SELF-REGULATED LEARNING AND ITS RELATION TO VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS’ L2 LISTENING ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been well-documented in prior studies as a critical factor for academic success. While previous educational researchers have acknowledged the fact that SRL is both domain and context-dependent (Wolter & Pintrich, 1998), research examining learners’ self-regulatory activities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context is rather limited. Drawing on the SRL theory of (Pintrich, 2004; Pintrich & De Groot, 1990), this research was carried out to examine the learning self-regulation of a group of Vietnamese EFL learners and its relation to their L2 listening competence. It also probes into whether gender and listening ability had an impact on the language learners’ self-regulatory learning behaviors. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), adopted from Pintrich, Smith, Garcia and McKeachie (1991), was utilized as the research instrument which was then administered to 38 English-major students at a university in the central region of Vietnam. The participants’ L2 listening ability was also assessed with an adopted listening test. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and two-way MANOVA were performed with SPSS version 22.0 for data analysis. The results indicated that participants had a moderate level of SRL, which was found to be associated with their L2 listening achievements. In particular, three aspects of SRL that were directly related to the EFL learners’ listening competence were metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, and critical thinking. There was, however, neither gender nor ability effect on the participants’ SRL. Pedagogical implications for teaching L2 listening skill, i.e., underscoring the role of higher-order thinking skills, and suggestions for future research were discussed.