Metacognitive knowledge about vocabulary learning: A case study of an English for Academic Purposes programme

This study investigates how vocabulary is perceived and approached in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context from the perspectives of learners, teachers, and theme books. It begins with a partial replication of Moir and Nation (2002) and explores the metacognitive knowledge or awareness of EAP learners and how it develops in relation to learning vocabulary for academic purposes. The study also investigates whether this knowledge aligns with evidence-based vocabulary principles recommended by Nation (2022) and Flavell’s (1979) task-strategy-person metacognitive framework. It also explores the roles that teachers and theme books play in promoting or developing knowledge about what vocabulary to learn and how.

This research was conducted during a ten-week EAP programme at a New-Zealand-based university, with eight second language (L2) learners and three teachers from two EAP classes. Following Moir and Nation (2002), interviews elicited the participants’ knowledge about setting goals, selecting words for learning, aspects of knowing a word, learning approaches, and checking progress. Classroom observation data explored how teachers enacted their metacognitive knowledge and used EAP theme book-based vocabulary learning activities. Theme book analyses focused on metacognitive instruction, load and repetition of vocabulary, and applying Nation and Webb’s (2011) Technique Feature Analysis (TFA) to vocabulary activities.

The study revealed (1) the EAP learners showed an increased metacognitive knowledge over the course about nature of word knowledge and deliberate and incidental learning approaches, guided by both the EAP teachers and the theme books; (2) the learners did not appear to develop their metacognitive awareness about word frequency and word selection; (3) despite efforts by the teachers to encourage the learners to reflect and assess their vocabulary learning progress, there was little evidence of growth in this area of metacognitive knowledge; (4) constraints such as time might have hampered the teachers’ efforts in developing learners’ metacognitive knowledge; and (5) the TFA (Nation & Webb, 2011) could be adapted for pragmatic reasons to enhance its potential for vocabulary learning and teaching.

This thesis suggests several pedagogical and theoretical implications. The first is that explicit instruction, regular practice, and reflection on Nation’s (2022) vocabulary principles are important for L2 learners. They need time and practice to understand and apply the principles inside and outside the EAP classroom and this training takes planning and repetition to be effective and efficient. Theoretically, there is both value and challenge in using Flavell’s (1979) framework to explore EAP learners’ awareness of how to learn vocabulary. This study enhances our understanding about how and why learners approach vocabulary the way they do in a transitional L2 learning stage such as EAP, and how teachers and theme books contribute to this learning process.