The impact of strategy instruction on L2 learners'oral performance: investigating metacognitive learming strategies

Abstract

The present study investigated whether strategy instruction produces an impact on L2 learners' oral performance and whether there is a relationship between strategy use and L2 oral performance. The participants were 22 undergraduate students enrolled in the seventh semester of the Letras course at Unesc (Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense). Data were collected on a pre- and post-instructional basis with an experimental and a control group with 11 participants in each group. Learners' oral performance was assessed in terms of fluency, complexity, accuracy and weighted lexical density through a video-based narrative task. Reported strategy use was determined through questionnaires applied immediately after the narrative task. In the instructional phase of the study, the experimental group was taught the benefits of using the metacognitive learning strategies of planning, monitoring and evaluation in order to improve L2 oral performance. The control group, in turn, received no strategy instruction. Statistical analysis revealed that explicit strategy instruction had an impact on L2 learners' oral performance in terms of complexity, accuracy and weighted lexical density, but not in fluency as measured by speech rate pruned and unpruned. These results were explained in terms of trade-off effects among complexity, accuracy, weighted lexical density and fluency. Statistical analysis also showed that there was a relationship between increased reported strategy use and improved L2 speaking performance. Results further suggested that strategy instruction should be conducted in L2 classroom settings not only as a way to facilitate learners' endeavors to become successful L2 speakers but also to encourage the development of more positive attitudes towards L2 learning.