The Effectiveness of Meta-cognitive Strategies on Developing Writing Skills of EFL Yemeni University Students

Abstract

The present study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using the meta-cognitive strategies on Yemeni second-year university EFL students’ writing performance. It explored if there is a significant relationship between second-year students’ use of the meta-cognitive strategies and their writing performance. To achieve the objectives of the study and answer the research questions, the researchers adopted the quantitative approach with an experimental design. The study sample consisted of 60 EFL students from Sana’a University. They were equally divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group was taught writing skills using the meta-cognitive strategies, and the control group was taught writing skills using a product approach. The data were collected using pre- and post-tests to determine students’ performance in terms of writing skills. Results show that the total mean scores among the participants were 22.33 based on a five-point Likert scale. Furthermore, the results reveal that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups in the four domains in the posttest in favor of the experimental group. This study ends with some recommendations for the university EFL learners in Yemen and presents some suggestions for further research.