated seven potential problems in learning English Firstly,

“listeners cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks” (p.16) Secondly, the major problem in learning English is that students do not decide to have words repeated Thirdly, sometimes when the listeners listen to a new word, they have to stop to find out the meaning of that word, so they miss the next part of the text Fourthly, listeners may not recognize the signals which the speakers use to move from one point to another, or repeat a point Fifthly, listeners find that it is challenging to concentrate in foreign language even when the topic is interesting Sixthly, learning habits in the classroom are emphasized Students often worry and are discouraged if they fail to understand the meaning of the words Lastly, lacking contextual knowledge makes comprehension problems arise, even if students understand the main idea of the text, it

may be difficult for them to understand due to differences in cultural background As a result, to overcome these listening problems, it is necessary for students to develop strategies in listening The strategies in listening are discussed in detail in the next section

2.2 Learning strategies

Metacognitive strategy is one kind of learning strategies To understand more about metacognitive strategy, it is necessary to go over the general areas because there are some relations to the specific term

2.2.1 Overview of learning strategies

Many researchers have studied this aspect and tried to explain this term in understandable and correct ways Rubin (1975) firstly described learning strategies as operations and routines the students use to gain, store, retrieve, and use the information Oxford (1989) showed that plans, methods or actions are considered as learning strategies that the learners adopt to improve SL/FL learning and make the target language learning more successful and enjoyable Further, Cook (1991) viewed language learning as “a choice that the learner makes while learning or using the second language that effect learning” (p.78) Hall (2009) stated that students use learning strategies to understand information and solve problem because learning strategy is an approach of learning and using information Students use learning strategies to help them understand information and solve problems

Duffy and Roehler (1989) stated the three characteristics of learning strategies First, using strategies is a thinking process when “Individuals reason with their own store-house of background knowledge.” (p.141) Second, they are often “reflectively adapted

to fit situations” Third, they are “seldom applied individually but are typically applied

in combination, for example, an inferencing strategy and a predicting strategy” (p.141)

We can conclude that learning strategies are "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations" (Oxford, 1990, p.8) From the ideas above, learning strategies are explained in many ways, but in general, they are methods for enhancing learning purpose According to Cohen (2003), learning strategies help develop language learning, perform special tasks, solve problems and expand knowledge in specific language used situations So, if the students want to improve their learning English, they should resort to strategies Students who use more strategies in learning will get more effective learning

2.2.2 Classification of learning strategies

Different researchers have different classifications of learning strategies Oxford (1990) stated two main classes of learning strategies: direct and indirect Each class contains three strategies, so there are six dimensions of classifying strategies including cognitive strategies, memory strategies and compensatory strategies of direct strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies of indirect strategies

+ Cognitive strategies help students understand and produce new language by many different means

+ Memory strategies help students store and retrieve information

+ Compensation strategies help students use language despite they are not good at language

+ Metacognitive strategies help students control their cognitions

+ Affective strategies help students regulate emotions, motivations and attitudes

+ Social strategies help students learn a language by interacting with others

Tran (2014) stated that some researchers find that these strategies overlap while Cohen (2003) divided the strategies into four categories including cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social strategies, O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) classified them into three types: cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies which are:

“metacognitive strategies are higher- order executive skills which may entail planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of a learning activity… Cognitive strategies operate directly on coming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning… Socio/affective strategies represent a broad group that involves either interaction with another person or ideational control over affect” (p 44-45)

A little difference is about McKeachie, et al (1987) who classified three main aspects

of learning strategies They are cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies and resource management strategies Cognitive strategies are to learn and understand information, such as rehearsing, summarizing, paraphrasing, imaging, elaborating, and outlining Metacognitive strategies are to plan, regulate, monitor and modify the cognitive learning processes Additionally, resource management strategies are to control resources like time, effort, affect and support

In conclusion, “metacognitive strategy” is one type of the above- mentioned classifications Metacognitive strategies are paid attention in recent years and take an important role in learning strategies because without it, learners cannot improve English

2.3 Metacognitive strategies

2.3.1 The concept of metacognition

According to Yang (2009), “metacognition” was first coined by John Flavell (1976), who provided a worthy definition that opened new aspect for others to explore It is very valuable and important for the researcher to understand this term in the present study Flavel (1976) described metacognition is “thinking about thinking” or:

“refers to one‟s knowledge concerning one‟s own cognitive processes or anything related to them…Metacognition refers, among other things, to active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes in relation to the cognitive objects or data on which they bear, usually in the service of some concrete goal or objective” (p 232)

Kuhn (2000) defined metacognition as "Enhancing (a) metacognitive awareness of what one believes and how one knows and (b) metastrategic control in application of the strategies that process new information" (p.178) Metacognition belongs to people‟s thought, awareness, something inside, not what people can see or touch Harris (2003) said that metacognition relates to guiding the learning process itself which includes planning, monitoring and evaluating strategies and it is the key elements of autonomy

development Moreover, Peirce (2003) also gave a clear definition of this term to help readers explore more about this aspect:

“an appreciation of what one already knows, together with a correct apprehension of the learning task and what knowledge and skills it requires, combined with the ability to make correct inferences about how to apply one‟s strategic knowledge to a particular situation, and to do so efficiently and reliably” (p.2)

In general, “metacognition is the combination of strategies helping learner know how

to prepare for learning tasks, how to manage during completing learning tasks and how

to evaluate their learning performance after finishing the task” (Tran, 2014, p.17)

2.3.2 Components of metacognition

According to Flavell (1979), metacognition contains two major components: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experience Flavell (1979) said that metacognitive experience is a feeling about our thinking that we have, such as the feeling if we know we do not understand the text or “any conscious cognitive or affective experiences that accompany and pertain to any intellectual enterprise” (p.906)

In Flavell‟s view (1979), metacognitive knowledge is our beliefs and knowledge about learning, which consists of three factors: knowledge about person (knowledge of one‟s own learning process), knowledge about task (knowledge of the task nature) and knowledge about strategy (knowledge of metacognitive strategies) Person knowledge

is knowledge about perceptions of abilities and factors which influence the success or

failure of learning (age, attitude, personality, gender and learning style…) as well as beliefs of learners Task knowledge is knowledge of aims, demands and nature of learning tasks which contains knowledge of procedures to complete these tasks Strategy knowledge is knowledge about using useful strategies in learning and knowing the avoided and abandoned strategies

Metacognitive knowledge can lead an individual to use metacognitive strategies Yang (2009) also says that metacognitive knowledge is a significant management tool in learning process and metacognitive strategies are the deployment of metacognitive knowledge To understand metacognitive strategies better, it is necessary to move on

the concept of metacognitive strategies

2.3.3 Metacognitive strategies

Metacognitive strategies are one component of metacognition (Wenden, 1987) Metacognitive strategies are “actions which go beyond purely cognitive devices, and which provide a way for learners to coordinate their own learning process” (Oxford,

1990, p.136) She stated that learners spend time on concentrating, arranging, planning and evaluating on metacognitive strategies stage Besides, it is considered as “planning and consciously executing appropriate actions to achieve a particular goal‟‟ (Sheorey & Mokhtari, 2001, p.2) Metacognitive strategies are also described as “the general skills through which learners manage, direct, regulate, and guide their learning” (Wenden,

1998, p.519)

Like the previous definitions, “metacognitive strategies are higher- order executive skills which may entail planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of a learning

activity” (O‟Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.44) This is the definition that most of the researchers use to explain the term metacognitive strategies in their researches In general, metacognitive strategies are defined as strategies used before, during and after competing students‟ learning task with planning, monitoring and evaluating activities (Tran, 2015)

2.3.4 Classification of metacognitive strategies

There are many ideas for classifying the metacognitive strategies from many authors According to O‟Malley and Chamot‟s (1990) definition, metacognitive strategies are classified into three categories: planning strategies, monitoring strategies and evaluation strategies According to Chamot (2006), each category of metacognitive strategies is clearly explained Planning took place before starting learning activities This strategy requires learners firstly to make clear the aim of task, secondly to propose plans or strategies for the handling task, thirdly to pay whole attention on the task, fourthly to pay attention to details, lastly to preview the task During the learning task, learners spend time on monitoring to check their learning progress It helps learners to check if they are doing the task smoothly or not Evaluating is used after finishing the task to assess how well the students do the task Moreover, this strategy helps learners

to decide what strategies are effective and what are not so that they can apply more suitable strategies for next time

One method is a sequence of actions like planning, monitoring, and evaluating strategies used for the selected listening text (Mendelsohn 1998) Besides, Oxford (1990) classifies the metacognitive strategies into three groups: centering learning, arranging and planning learning and evaluating learning Anderson (2002) divides the

metacognitive learning process into five components: (1) preparing and planning for learning, (2) selecting and using learning strategies, (3) monitoring strategy use, (4) orchestrating various strategies, and (5) evaluating strategy use and learning

Based on Vandergrift‟ s idea (1997), metacognitive strategies such as analyzing the requirements of a listening task, activating the appropriate listening processes required, making appropriate predictions, monitoring their comprehension and evaluating the success of their approach can be the difference between skilled and less skilled listeners Different authors have different ideas about classifying the metacognitive strategies However, from Vandergrift, et al.„s classification (2006) from The Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) that has been used in many researches nowadays, metacognitive listening strategies include five types of strategies: problem-solving, planning and evaluation, mental translation, person knowledge, and directed attention (Vandergrift, et al., 2006) In general, from these definitions, we can see the three same categories of metacognitive strategies that are planning, monitoring and evaluating

2.4 Importance of metacognitive strategies on language learning

Some scholars believed that students who highly pay attention to and develop their own learning strategies will get more achievement in their learning than those who do not focus much on learning strategies Metacognitive learning strategies can help learners deal with problems when they have difficulties (Ratebi, 2013)

Oxford (1990, p.1) added “Strategies are especially important for language learning, because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for

developing communicative competence” Besides, Anderson (1991) mentioned that metacognitive strategies are the most essential strategies for developing students‟ learning skills Coskun (2010) even made sure that without metacognitive strategies, students will lose their directions in further learning According to Wenden (1998), students who have metacognitive strategies awareness can get below benefits for their learning:

 They are more strategic learners

 Their rate of progress in learning as well as the quality and speed of their cognitive engagement is faster

 They are confident in their abilities to learn

 They do not hesitate to obtain help from peers, teachers, or family when needed

 They provide accurate assessments of why they are successful learners

 They think clearly about inaccuracies when failure occurs during an activity

 Their tactics match the learning task and adjustments are made to reflect changing circumstances

 They perceive themselves as continual learners and can successfully cope with new situations

(Wenden, 1998, p.520)

In O‟Malley and Chamot‟s view (1990), metacognitive strategies have been frequently applied to various receptive or productive learning tasks, because “strong metacognitive skills empower second language learners” (Anderson, 2002, p.2)

Therefore, metacognitive approach goals are to train learners how to apply strategies effectively to deal with the demands of listening (Mendelsohn, 1998)

From these ideas, we can see that metacognitive strategies have good effect for not only language learning in general but also each skill if students apply them because Goh (1997) also considers metacognitive strategies as the most effective strategies which learners can apply them in language learning In other words, metacognitive strategies bring the best result for learners who use them

2.5 The relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension

According to Oxford (2011), by having appropriate knowledge about listening, learners can plan, monitor and evaluate what they want to do One way to deal with the complexity of listening comprehension is to use “metacognitive instruction” as a process-based approach to facilitate the process of listening for language learners (Goh, 2008) Besides, Goh (2008) also mentioned that metacognitive strategies help increase the learners' confidence and decreasing their anxiety, and these strategies have positive impacts on weak listeners‟ listening comprehension Vandergrift (2003) found out that skilled listeners are “able to systematically orchestrate a cycle of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to arrive at a coherent mental representation of the text in memory” (p.490) Besides, Vandergrift and Goh (2012), refers to:

“pedagogical procedures that enable learners to increase awareness of listening process by developing richer metacognitive knowledge about themselves as listeners, the nature and demands of listening, and strategies for listening” (p.97)

Coskun (2010) said that there is a direct and beneficial influence of metacognitive strategies on listening performance During the listening process, the learners with more knowledge of metacognitive strategies will be more active in finding and solving the problems rather than accepting or ignoring them (Goh, 2000) Besides, Jinhong (2011) restated O‟Malley and Chamot‟s (1990) generalization of the relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension, that is “metacognitive strategies are important in enhancing students‟ listening comprehension and helping learners to adjust themselves during listening” (p.14) Goh (2008) concluded the three benefits of metacognitive instruction in listening:

“(1) It improves affect in listening, helping learners to be more confident, more motivated and less anxious; (2) It has a positive effect on listening performance; (3) Weak listeners potentially benefit the greatest from it.” (p.10)

In conclusion, metacognitive strategies become the most important approach in enhancing listening comprehension because they help students become successful learners, and these strategies relate to intelligence (Livingston, 1997) By modeling and instructing students to develop their own metacognitive strategies, teachers can help students improve their listening comprehension in specific, and learning in general

2.6 Empirical studies

Some studies directly find the relation as well as the effects of metacognitive on listening comprehension all over the world (Jinhong, 2011; Birjandi & Rahimi, 2012; Chiung- Wen Chang, 2013; Malik et al, 2013; Rahami & Katal, 2013; Mansoor & Ebrahim, 2014 and Mehdi, Mansoor & Azizollah, 2014) Each study has its own way