The Effectiveness Of Two Metacognitve Sreatagies In Developng Efl Prospective Teacher’s Speaking Skill:

Eman Mohammed Hassan Hassan

The present study has been primarily concerned with the development of the speaking skills through training students to use two metacognitive strategies namely self-monitoring and self-evaluation. The students used these strategies while and after speaking. The study assumed that using metacognitive strategies positively affected the student’s speaking skills.6.1. Questions of the study:The present study attempts to answer the following questions:1- What are the speaking sub-skills required for third yearEFL students?2- To what extent do the third year EFL students havethese skills?3- What is the suggested program for training third yearEFL students on the use of two metacognitivestrategies:- self-monitoring and self- evaluation?4- What is the effectiveness of the suggested program ondeveloping some speaking sub-skills required for thirdyear EFL students6.2. Purpose of the Study:The main purpose of the present study is to develop the speaking skills of third year prospective teachers of English using two metacognitive strategies (self- monitoring and self- evaluation).6.3. Tools of the Study:The researcher prepared the following tools to measure the variables of the study. These tools were administered pre and post the experiment.1. Questionnaire of the metacognitive strategies involved inthe speaking process.2. Interview to measure speaking skills and a rubric toanalyze the students’ speech in the interview and tomeasure their speaking skills.3. Think- aloud protocol and evaluative checklist of metacognitive strategies involved in the speaking process (used by the researcher to analyze the think-aloud).6.4. Sample of the Study:The sample of this study consisted of sixty- third year students enrolled in the English department at Benha Faculty of Education during the academic year 2007/2008. The sample of the qualitative analysis consisted of ten students: five good and five poor.6.5. Scope of the study:The study is limited to:1.Two metacognitive strategies (self- monitoring and self-evaluation).2.Some speaking skills required for third year prospectiveteachers of English.3.Sixty third year students enrolled in the English department at Benha Faculty of Education during the academic year 2007/2008.6.6. Procedures of the Study:The study followed the following procedures:1. To answer the first question, identifying the speaking skills required for third year EFL students, the study went through the following procedures:a. Review the literature and the previous studies.b. Prepare a checklist these skills.c. Submit the checklist to a jury of specialists todetermine its validity.d. Modify the checklist according to the jury’s point ofview.2. To answer the second question, determining the extent towhich the third year EFL students have these skills, thestudy went through the following procedures:2.1. Preparing the tools of the study and establishing theirvalidity and reliability through: a. Review the literature and the previous studies.b. Prepare the tools to measure the variables study.c. Submit the tools to a jury of specialists to determinetheir validity.d. Modify the tools according to the jury’s point of view.2.2. Administering the tools to a sample of sixty third yearstudents at the Benha faculty of education through:a-Administering a questionnaire of the metacognitivestrategies involved in the speaking process.b- Administering the tape recorded interview as a pre test.c- Analyzing the data on the tape using the rubric.d- Choosing the highest and lowest ten studentsdetermined by their scores at the rubric and ask them tothink aloud what actually was going on their mindswhile and after speaking.e- Administering the checklist of the metacognitivestrategies involved in the speaking process used by theresearcher to analyze the thinking aloud protocol of thestudents’ actual usage as a pre test.3. To answer the third question, what the suggested programfor training third year EFL students on the use of twometacognitive strategies namely self-monitoring and self-evaluation is, the study went through the followingprocedures:3.1. Designing a program for developing the pre-determined speaking skills based on the review ofliterature and related studies:a- determine its objectives.b- Set the content of the program. c- Submit the program to a jury of specialists to determine its validity.3.2. Teaching the introduction and unit one of the programto the sample.3.3. Teaching unit two of the program to the sample.Distributing the evaluative checklist to the students to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the program.4- To answer the fourth question, the effectiveness of thesuggested program on developing some speaking skillsrequired for third year EFL students, the study wentthrough the following procedures: 4.1. Administering the tools to the sample through:a- administering the questionnaire of the metacognitivestrategies involved in the speaking process.b- Administering the tape recorded interview as a posttest.c- Analyzing the data on the tape using the rubric.d- choosing the highest and lowest ten studentsdetermined by their scores at the rubric and ask them tothink aloud what actually was going on their mindswhile and after speaking in the interview.f- Administering the checklist of the metacognitivestrategies involved in the speaking process used by theresearcher to analyze the thinking aloud protocol of thestudents’ actual usage as a post test.4.2. Analyzing and interpreting the results.4.3. Recommendation of the study.6.7. Results of the study:The present study revealed the following results:1. The sample of the study acquired knowledge of cognition about the two metacognitive strategies self-monitoring and self-evaluation.2. This indicates that the sample has acquired the metacognitive knowledge about both self-monitoring and self-evaluation as there was statistically significant difference between the means of the students’ scores on the pre-post QMSSP in favour of the post-test where the t-value was 19.148 which is significant at the level 0.001.3. The speaking skills of the sample have developed as there was statistically significant difference between the means of the students’ scores on the pre-post rubric in favour of the post-test where the t-value was 27.451which is significant at the level 0.001.4. Students’ actual usage of the strategies has improved as there was statistically significant difference between the means of the good and poor students’ scores on the pre-post administration of the checklist in favour of the good. The t-value was 6.532 at the pre, which is significant at the level 0.003, and the t-value was 7.305 at the post, which is significant at the level 0.002.5. Self-monitoring needs more free space in the working memory. Because the working memory is already occupied by, their speaking so there is not enough space for them to think of what they are saying.6. Students tend to show improvement at the pronunciation skills before any other skills and this is consistent with Levelt (1989: P. 347) who believed that ‘the proportion of corrected phonological errors exceeds that of corrected lexical errors”.6.8. ConclusionBecause the results revealed that the sample acquired the knowledge and use of both self-monitoring and self-evaluation strategies, after the experiment, it can be concluded that:1- Explicit metacognitive training has a significant positiveeffect on the speaking skills of EFL students.2- Learners who use strategies (especially the metacognitiveones) produce better results in their language learningthan students who are less strategic”.3- Speaking skills are better dealt with as a part of theteacher education programs.4- Giving students more chances to speak and listen toauthentic materials will help them improve their ownspeaking skills.