Metacognitive Strategies to Improve Listening Comprehension in Senior Students at Daniel Reyes High School During the Academic Year 2022-2023

Abstract

The present research project aimed to promote the use of metacognitive strategies to enhance listening comprehension in EFL senior high school students. It was carried out at Daniel Reyes High School, located in the city of Ibarra during the school year 2022-2023, where fifty-nine senior students and two English teachers participated. This research had a mixed approach, incorporating, both quantitative and qualitative, data that helped to obtain a more comprehensive view of the problem. To develop this study, two research instruments were conducted to obtain data. The first one was an interview addressed to English teachers to analyze the methodological strategies used in the development of students’ listening comprehension. The second one was a survey for EFL students to collect information about metacognitive strategies applied by themselves in listening activities. The results evidenced that most of the students use metacognitive strategies unconsciously while listening to spoken language which limits their full comprehension of it. Moreover, they pointed out factors such as vocabulary, teaching methods, and practice as responsible of their listening comprehension struggles. In this sense, an academic blog was designed to provide metacognitive strategies related to encouraging topics that enable students to be aware, strategic, and reflective on their listening comprehension process.