Investigating the Role of Metacognitive Knowledge in English Writing

Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about learning. Recent research suggests that metacognitive knowledge plays an important function in cognitive activities concerning language use and acquisition. This paper aims to investigate the role of metacognitive knowledge in the English writing of Chinese EFL learners. The present study involves 120 non-English major freshmen in China as participants to complete an English writing task and a self-designed questionnaire on metacognitive knowledge. It is found that the learners’ metacognitive knowledge base is not strong, metacognitive knowledge and its three components, i.e., person knowledge, task knowledge and strategic knowledge, are all positively correlated with English writing performance, and successful employment of metacognitive knowledge helps facilitate EFL learners’ writing proficiency. The results demonstrate that a good command of metacognitive knowledge can empower EFL learners in their English writing and cultivate their learning autonomy in English learning.