Investigating the Effects of Metacognitive Self-RegulationAwareness Intervention on L2 Listening Skill Development

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a metacognitive self-regulation awareness intervention (Vandergrift, 2004) on L2 listening skill development at a university in Japan. Educational psychology literature indicates that metacognitive self-regulation is an important predictor of a learner’s academic success (Pintrich, 2004). L2 literature suggests that metacognition influences English proficiency (Goh, 2000), but research on L2 listening is limited in EFL contexts. This study focused on Global Studies majors at a university in Japan. Data were collected at the beginning and at the end of the 2013 academic year using TOEFL scores. The investigation examined how the experimental group, who had been given a metacognitive self-regulation awareness intervention, improved their listening skills in comparison with the control group, who had not. The data were analyzed statistically and interpreted, also by drawing on interview data. The results suggested that the metacognitive self-regulation awareness intervention was effective for L2 listening skill improvement.