Metacognitive Strategy Instruction and EFL learners’ Listening Comprehension Ability: A Tale of Two Genders

This research aimed to probe the effect of two different models of metacognitive strategy instruction on the listening performance of EFL learners in Iran. 83 intermediate EFL learners in four groups, two male and two female groups were the participants. The participants in the first experimental groups – a male and a female group – were undergone a ten-week treatment including the linear strategy instruction of metacognitive strategies. The focus was upon planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The participants in the second experimental group were trained according to Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence proposed by Vandergrift and Goh (2012) for ten weeks, and  participated in a course in which a sequence of tasks helped them work on their metacognitive awareness of the processes underlying L2 listening through peer interactions. Through a test of listening comprehension, data were collected and changes were tracked in learners’ listening performance  before and after the program. According to the findings of the study metacognitive strategy instruction led to a significant improvement in the overall listening performance of the learners in both groups, that is, no significant difference was found between two groups of male and female learners. Moreover, it was shown that the Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence and the manner in which metacognitive strategies were presented according to this model led to significantly higher listening performance of EFL learners who participated in this study.