Effects of training university EFL students in metacognitive strategies for listening to academic lectures

Abstract

The problem investigated by this research is whether strategy training in listening comprehension in particular is effective with EFL university students. Two hypotheses were set to understand the role of strategy training on the performance of EFL students on lecture comprehension. Two groups were formed to test the hypotheses. One of the groups was a "self-questioning" experimental group (SQ) and the other was a "review" control group (R). A total of thirteen EFL learners participated in the study. Students in SQ condition were trained to use self-questioning strategy by practising it with different listening texts as well as lecture excerpts. Students in R condition, on the other hand, reviewed and practised the lecture material by summary writing. These two groups met the researcher once a week separately for half an hour. The first hypothesis was that Turkish EFL students who were trained in self-questioning would do better on achievement tests than similar students who only reviewed their lecture notes and practised summary writing. The analysis of data rejected this hypothesis. R group performed better on post-test than SQ group. There is, however, a gain in the results of the SQ group, although this gain does not reach a significant level (t=-1.66, df=7, p=0.14). The second hypothesis was that the students trained in selfquestioning strategy would use this strategy on their own in a lecture where they are not instructed to use, and thus would maintain this strategy in new situations. On this maintenance test, students in R condition showed better performance than students in SQ condition. However, the analysis of data indicated that SQ could not maintain the strategy. Thus, this hypothesis was also rejected (t=0.06, df=9, p=0.14).