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The article ‘Metacognitive awareness and second language learners’, written by         Christine Goh, reports on second language learners’ listening skill and discusses the learning and teaching of listening in ELT programmes via the use of listening diaries. There are at least three reasons why listening skill plays an important role in L2 learning and teaching: (1) students’ knowledge of their learning influences their learning, (2) students’ awareness and perceptions of learning strategies, (3) few insights about listening process and learning.

‘Metacognitive knowledge’ (MK), defined by Flawell (1979), is language students’ (1) beliefs of language learning, (2) awareness of mental process. Flawell (1979) identified three major categories of MK: person, task, and strategy. Similarly, Wenden (1991) discerned three kinds of MK: person knowledge, task knowledge, strategic knowledge. Because it is difficult to observe learners’ awareness of listening directly, the author suggested a ‘listening diary’ in which students write about listening learning. ‘Listening diary’ is used to investigate learners’ metacognitive awareness in listening skill.

The author conducted a survey in language learners’ metacognitive awareness in which forty Chinese students, being at the age of nineteen, are asked to keep their diaries about their listening for ten weeks. After that, forty diaries were analysed thoughtfully to present learners’ metacognitive knowledge in L2 listening in separate tables for each category above. As a result of the survey, the author identified: (1) 25 types of person knowledge; (2) 17 kinds of task knowledge; (3) 21 strategies of strategic knowledge (see appendix, figure 1, 2, 3). It is author’s belief that diaries can encourage learners to think about their own listening and consider the ways of improving this skill. To enhance students’ awareness of learning to listen, the author suggests incorporating ‘process-based discussions’ in which students can discuss strategies and beliefs written in their diaries as a part of course curriculum. Discussions can be concentrated by setting a theme, such as ‘How I learn spoken English’, ‘The best way to develop listening’. Moreover, the scope of pre- and post- listening discussion in listening classes should be expanded so that students can reflect their own cognitive process and then make better decision about how to improve their listening.

In this writer’s view, it is very important for English teachers to understand metacognitive knowledge in L2 listening and put it into practice. The writer would like to expand the article author’s idea of ‘process-based discussion’ by setting up a mini-project called ‘Home Practice Project’ (HPP), as an ‘action research’ in language classroom (Ur, 2006, pp. 328-329). The aim of HPP is to access students’ progress in listening skill. Language teachers can conduct HPP once a month during the course. HPP has three sequences which are described in more detail below.

First, the teacher is going to assign students with a ‘real-life’ listening task. In this task, at home, students are asked to: (1) watch a short English video supplied by the teacher, (2) answer the questions about the video in the worksheet (see appendix A), (3) write down their problems and suggest some strategies for better listening in their ‘listening diaries’. Short English videos can help students to experience ‘language in use’ (Harmer, 2007). A survey of students’ needs must be conducted at the beginning of the course so that the teacher can choose videos matching students’ interest. Teacher-made worksheet should be attractive with clear questions, full instruction and example (Ur, 2006, pp. 192-193). Teachers should design their own worksheet and sample diary paper (see appendix) on computer for future use.

Second, in the following week, the teacher lets students discuss their listening problems, strategies and check the correct answers. When students are discussing what they have written in their diaries, the teacher listens and gives feedback if necessary. After that, students’ diaries will be collected by the teacher.

Finally, students’ diaries will be analyzed thoughtfully, then problems and strategies will be recorded in teacher’s diary. The teacher can discuss students’ problem with colleague. If students made steady progress in their listening, the teacher could plan some projects for all skills. In order to encourage students to participate in the project, the teacher can offer a ‘prize’ for the best listening strategy. The best strategy will be ‘published’ in the class journal as a listening tip.

In conclusion, Christine Goh’s findings in the article can help both teachers and students to make great progress in learning and teaching of listening. In the future, the writer would like to put ‘Home Practice Project’ into teaching practice in Viet Nam and write a full report on the matter of metacognitive awareness and second language listeners.

Bibliography

Harmer, J. (2007). Chapter 18: Listening. In The Practice of English Language Teaching. 4th ed. (pp. 303-319). China: Pearson Education Limited. Ur, P. (2006). Classroom research. In A Course in Language Teaching (14th ed., pp. 328-329). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ur, P. (2006). Unit five: Teacher-made worksheets and workcards. In A Course in Language Teaching (14th ed., pp. 192-193). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.