An empirical study on Chinese tertiary student-writers’ use of metacognitive strategies in multimedia environments

Abstract

摘要: 本研究基于我校大学二年级非英语专业学生进行多媒体写作平台的教改实验，采用定量分析方法以问卷的形式对受试进行调查，以期发现外语学习者多媒体环境下英语写作元认知策略使用的内在结构。共收集有效问卷367 份，借助社会统计学软件SPSS23． 0 对数据进行探索性因子分析( EFA) 。结果表明，在多媒体环境下外语学习者的写作元认知策略可整合为三大要素: 事先计划、自我监控和自我评估。这一结果有助于我们进一步厘清元认知策略的概念，并促进学习者采用合理有效的学习策略，提高多媒体环境下的语言学习效率。 关键词: 元认知策略; 多媒体; 大学英语写作 Abstract: A search of the literature reveals that，up to now，despite sporadic studies on EFL writers’metacognitive knowledge in general situations，far too little attention has been systematically paid to Chinese EFL writers’use of metacognitive strategies in multimedia environments for accomplishing the writing tasks effectively and purposefully. Therefore，this study is an attempt to fill the research gap． Participants were 367 year-two students’non-English majors from an eastern Chinese university． Statistical analyses through exploratory factor analysis ( EFA) generated three main components of metacognitive strategies． These results are suggested as ways to advance our understanding of students’ metacognition for effective EFL writing in multimedia environments and shed light on promoting learners to adopt effective learning strategies for improving the efficiency in language learning in multimedia environments． Key words: Metacognitive Strategies; Multimedia Environments; EFL Writing