The efficacy of Self-Regulated Strategy Development in Enhancing Intermediate Iranian EFL Learners' Metacognitive Awareness and Listening Skill

Abstract

In recent years different methods of language learning like Self-Regulation Strategy Development (SRSD) have been researched so as to instruct and train independent learners. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of SRSD on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 68 students from some language institutes in Shahrekord, Iran were selected to take part in the study. They were randomly divided into two class of control group and experimental one. The participants' age ranged from 15 to 30 they were both male and female. A pre-test was administered to both groups before the treatment and a post-test after the treatment. These two tests were adopted from First Certificate in English (FCE). A Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) was administered to the students as well in order to measure their metacognitive awareness. For the purpose of data analysis, both independent sample t-test and paired-sample t-test were run to investigate the significance in the learners' performance in terms of the treatment and a correlation was run to measure the metacognitive awareness. Based on the data analysis it was revealed that those who participated in the experimental group outperformed the students in the control group. And the high achievers in regard with metacognitive awareness highly correlated with the low achievers. To summarize, the results of the study showed that SRSD can be highly effective in learners' listening performance.