Metacognition and Cognition in Second Language Teaching and Learning

 

The Role of Metacognition in Second Language Teaching and Learning -
Neil J. Anderson, Brigham Young University

Metacogntion is the key to learning.
Metacognition = thinking about thinking.

"Learners who are metacognitively aware know what to do when they don't know what to do; that is they have strategies for finding out or figuring out what they need to do.  The use of metacognitive strategies ignites one's thinking and can lead to more profound learning and improved performance, especially among learners who are struggling."

"It is important that they (teachers) teach their students metacognitive skills in addition to cognitive skills."

Metacognition Model

Effective Language Learning - S. Graham

"Oxford's grouping of learning strategies into those that are applied directly to the storage, retrieval and manipulation of language and those which have a more indirect effect is an important one and has been taken further in the work of O'Malley and Chamot. They emphasise the difference between metacognitive and cognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies refer to 'higher order executive skills that may entail planning for, monitoring, or evaluating the success of a learning activity' (O'Malley &
Chamot, 1990: 44)." 

"Cognitive strategies, on the other hand, 'operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning' (O'Malley and Chamot, 1990: 44). This might include such activities as grouping items to be learned into categories or using a dictionary to find out the meaning of a word. A third category of strategies is also defined social/affective strategies, which cover 'either interaction with another person' or exercising control over emotional or affective responses to learning (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990: 45). Such strategies could involve asking questions for clarification or discussing one's worries about language learning with another person."

This model has since been criticised.  Compensatory strategies are 

associated with how a learner uses a language, rather than learns it.

"These distinctions are important partly because they give some indication of which strategies are the most crucial in determining the effectiveness of learning. It seems that metacognitive strategies, that allow students to plan, control and evaluate their learning, have the most central role to play in this respect, rather than those that merely maximise interaction and input. Investigating in a related study
the learning strategies of effective and ineffective learners, Chamot and Küpper (1989) found that more successful students used learning strategies more often, 'more appropriately, with greater variety, and in ways that helped them complete the task successfully' (Chamot & Küpper, 1989: 17). The effective use of strategies is highlighted as a key issue. Ineffective students used fewer strategies and often used strategies 'that were inappropriate to the task' (Chamot and Küpper, 1989: 17). Thus the ability to choose and evaluate one's strategies is of central importance."