THE DEVELOPMENT OF METACOGNITIVE COMPETENCES IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - ENHANCEMENT

After the students have successfully completed the course, • they will know the basics of metacognition/the metacognitive strategies and understand their role in the course design • they will have gained experience in case study • they will have become more sensitive to methodological and practical issues that may arise due to the involvement of the researcher • they will have practiced their skills of analyzing and interpreting questionnaires • they will be able to look for the necessary literature in various ways, among which the use of key words in data bases on PCs • they will be able to make instructive comments based on the theory they have been taught as well as the course analysis they have carried out • they will be able to make presentations using various means and presentation techniques

This course is an extension of the mandatory course under the same title and code name and can be only chosen along with it. The main focus of the course is the metacognitive strategies involved in the development of the though and the linguistic awareness in the foreign language (FL) lesson. Following Eukleidi-Costaridou (1997: 298), the use of metacognitive strategies can be translated to a conscious application of cognitive strategies and knowledge assessment criteria, as well as strategies facilitating the self-observation and self-correction to problem solving actions. Teaching metacognitive strategies can bring about spectacular results. Studies have shown that learning improves (cf Scrugs et al.) when such strategies are applied. The students become aware of their abilities and weaknesses, they get involved in the improvement of their cognitive labor and become independent and self-regulated regarding their learning processes (cf Mastrothanasis 2015: 7). Metacognitive skills construct the core of self-regulating and successful lifelong learning. These skills can render the Foreign Language lessons more organized and secure the more efficient learning of other languages as well. The linguistic awareness and the awareness of the personal way of learning lead the students to the investigation of the existing knowledge and skills or their extension to other languages (cf Karagiannidou 2006: 27). After an introduction to the Flavell’s metacognitive model (1979), at the first part of the seminar the goals, the prerequisites and the basic procedures of metacognition will be presented. Moreover, we will attempt a distinction between the concept of learning strategies and the metacognitive strategies. At the second part, the students themselves will experiment with case study of limited extent. Using the questionnaire constructed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia and ΜcKeachie (1991) as a methodological tool – adjusted to the content of individual school lessons – they will attempt to document the metacognitive strategies used by the school students while they study or do exercises in the classroom. Every single involvement at the cognitive or metacognitive level aiming for an application of various control strategies concerning cognitive processes as well as the person themselves, requires documentation and awareness of the ways in which the person learns (cf Eukleidi-Costaridou 1997: 298). The above mentioned questionnaire takes a record of metacognitive strategies concerning the self-regulation, the time and the environment when/where studying takes place, the regulation of the effort, learning within a team, and the ways of finding help. As a tool for reflection on efficient learning, it will provide with information about the metacognitive strategies and also the motives and the feelings a student has during learning. For the searching and the investigation of the metacognitive strategies, a field research will be conducted (since it will take place at schools, the natural environment for students). Specifically, the analysis and the assessment of the metacognitive strategies the students use in a Foreign Language course will be carried out on the grounds of a detection and record scale, in order that results will be drawn about the use of effective metacognitive strategies in the German lesson as a foreign language. Finally, the students will work in small teams to analyze the questionnaires according to the theory taught at the first part, so that they present the analysis as part of the seminar. Furthermore, thy will sum up their conclusions and make suggestions with respect to the application of the theory and the results to individual domains of the education of the teachers.

Metacognitive strategies, self-observation, self-correction, self-regulation, metacognitive models, questionnaires, case study, reflection, awareness

20-06-2017