Metacognitive Strategy Instruction and Pre-task Planning: Impact on L2 Argumentative Writing Ability

Abstract

Research on language learning strategy instruction has documented the effectiveness of helping less successful language learners improve their performance through strategy instruction (e.g. Oxford, 1990; Wenden, 2002). Fewer studies, however, have investigated the impact of an explicit instructional training of strategies on conducting written tasks. For this reason, more research is required into the investigation of a relationship between writing strategy use and second language (L2) writing ability, given the crucial role played by the latter in the academic success and, by extension, the educational and career prospects of L2 learners. The current study was conducted to explore the possibility of designing a preparatory writing metacognitive training program which would incorporate writing strategy training activities into everyday classroom language instruction to introduce learners to writing-specific strategies. In this way, it was hoped to maximise L2 learners’ argumentative writing performance by raising their metacognitive awareness and providing them with sufficient time to plan content and form. Two studies were conducted: first in a university in Australia (n = 35), and then in a language school in Iran (n = 70). Contrary to the typical standard designs in extant taskbased planning research, which requires the participants in experimental and control groups to perform one single task under different planning conditions, the design of this quasi-experimental study sought to address development by the inclusion of a four-session unit of instruction which was specifically aimed at comparing the participants’ performance with and without metacognitive strategy instruction. Using mixed methods, the quantitative findings obtained from writing essays were triangulated with the quantitative technique of Likert-scale questionnaires and the qualitative in-depth interpretations of think-aloud protocols. The results provided evidence of the effectiveness of metacognitive training on the lexical complexity of written products on the one hand and the general writing proficiency on the other. Furthermore, the complementary data obtained from think-aloud protocols and questionnaires contributed to our understanding of what actions learners engage in when writing an essay and how metacognitive instruction can impact their conscious efforts to produce a text which is grammatically correct, logically coherent and situationally appropriate. The resulting contribution will be twofold: Firstly, writing instruction will embed a preparatory metacognitive training program in the content matter to ensure connectivity. Secondly, it will justify that introducing learners to writing task-specific metacognitive strategies is an important step forward to resolve major executive and practical problems in essay writing courses at secondary and tertiary levels.