The paper titled "Metacognitive and Social Strategies to Promote EFL Learners' Lecture Comprehension" by Abdul Wahed Qasem Al Zumor focuses on the challenges Saudi EFL students face in comprehending academic lectures and the potential of metacognitive and social strategies to enhance their comprehension. The research question addresses the primary factors hindering lecture comprehension and the effectiveness of specific strategies in overcoming these challenges.
The study aims to investigate the listening comprehension difficulties of Saudi EFL students in academic lectures, particularly in content courses such as Linguistics and Literature. The study further explores the impact of incorporating metacognitive strategies (such as structured lectures) and social strategies (like peer discussions) on students' comprehension abilities.
The research methodology involved a diagnostic stage, followed by an intervention. In the first stage, 75 male students from King Khalid University participated in a questionnaire to identify comprehension problems. In the next stage, 15 students underwent a six-week intervention, where metacognitive and social strategies were employed. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews to reflect on the intervention's effectiveness.
The key findings reveal that several factors, including teaching methods, students' linguistic proficiency, and the content's complexity, significantly impact lecture comprehension. The study discovered that students often rely on translation rather than understanding the lecture content directly. The intervention demonstrated that structured lectures and peer discussions significantly improved students' comprehension, as reported in the post-intervention interviews.
The study concludes that the use of metacognitive and social strategies in teaching can effectively enhance EFL learners' lecture comprehension. The findings emphasize the need for a shift in teaching methods, focusing on interactive and student-centered approaches. Additionally, the study recommends incorporating lecture comprehension strategies into the curriculum and providing students with the necessary linguistic and communicative skills to succeed in content-based courses. The implications suggest that improving these areas could lead to better academic outcomes for EFL students in Saudi Arabia.