Publicação
Promoting metacognitive awareness through teaching learning strategies in the primary English classroom
| Resumo: | The present study was conducted for my practicum during my master’s degree with an aim of exploring the concepts of learning strategies and metacognitive awareness with young learners in the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language. Secondly, this study also aims to understand the role primary English teachers can have in fostering these two concepts. The final aim is to understand to what extent learning strategy instruction works in the development of student’s metacognitive awareness and what this can look like in the classroom. The present study was conducted with a group of 24 fourth-grade students from a public primary school in the outskirts of Lisbon, aged between nine and ten. As a methodology, a small-scale classroom-based action research project was used and a qualitative and quantitative approach to data collection was applied. The research tools consisted of a teaching journal, weekly observations, two questionnaires, one applied at the beginning of the research cycle and other towards the end, recordings of reflections regarding the strategies taught and individual interviews. The strategy teaching model followed was proposed by Kirsch (2012) which consisted of “Raising awareness of strategies and strategy use; presenting and modelling strategies; offering opportunities for focused and scaffolded practice; promoting evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies and monitoring strategy use”. Students were presented with three strategies related to memorization and were given time to practice individually and evaluate them in group discussions which were recorded. As a day-to-day practice, reflective summaries at the end of the lesson were used in which students had to give their opinions on the lesson and reflect on parameters such as the skills used, interaction patterns, etc. Students were also involved in tasks such as the use of a picture dictionary and use of word cards, which completement the learning strategies related to memorization of vocabulary. Results showed that over time students became more able to reflect on their learning and give more complex answers to the strategic questioning applied during the group discussions. Students’ answers in the second questionnaire also showed the importance of teaching strategies since more than half of the students reported having used the strategies at home alone. Moreover, the study demonstrated that the teacher’s role is of great importance, not only concerning strategy teaching, but also in providing feelings of safety and implementing practices that go beyond strategy teaching. Other teaching activities also contributed greatly for students’ metacognitive awareness like the implementation of reflective summaries, and other tasks such as the picture dictionary and the word cards which gave students a wider range of materials and strategies. The results of this study may encourage English teachers to implement strategy teaching in the younger learner classroom. |
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| Autores principais: | Miranda, Inês Pereira |
| Assunto: | Consciencialização metacognitiva Estratégias de aprendizagem Jovem aprendente Memorização Papel do professor Metacognitive awareness Learning strategies Young learners Memorization Teacher’s role Foreign language learning Papel do professor |
| Ano: | 2022 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Nova de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório Institucional da UNL |
| Resumo: | The present study was conducted for my practicum during my master’s degree with an aim of exploring the concepts of learning strategies and metacognitive awareness with young learners in the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language. Secondly, this study also aims to understand the role primary English teachers can have in fostering these two concepts. The final aim is to understand to what extent learning strategy instruction works in the development of student’s metacognitive awareness and what this can look like in the classroom. The present study was conducted with a group of 24 fourth-grade students from a public primary school in the outskirts of Lisbon, aged between nine and ten. As a methodology, a small-scale classroom-based action research project was used and a qualitative and quantitative approach to data collection was applied. The research tools consisted of a teaching journal, weekly observations, two questionnaires, one applied at the beginning of the research cycle and other towards the end, recordings of reflections regarding the strategies taught and individual interviews. The strategy teaching model followed was proposed by Kirsch (2012) which consisted of “Raising awareness of strategies and strategy use; presenting and modelling strategies; offering opportunities for focused and scaffolded practice; promoting evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies and monitoring strategy use”. Students were presented with three strategies related to memorization and were given time to practice individually and evaluate them in group discussions which were recorded. As a day-to-day practice, reflective summaries at the end of the lesson were used in which students had to give their opinions on the lesson and reflect on parameters such as the skills used, interaction patterns, etc. Students were also involved in tasks such as the use of a picture dictionary and use of word cards, which completement the learning strategies related to memorization of vocabulary. Results showed that over time students became more able to reflect on their learning and give more complex answers to the strategic questioning applied during the group discussions. Students’ answers in the second questionnaire also showed the importance of teaching strategies since more than half of the students reported having used the strategies at home alone. Moreover, the study demonstrated that the teacher’s role is of great importance, not only concerning strategy teaching, but also in providing feelings of safety and implementing practices that go beyond strategy teaching. Other teaching activities also contributed greatly for students’ metacognitive awareness like the implementation of reflective summaries, and other tasks such as the picture dictionary and the word cards which gave students a wider range of materials and strategies. The results of this study may encourage English teachers to implement strategy teaching in the younger learner classroom. |
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