Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Training and Perfectionism on Listening Comprehension Sub-Processes

The present study aimed to examine any possible relevance of perfectionism as a personal trait variable, in moderating the effectiveness of meta-cognitive instruction on bottom-up and top-down sub-processes of listening comprehension with a sample of EFL learners in Iranian context. To this end, 94 female EFL learners were selected from among 136 EFL learners at Andisheh Language Institute in Malayer, Iran based on the results of a homogenizing test (PET). The selected participants in 4 intact classes were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. Learners’ perfectionist tendency was measured by Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale and all participants were labeled as perfectionist or non-perfectionist by considering the median score as the cut-point. Two sessions of treatment were dedicated to explicit instruction of 5 metacognitive strategies for the experimental group, which was spared for the participants in the control group who received regular listening practice based on comprehension checking. Two sets of listening comprehension questions measuring top-down and bottom-up sub-processes adopted from TOEFL archives were administered as the post-test. The results indicated that both bottom-up and top-down listening comprehension were fostered by metacognitive instruction. Perfectionists and non-perfectionist EFL learners did not differ with regard to the effect of metacognitive instruction on their top-down listening comprehension though a significant moderating effect was observed for the bottom-up listening comprehension. The patterns of interaction between perfectionism and the two sub-processes of listening leave us in a better position to understand L2 listening process.