Metacognition In EFL Writing: A Comparison Of Higher And Lower Proficiency-Level English Majors

The study attempts to unveil the contrasting characteristics of metacognition in EFL writing between higher and lower proficiency-level English majors in the People's Republic of China (PRC), which endeavors to fill up the vacuum of research targeting at metacognition in EFL writing for PRC English majors. Since prior studies focus on PRC non-English majors under Flavell's model of metacognition (Wu,2004,2006 ) or on metacognition in reading and listening(Zhang,2001;Goh,1997,2006;Vandergrift, 2002,2206) little has been done to illuminate on metacognition in EFL writing for PRC English majors. Having adopted both quantitative and qualitative research methods to satisfy the research purposes, the present study unlocked the contrasts of metacognition in EFL writing between the higher proficiency-level PRC English majors and their lower counterparts by analyzing the survey data and the mentalistic data, the former of which was obtained from the responses of 131 PRC third-year English majors at tertiary level to a questionnaire and the latter of which was originated from the ten third-year English majors'think-aloud processes and their follow-up interviews.Consequentially, the higher proficiency-level English majors and their lower counterparts were found to have boasted contrasting features of metacognition in EFL writing. Using the statistical analysis of one-way ANOVA, the survey study showed that there existed a statistically significant mean difference with respect to one of the three major components of metacognition in EFL writing i.e."metacognitive assessment of writing problems"(Wu, 2004, 2006) between the higher proficiency-level English majors and their lower counterparts with two factors involved in this component i.e."assessment of language barriers plus negative metacognitive experiences"and"assessment of reasons for deficiency in writing ability". The four factors i.e."strategy for choice of words","strategy for equal importance attached to content, organization and language","assessment of writing criteria"and"assessment of writing importance"presented a pattern of mean difference with Group 3 of the higher proficiency-level English majors possessing the highest means though showing no statistically significance in mean difference across different proficiency levels. The mentalistic data demonstrated that the higher proficiency-level English majors invested more attention in metacognitive strategies regarding ideas, content and organization with more positive metacognitive experiences over the course of writing while their lower counterparts were more concerned about local strategies regarding the use of language or linguistic aspects with more negative metacognitive experiences. Furthermore, the higher proficiency-level English majors were more comprehensive and philosophical as for another major component of the metacognitive assessment of tasks while their lower counterparts were more unilateral and linguistic.By discovering the contrasting characteristics of metacognition in EFL writing between these two groups of learners, the current study evidenced the interacting relationship between metacognition in EFL writing and English proficiency levels. From that strong implications for pedagogy and future research emerged naturally. An integrated approach to address the discrepancies of metacognition in EFL writing across different English proficiency levels was recommended to balance varying learning demands and to improve overall teaching efficacy. Prospective research orientations were also suggested in this study to further explore the issues of metacognition in EFL writing.