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UHAMKA International Conference on ELT and CALL (UICELL)
Jakarta, 23-24 November 2017
UICELL 2017, Page 1
The Implementation of Cognitive and Metacognitive in
Speaking Skill through a Short Duration Video to
Improve Students’ Confidence
Muhammad Ali Ghufron
(maghufron@gmail.com)
Nurmala Hendrawaty
Indraprasta PGRI University, Jakarta, Indonesia
Speaking is a productive skill in learning a language, and it is one of the most influential
skills that has to be mastered by students in EFL classroom. The improvement of speaking
skill is important to the development of the students taking an English Program at university.
However, the facts showed that mostly students’ speaking skill is still poor. The problems
come up from internal and external factors. From the internal factor, one of the reasons is
students feel unconfident to communicate in English both in and outside the classroom, and
from the external factor is the monotonous speaking teaching and learning activities in class.
To solve the problems, a lecturer requires effective and innovative learning strategies. As a
result, the study aims at discussing the implementation of cognitive and metacognitive in
speaking skill through a short duration video to improve students’ confidence; in addition,
some procedures and considerations are presented in this paper. It can be assumed that
implementing both cognitive and metacognitive strategies by watching a short duration video
can encourage students’ confidence in speaking skill.
Keywords: cognitive, metacognitive, speaking skill, video, students’ confidence
Berbicara merupakan keterampilan produktif dan merupakan keterampilan yang paling
penting untuk dikuasai oleh mahasiswa bahasa Inggris. Namun kemampuan mahasiswa
masih lemah. Masalahnya bisa disebabkan faktor internal dan ekternal. Faktor internal
adalah karena mereka kurang percaya diri untuk berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Inggris,
sedangkan factor eksternal adalah pengajaran berbicara yang monoton. Oleh karenanya
dosen perlu menerapkan strategi pembelajaran yang inovatif dan efektif. Oleh karena itu
studi ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui efektifitas penerapan cognitif dan metacognitif dalam
pembelajaran berbicara melalui video singkat untuk meningkatkan percaya diri siswa.
INTRODUCTION
Speaking is a productive skill in learning a language, and it is one of the most influential skills
that have to be mastered by students in EFL classroom because of its benefits for their higher
education and advanced career. The development of speaking English skill as a means of
communication is fundamental to interact with others in spoken English. The improvement of
speaking skill is important to the development of the students taking an English Program at
university. Being proficient at English speaking requires effective and innovative learning
strategies.
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From the past until the present times, the topic of the use of both cognitive and
metacognitive strategies in language learning has been on the discussion table for the
academicians and researchers. They assume that there is a significant influence of the
implementation of both strategies in language learning for students. The implementation of
cognitive strategies especially in speaking will sharpen students’ intellectual abilities and
influence the students’ speaking skill and performance. The abilities involve repetition,
organizing new language, summarizing meaning, guessing meaning from context, and using
imagery for memorization. In addition, the implementation of the model strategies in
metacognitive− CALLA by O’Malley and Chamot involve preparation, presentation, practice,
evaluation, and expansion help students get better speaking proficiency and performance. As a
result, students who develop their metacognitive awareness in speaking are likely to become
active, confident, and independent.
In teaching English speaking for university students taking an English Program, a
lecturer has to use effective and innovative teaching and learning speaking activities. The use
of learning strategies that has been stated above is appropriate. In addition, to avoid boring
class, the use of learning media technology like video is the best choice. By using video, the
students feel the atmosphere of how the native speakers speak up and have the interaction.
They also feel motivated, enjoyable, and active while learning speaking through video.
However, the video views should meet students’ interest and the time duration has to be taken
into account by the lecturer.
One of the problems faced by mostly students taking an English speaking class is
feeling shy to speak up. They are afraid of making mistakes and reluctant to express their
opinions. The implementation of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in speaking skill will
bring a significant influence as stated by the experts and showed in research findings.
Furthermore, showing students with a short duration video while learning speaking and giving
students a chance to retell the story and give comments will make them active and confident.
On the basis of the research background, it can be assumed that the implementation of cognitive
and metacognitive in speaking skill through a short duration video will improve students’
speaking performance especially their confidence.
Cognitive
Cognitive strategies are one type of learning strategy that learners use in order to learn more
successfully. These include repetition, organizing new language, summarizing meaning,
guessing meaning from context, using imagery for memorization. All of these strategies
involve deliberate manipulation of language to improve learning. Classifications of learning
strategies distinguish between cognitive and two other types. Metacognitive strategies
(organizing learning), and social/affective strategies (which enable interaction).
Cognitive strategies as described by Oxford (1990: 8 in Smetanova, 2009) concern the
way the student thinks about his/her learning. They involve many ways of using effectively all
the cognitive processes and substituting missing knowledge. Cognitive behavior is typical for
more or less− observable techniques and strategies. Cognitive strategies are connected to
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intellectual abilities and skills− that means cognitive domain will influence the quality of the
students’ learning.
Example of Cognitive Strategies
1. Questioning generation: students learn to make up their own main-idea questions about
what they watch, such as “Why should the beggar pretend such a stupid action?”
2. Comprehension monitoring: students are taught to notice whether they understood what
they watch, usually by asking themselves questions such as “How could I explain to the
moral story from what I just watched?”
3. Summarizing: students learn how to summarize what they just watched in a few scenes,
skipping unnecessary event and condensing important information.
4. Question answering: students are taught about different types of questions (e.g., think of
scenes from the video, then look and make a plot from the events).
On the basis of the explanations above, it can be concluded that cognitive is one of
strategies in learning a language. It is related to students’ intellectual abilities and influence the
students’ speaking skill and performance. The abilities involve questioning generation,
comprehension monitoring, summarizing, and answering the questions. This is the way of how
they can achieve their goal in understanding the plot and moral value on a video with short
duration.
Metacognitive
Metacognition is one major direction of complex mental functions, which refers to one’s
knowledge about cognition and the ability to manage and direct one’s learning and thinking.
Only when learners have developed metacognitive awareness, are they able to control their
learning process consciously, conducting self-reflection and self-evaluation. O’Malley and
Chamot (1990: 44) point out that metacognitive strategies control the use of cognitive strategies
and to great extent. The failure or success of learning depends on the failure or success of the
use of metacognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies are important for effective learning.
Metacognitive strategies are sequential processes that one uses to control cognitive
activities, and to ensure that a cognitive goal has been met. These processes help to regulate
and oversee learning, and consist of planning and monitoring cognitive activities, as well as
checking the outcomes of those activities. In addition, metacognitive strategies play an
important role in language learning as students need to know which strategies to use and when
to use them. According to O’Malley & Chamot, metacognitive strategies involve thinking
about the learning process, planning for learning, monitoring the learning task, and evaluating
how well one has learned (Xu, 2012: 1430).
According to Coskun (2010: 39), metacognitive has models and training instruments
stated by different experts. One of them is CALLA. Cognitive Academic Language Learning
Approach (CALLA) was developed by Chamot and O’Malley as metacognitive strategy