Developing Metacognition to Enhance Young Learners’ Speaking

The ability to speak well enhances young learners’ mastery of the curriculum, as most of the explaining of concepts and clarifying of ideas is done primarily through the oral mode, for example, through classroom talk and in small group discussions. While speaking drills carried out during lessons provide opportunities for practice on the products of speaking such as prepared presentations, what is less understood are the systematic ways of raising students’ metacognitive awareness of the processes of speaking, or active thinking about their learning with respect to planning content, articulating ideas and reviewing progress. This chapter discusses the significance of metacognition in enhancing young learners’ oral competence as well as instruction to develop their metacognitive knowledge and use of metacognitive strategies for speaking. It illuminates the key aspects of metacognitive knowledge comprising person knowledge, task knowledge and strategy knowledge to conceptualize thoughts and deliver the messages well, and unpacks the nuanced processes in speaking to underscore the value of scaffolding on metacognitive strategies for planning, monitoring and evaluation to hone performance.