Metacognitive awareness and second language listeners

This article reports on a diary study that revealed beliefs and knowledge second language learners had about their listening. From an analysis of the diaries of 40 ESL learners, it was found that many of them had clear ideas about three aspects of listening: their own role and performance as second language listeners, the demands and procedures of second language listening, and strategies for listening. The article discusses the implications of these findings for the teaching and learning of listening in ELT programmes. It calls for more discussion to increase learners’ metacognitive awareness in listening, and argues for the use of listening diaries as a learning tool for this purpose.