A Study Of Peer-assisted Metacognitive Strategy Training Through Listening Teaching In Senior High School

Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four basic language skills in L2 learning and teaching. Despite the fact that listening always comes first than other language skills, the attention paid to the listening is far from enough. Meanwhile, listening is an intractable problem for most L2 learners. With the development of technology and globalization, English is playing an increasing part in communication among nations. Of the four language skills, listening is highly frequently used. For L2 learners, listening is the first step in communication, and it provides the language input for the communicators. Thus, more importance should be attached to the skill by the L2 teachers and learners. With the implementation of New National Curriculum, the teaching model should be shifted, which means that the focus should be on the students rather than on the teacher. In a students-centered class, it is necessary for students to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning process. The metacognitive strategy is the key element to influence the learning effects. Thus, in order to set free from the conventional teaching model, to implement the metacognitive strategy training is rather essential.Since the classes in the senior high schools are so large that one teacher cannot take care of all the students simultaneously, the peer-assisted cooperative learning is necessary. The peer-assisted cooperative learning can not only enable the students for better progress together but also reduce the teacher’s burden. With the aim of improving the students’ listening ability, the peer-assisted metacognitive strategy training was conducted in the listening classes. Before the training, the experimental class was required to finish the metacognitive awareness questionnaire and the listening test to show their current level. After the questionnaire and the test, 36 students were chosen as the experimental subjects. Among these 36 students, 18 of them were skilled listeners while the remained 18 students were the less-skilled listeners. Then they were divided into three different kinds of pair groups. Group A was 6 pairs of one skilled listener and one less-skilled listener. Group B was 6 pairs of two less-skilled listeners while Group C was composed of 6 pairs of two skilled listeners. Then they were conducted the two-month peer-assisted metacognitive strategy training in the listening classes. After the training, the 36 students were required to finish the questionnaire and test once more to decide the effects of the training. The data from the results showed that the training was effective to all three groups. However, Group A made the most progress among the three pair groups.In summary, the results of the peer-assisted metacognitive strategy training in the listening classes were positive. It can be conducted in the future listening teaching. Meanwhile, the effects of this training method in the reading, grammar, and writing are encouraged to be verified in the future research.