The Use of Metacognitive Strategies Among Post- Secondary Malaysian ESL Learners

Abstract

Learning strategies are thoughts, mental steps, behaviours or operations or techniques that learners use to help them comprehend or learn a new language and to regulate their effort to do so.This study was undertaken to investigate the use of Metacognitive Strategies (MS) by post-secondary Malaysian ESL learners in their ESL learning. The objectives of the study are: i) to find out which MS were used most and least by More Successful Learners (MSL) and Less Successful Learners (LSL), ii) to find out how these learners perceived the importance of MS in their ESL learning and iii) how MS ranked against other learning strategies on SILL. A total of 400 students from four institutions responded to quantitative questionnaires. The quantitative data were analysed and interpreted using frequency counts, t-tests, Tukey-tests and Chi-square analyses, and compared with the data from Self-Reports for consistency. The findings show that between the two groups of ESL learners, the MSL exhibited a significantly higher rate of use of the elements of the MS than did the LSL. Monitoring was used most frequently and Planning was used least frequently by MSL. Similarly, Monitoring was used most frequently by LSL but Evaluating was used least frequently by LSL. There was a significant difference in MS use between MSL and LSL between four institutions. The results suggest that the learners from the Teacher Training Institute and Polytechnic used planning, monitoring and evaluating most frequently compared to the other two institutions. This could be due to the requirement for students to go out for their practical session during their course, where they are trained to be self-directed, self-reliant and independent. They have to interact with other workers and be part of the team. As for the importance of MS, MSL strongly agreed that MS were important in their ESL learning but not the LSL group. In terms of ranking, MSL ranked MS highest and LSL, they ranked Social Strategies first. The results indicate that there are significant differences between MSL and LSL in the use of specific MS in four institutions. As a conclusion, MSL are better users of MS and they perform well in their English. The lecturers should be aware of this and should encouraged LSL to use these strategies to enhance their ESL learning.