Su-Bergil (2020). Metacognitive awareness of prospective EFL teachers as predictors for course achievement: Teaching English to young learners. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 7(1). 160-175. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/699 Received: 29.07.2019 Received in revised form: 11.11.2019 Accepted: 28.11.2019 METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS OF PROSPECTIVE EFL TEACHERS AS PREDICTORS FOR COURSE ACHIEVEMENT: TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS Research Article Ayfer Su-Bergil Amasya University ayfer_su@yahoo.com.tr Ayfer Su-Bergil is an assistant professor doctor at Amasya University, Department of ELT. She received her PhD from Hacettepe University, MA from Gaziosmanpaşa University, BA from Gazi University. Methodologies of ELT, curriculum design, teacher education and development are among the fields of her interest Copyright by Informascope. Material published and so copyrighted may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of IOJET. mailto:ayfer_su@yahoo.com.tr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9277-2862 Su-Bergil 160 METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS OF PROSPECTIVE EFL TEACHERS AS PREDICTORS FOR COURSE ACHIEVEMENT: TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS Ayfer Su-Bergil ayfer_su@yahoo.com.tr Abstract This study gives priority to investigating the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and the effects of it on prospective teachers’ Teaching English to Young Learners achievement which includes and also reflects their micro-teaching process occurring during this course. For this purpose, the participants of the study consist of the 3rd and 4th grade students studying at Amasya University, Faculty of Education, English Language Teaching (ELT) Programme throughout 2018-2019 academic year. 52-item Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) (Schraw & Dennison, 1994) was used as the data collection instrument, and its relation with the teaching skills of micro-teaching in Teaching English to Young Learners course process was analyzed. As to the methodology, quantitative research approaches were applied to the collected data. Based on the findings, it was observed that the prospective teachers, who are the teachers of future and expected to open the gate for learners to perceive the information profoundly, have these pre-condition skills at different levels. Therefore, it could be stated that the English Teacher Education process of faculties needs to be explored deeply by taking into consideration the fact that homogeneity in the qualities/characteristics of English language teachers is an urgent call to provide equal chances for the learners. Keywords: Metacognition, metacognitive awareness, teaching English to young learners, teaching skills. 1. Introduction Metacognition is one of the terms which educational psychology has dwelt upon deliberately for many years. Since metacognition is such a key term that it has a strong influence on learning, it has been accepted as a significant predictor by several researchers based upon their findings. Thus, metacognition has been defined by many researches. For instance according to Flavell (1987, 1979), the knowledge of cognitive issues is associated with the metacognition concept and it reflects the awareness of individuals about how he/she acquires the knowledge and in what ways he/she manipulates with it. From another point of view, according to Metcalfe and Shimamura (1994), some cognitive areas such as thinking and memory, learning and motivation, and learning and cognitive development are seen as a bridge for metacognition. Schraw and Dennison (1994) and Livingstone (1997) refer to the importance of how to perform the ability to reflect upon, comprehend, and regulate the process of self-learning. It is argued that the skills that give rise to competence in a particular domain are often the same skills that are needed to evaluate competence in that domain-one’s own or another one’s (Kruger & Dunning, 1999). As a consequence, they assume that inadequate people may have such kinds of deficiencies in their metacognitive abilities which has been defined in different ways by cognitive psychologists (Everson & Tobias, 1998), such as metamemory (Klin, Guizman, & Levine, 1997), metacomprehension (Maki, Jonas, & mailto:ayfer_su@yahoo.com.tr International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 161 Kallod, 1994), or self-monitoring skills (Chi, Glaser, & Rees, 1982). All these terms refer to the ability to hold an idea about how an individual is conducting with when he/she is possibly definite in his/her decisions, and when he/she is likely to be mistaken. As a general and clear- cut description, metacognition is defined as thinking about thinking based on Livingston (2003). Memnun and Akkaya (2009) claimed that metacognitive awareness is very important for individuals in their lives because it helps them learn better, develop creative and critical thinking, and raise self-confidence. In addition to this, metacognitive awareness is defined as an ability through which individuals reflect their own thoughts and use convenient problem- solving skills to cope with the difficulties they have during their learning process (Joseph, 2010). As highlighted in the review of literature, metacognition has been the scope of many researches. However, there has been very limited numbers of researches completed dealing with the metacognitive awareness of prospective English as a Foreign Language Teachers. In addition, not only the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective teachers but also to what extent they convey them to their teaching skills compose and determine the borders of the problem for this study. It would be valuable to specify the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective EFL teachers combining the results with the teaching skills they have and reflect during their micro-teaching practices. Accordingly, the current study deserves importance by opening the gate for prospective teachers to revise their metacognitive potential and overlapping this with their pre-condition skills; such as planning, organizing, elaborating, and summarizing (Sarıçoban, 2015); they are expected to have while teaching English as a foreign language. The research questions attempted to seek for their answers are given below: 1- What are the overall metacognitive levels of prospective EFL teachers? 2- What are the metacognitive levels of prospective EFL teachers for sections and sub- sections of Metacognitive Awareness Inventory? 3- How do the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective EFL teachers differ in terms of their grades? 4- How do the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective EFL teachers affect their teaching skills’ course grades? 2. Methodology Quantitative research design, which aim to test the target objectives by searching for the relations among several and different variables, in survey model was used as a research design method in this study. By quantitative research approaches, the variables can be collected typically via the implementation of instruments that are presented to the participants in numbers and can be analyzed by statistical procedures. In detail, this method makes an effort to reach consistent results and make interpretation based on them after the specification of design, collecting data and data analysis process of the target research (Creswell, 2014). Furthermore, survey model is used as a means of providing quantitative and numeric descriptions for attitudes, or opinions of the samples of the studies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal instruments such as questionnaires or structured interviews are used in the data collection process of survey model for the purpose of making generalizations from a sample to the population (Fowler, 2009) 2.1. Participants Totally 68 3rd and 4th grade ELT students studying at Amasya University in the fall and spring semester of 2018-2019 academic year participated in the study. No selection of the participants was done because of the limited number of the students but voluntary Su-Bergil 162 participation of them was taken into consideration. Hence, convenience sampling which is one of the non-probability sampling method was applied in the study. According to the demographic information of the participants, the age variable ranges between 18-20 for the 3rd graders and 20-22 for the 4th graders. The gender and age distributions of the participants are given below: Table 1. Gender and Grade Cross Tabulation Gender Total Male Female Grade 3rd grade Count 12 22 34 % within Grade 35.3% 64.7% 100.0% % within Gender 60.0% 45.8% 50.0% 4th grade Count 8 26 34 % within Grade 23.5% 76.5% 100.0% % within Gender 40.0% 54.2% 50.0% Total Count 20 48 68 % within Grade 29.4% 70.6% 100.0% % within Gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Table 1 shows that both the 3rd and the 4th grade groups have the same number of participants. However, the number of the participants in terms of their gender distribution within grades differs from each other. In detail, within the 3rd grades the number of the male participants consists of 12 (35.3%) male and 22 female students (64.7%) and within the 4th graders 8 (23.5%) male and 26 female students (76.5%) stand for the number of the participants, which compose 20 (29.4%) males and 48 (70.6%) females representing the whole sample of the study. 2.2. Data Collection Instrument Schraw and Dennison’s (1994) Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) includes 52 items assessing numerous features of metacognition referring mainly Knowledge about Cognition (KAC) which consists of Declarative Knowledge (8 items), Procedural Knowledge (4 items), Conditional Knowledge (5 items) and Regulation of Cognition (ROC) embracing Planning (7 items), Information Management Strategies (10 items), Comprehension Monitoring (7 items), Debugging Strategies (5 items), and Evaluation (6 Items). This comprehensive inventory was applied to the participants as data collection instrument. In this aspect, Schraw and Dennison (1994) define: Declarative Knowledge is defined as the ability to use critical thinking according to the related topic or the accurate knowledge behind the process. The learners need to have insights about how, what or that; one’s knowledge about his/her skills, and intellectual resources. By this way, learners are familiar with the abilities and the possibilities provided to them to gain knowledge they received through presentations, demonstrations, discussions or something else. Procedural Knowledge is the expectation that the learners need to apply the knowledge in order to accomplish the procedure or the process. It accepts that the learners have capacity to manipulate how to put into action the procedures such as the strategies they need; in addition International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 163 to being familiar with the process the learners’ being able to apply the appropriate process to various situations. The learners have self-conscious how to use discovery, cooperative learning, and problem solving to increase their knowledge about something. Conditional Knowledge is the competence of the persistence about how and under what situations the learners need to transfer the specific process. It requires the learners to have intuition about when and why to use the learning procedures by making the utilization of declarative and procedural knowledge possible for specific presented conditions and picking up knowledge through advanced ways of applications such as simulation. The arrangement of the process, setting the goals and designation the resources before the learning takes place as Planning. How to sequence the skills and strategies of organizing, elaborating, summarizing, selective focusing in order to complete the process more efficiently as Information Management Strategies. The learners’ self-assessment of their learning process or their strategy use as Comprehension Monitoring. The learners or the individuals’ effort to adjust the effective comprehension and fixing their failures as Debugging Strategies. The inquiry of the actions and how to implement the effective strategy for the next times subsequent to a learning incident as Evaluation. Although many researchers used the inventory in a 5-point likert-type response scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree (Tok, Özgan & Döş, 2010) or the MAI is graded on 5-Point Likert-type scale ranging from always false to always true to declare the participants’ levels of agreement with the 52 items (Akın, Abacı & Çetin, 2007), the current study reflects the data collected according to the original of the scale which aimed to gather the participants' responses in True and False version. The Cronbach Alpha result calculated as .82 demonstrate that the reliability level of the scale is seen as satisfying according to the suggested reliability levels of scales used for social sciences. 2.3. Data Collection Procedure The data for the current study was collected quantitatively from the abovementioned Metacognitive Awareness Inventory. Parallel to this, the participants are expected to respond the inventory question in True and False, which are calculated as 0 and 1 in data statistics procedure. For this purpose items 5, 10, 12, 16, 17, 20, 32, 46 extracted for Declarative Knowledge; 3,14, 27, 33 extracted for Procedural Knowledge; 15, 18, 26, 29, 35 extracted for Conditional Knowledge; 4, 6, 8, 22 extracted for Planning; 9, 13, 30, 31, 37, 39, 41, 43, 47,48 extracted for Information Management Strategies; 1, 2, 11, 21, 28, 34, 49 extracted for Comprehension Monitoring; 25, 40, 44, 51, 52 extracted for Debugging Strategies and 7, 19, 24, 36, 38, 50 extracted for Evaluation sub-dimension. In addition to this, the overall micro teaching scores of the students during the Teaching English to Young Learners course including reflections of the participants' teaching skills of lesson planning, introduction & transition, instruction giving & directiveness, suitability & appropriateness and participation & effectiveness were included as the secondary data in which the learners are expected to reflect on their metacognitive awareness levels. The complete gathered data was coded and analyzed via SPSS 20.00 package program for social sciences. For inter-group statistics parametric methods and for intra-group statistics non-parametric methods were applied to the gathered data because of the number of the participants differs as N30 and N30. Su-Bergil 164 3. Findings and Results The distribution of the overall metacognitive awareness levels was presented by the following histogram and Q-Q Plot diagrams: Diagram 1. The Histogram of Overall Metacognitive Awareness Levels The curve illustrated in abovementioned diagram functions as normal distribution stating that independent distributions result in the average random variables independently assemble in normal distribution, which means that when the number of the random variables is sufficient enough, it could be accepted as normally distributed. Diagram 2. The Normal Probability Plot of Overall Metacognitive Awareness Levels Since the normal probability plot is an important way of showing whether residuals from regression analysis are normally distributed or not, it would be an effective support or a better International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 165 way to show how the datasets provide normal distribution. Thus, according to the X and Y axes presented in the above diagram, the straight line showing the distribution of the collected data satisfies the normality level for the current study. Table 2. One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Results One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test OverallMetacognitive N 68 Normal Parameters a,b Mean 72.7658 Std. Deviation 13.60880 Most Extreme Differences Absolute .105 Positive .060 Negative -.105 Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z .868 Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .438 a. Test distribution is Normal. b. Calculated from data. In order to support the normal distribution of the variables labeled as overall metacognitive awareness levels of prospective teachers, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was applied to the data and as the Table 2. demonstrates the significance level of .438 addresses the conclusion that the distribution of the overall metacognitive awareness levels is normal. Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test Results N Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum Overall Metacognitive Scores 68 72.7658 13.60880 34.62 98.08 As reported by Table 3., for 68 participants studying at the 3rd and 4th grade of English Language Teaching programme the minimum and maximum score of overall metacognitive awareness were calculated as 34.62 and 98.08 following by the mean values of 72.76 with 13.60 standard deviation. Su-Bergil 166 Table 4. The Frequencies of Metacognitive Scores Metacognitive Scores f % Valid % Cumulative % Valid 34.62 1 1.5 1.5 1.5 40.38 1 1.5 1.5 2.9 46.15 1 1.5 1.5 4.4 50.00 1 1.5 1.5 5.9 53.85 3 4.4 4.4 10.3 55.77 3 4.4 4.4 14.7 57.69 2 2.9 2.9 17.6 59.62 1 1.5 1.5 19.1 61.54 2 2.9 2.9 22.1 63.46 3 4.4 4.4 26.5 65.38 4 5.9 5.9 32.4 67.31 2 2.9 2.9 35.3 69.23 3 4.4 4.4 39.7 71.15 5 7.4 7.4 47.1 75.00 3 4.4 4.4 51.5 76.92 4 5.9 5.9 57.4 78.85 4 5.9 5.9 63.2 80.77 4 5.9 5.9 69.1 82.69 7 10.3 10.3 79.4 84.62 5 7.4 7.4 86.8 88.46 3 4.4 4.4 91.2 90.38 2 2.9 2.9 94.1 92.31 1 1.5 1.5 95.6 94.23 1 1.5 1.5 97.1 96.15 1 1.5 1.5 98.5 98.08 1 1.5 1.5 100.0 Total 68 100.0 100.0 With respect to the frequency distribution of the overall metacognitive scores presented in the aforementioned table, 82.69 represents the highest frequency with 7 participants meanwhile it is followed by 84.62 and 71.15 with 5 frequencies for each of them, 80.77, 76.92, 78.85, 65.38 have 4 participants in each score, 86.46, 75.00, 69.23, 63.46, 55.77, 53.85 are accompanied by 3 participants for each of the score, 90.38, 67.31, 61.54, 57.69 have 2 frequencies and 98.08, 96.15, 94.23, 92.31, 59,62, 50.00, 46.15, 40.38, 34.62 are observed as having the minimum frequency level of 1 for each score. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 167 Table 5. Independent Samples T-Test Results for Overall Metacognitive Awareness of Prospective EFL Teachers with Respect to the Grades Grade N Mean Std. Dev. Sd t p Overall Metacognitive Scores 3rd 34 67.02 11.80 66 3.814 .000 4th 34 78.50 12.98 In Table 5., Independent Samples T-Test Results for Overall Metacognitive Awareness of Prospective EFL Teachers with Respect to the Grades are clarified in order to show the differences between the overall metacognitive scores of the 3rd and 4th grade prospective teachers and how significantly these metacognitive scores differ. According to the results, the mean values of the 3rd and 4th graders differ significantly and the difference of two groups could be accepted as meaningful, t(66)= 3.814, p˂.01. The mean values of overall metacognitive levels for the 3rd and 4th grade students are calculated as 67.02 and 78.50 indicating that the overall scores represent an important area for prospective teachers and are expected to develop in time as they gain more practice during their educational lives. Table 6. Independent Samples T-Test Results for Overall Metacognitive Awareness of Prospective EFL Teachers with Respect to the Sub-Dimensions of MAI Grade N Mean Std. Devi. t p Declarative 3rd grade 34 66.91 19.68 1.83 .071 4th grade 34 76.10 21.62 Procedural 3rd grade 34 52.94 22.83 2.85 .006 4th grade 34 70.59 27.85 Conditional 3rd grade 34 71.76 20.96 1.47 .145 4th grade 34 78.82 18.38 Planning 3rd grade 34 61.76 22.44 2.82 .006 4th grade 34 76.89 21.68 Infomanagement 3rd grade 34 73.24 14.30 2.13 .037 4th grade 34 80.59 14.13 Comprehension 3rd grade 34 63.03 21.14 2.94 .005 4th grade 34 76.89 17.59 Debugging 3rd grade 34 84.71 17.79 1.55 .124 4th grade 34 91.18 16.47 Evaluation 3rd grade 34 58.33 21.42 3.31 .001 4th grade 34 76.47 23.61 As illustrated in Table 6. the Independent Samples T-Test Results for Overall Metacognitive Awareness of Prospective EFL Teachers with Respect to the Sub-Dimensions of MAI indicates that except for the declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, and debugging strategies sections; procedural knowledge, planning, information management Su-Bergil 168 strategies, comprehension monitoring and evaluation sub-dimensions of metacognitive awareness inventory provide significant difference with respect to the 3rd and 4th grades of students. The outcome that explains this significant difference for the sub-dimensions of the inventory is accepted as essential and accurate, t (66)= 2.85, 2.82, 2.13, 2.94 , 3.31, p˂.05. The mean values of procedural knowledge, planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring and evaluation sub-dimensions were analyzed as 52.94, 70.59; 61.76, 76.89; 73.24, 80.59; 63.03, 76.89; 58.33, 76.47 for the 3rd and 4th grade students. Although the mean values of declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, and debugging strategies were determined as 66.91, 76.10; 71.76, 78.82; 84.71, 91.18 for the 3rd and 4th grade prospective teachers, they do not represent the statistically significant differences. Figure 3. The Scatter Plot Diagram for The Relation of Metacognitive Awareness and Micro- Teaching Skills Figure 3. The Scatter plot Diagram for The Relation of Metacognitive Awareness and Micro-Teaching Skills describes the correlation between two variables one of which symbolizes the independent and the other one signifies the dependent variable. Here in this diagram, the overall metacognitive awareness levels of the 3rd and 4th grade students was defined as the independent variable and the course notes characterizing the teaching skills of the students for Teaching English to Young Learners course was specified as the dependent variable. Since the scatter plot is an appropriate way to show strong/weak positive correlation, strong/weak negative correlation or weakest/no correlation, it could be deduced that the overall metacognitive levels and course notes of the 3rd and 4th graders meet weak positive correlation which is also supported by the following regression results and need to be taken into consideration during the process of English Language Teacher Education. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 169 Table 7. Simple Linear Regression Results for the Effect of Metacognitive Awareness on Course Notes (in terms of Micro-Teaching Skills) Model 1 Predicted Variable: Overall Metacognitive Awareness Variables B ShB Beta t p Zero- order Partial Constant 52.11 4.537 11.486 .000 Metacognitive Awareness .251 .061 .450 4.096 .000 .450 .450 R=.450 R2=.203 F(1,66)=16.778 P=.000 In order to find out the effect of metacognitive awareness levels predicting the overall course notes including the teaching skills of the students the simple linear regression analysis was conducted to the gathered data. The summary of the simple linear regression analysis results is presented in Table 7. and the results indicate that 20% of the variance in teaching skills of the learners studying at the 3rd and 4th grade in Amasya University, English Language Teaching Department is explained by the independent variable of overall metacognitive awareness levels of the students. In this point, the statistic is accepted as significant at the 0.05 level of significance (F(1, 66)=16.778; p=0.000). With the values of R=.450, R2=0.20, it is obvious that the overall metacognitive awareness levels of the 3rd and 4th grade students are significant predictor of their teaching skills that they are expected to reveal during the micro-teaching practices of Teaching English to Young Learners course. 4. Discussion This study aims to provide meaningful insights into the metacognitive awareness levels of the 3rd and 4th grade students studying in the department of English Language Teaching at Amasya University. In accordance with the findings of the study, the 3rd and the 4th grade ELT students have average metacognitive awareness level with the overall mean value of 72.76., which addresses the answer of the first research question of ''What are the overall metacognitive levels of prospective EFL teachers?''. However, the mean value of the metacognitive levels of the students seemed to have positive influence on their micro teaching skills at first sight, it deserved importance to search for the details it included. Regarding the mean values of the overall metacognitive awareness levels for the 3rd and 4th grade students which is calculated as 67.02 and 78.50, in addition to the frequencies ranging from 34.62 to 98.02, it is observed that English Language Teaching departments have heterogeneous aspects in which it can be accepted as normal in the teacher education programs and should put more emphasis on diversity in both national and international arena where teacher candidates are expected to gain skills to work in physically and culturally diverse settings (Eret, 2013). But opposed to the current study, as Dwyer and Atlı (2015) indicate that reflections of the variability in the client base and a lack of homogeneity need to maintain a foothold in teaching in the institutions, the aspect of teaching skills should be priorized. By this way, the teacher candidates are expected to gain the basic and essential skills at desired homogeneity level, which provide equality for the other stakeholders who receive education in their future career. Paying attention to the answer of ''What are the metacognitive levels of prospective EFL teachers for sections and sub-sections of MAI?'', procedural knowledge, planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring and evaluation showed significance among each other; however, declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, and debugging strategies sub-dimensions had no meaningful significance. In this sense, the Su-Bergil 170 findings of the current study are in line with Pekkanlı (2009, p. 1562) who suggests that the mission of the teacher education programs is to provide the teacher candidates such an effective process so that they, as the teachers of the future, have confidence in administering their teaching knowledge to establish influential student learning situations. In addition to this, Richards' (1998, p. 65) ''teacher-as-thinker'' metaphor attracts attention for the issues of how teachers conceptualize their work, the thinking and decision-making process of them that influence their practice skills. Thus, the effective teacher education programs and the overall knowledge of the teachers do provide significance on prospective teachers to some extent, but what is more important than this is their beliefs affecting nearly every aspect of their classroom teaching Özgün-Koca and Şen (2006, pp. 958-59). The results addressing how the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective EFL teachers are in terms of their grades indicate that the overall metacognitive awareness levels of prospective teachers differ significantly between the 3rd and 4th grade ELT student as well as the sub-dimensions of declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, conditional knowledge, planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring, debugging strategies and evaluation regarding the mean values. As reflected in Debreli's study, even though teacher candidates experience limited number of sessions to convey their teaching skills, they should gain major developments and change during their pre-teaching sessions, which serve as meaningful and powerful influence on their teaching beliefs. However, they still have similar teaching and learning beliefs as at the beginning of their first years of education, they develop potential awareness of applicability of the theoretical issues they already knew, and they update and modify their beliefs appropriate to the personal teaching experiences they have received during their teacher education program. Similarly, as described in Kunt and Özdemir’s research (2010), both Kagan (1992) and Pajares (1992) asserted that the prior experiences and assumptions of pre-service teachers serves as a kind of filter for themselves in that they direct the teacher candidates in making comment on the courses they are to take during their teacher education process and depend on their past experiences heavily as learners to arrange their individual teaching and learning theory of knowledge. As a result of this belief, it is accepted that the 4th grade EFL students are expected to have more inclination to the utilization of metacognitive aspects of teaching and learning based on their former lives, which also highlights one of the hypotheses the researcher of this study presupposes at the beginning of the study. All in all, reflecting on the answer of how the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective EFL teachers affect their teaching skills consisting their ''course grades'', first of all it draws attention to the concerns of Microteaching, in that, it provides opportunities for prospective teachers to practice the teaching skills in an artificial environment before the actual teaching setting they will experience in their future career, which makes it such kind of a practical teacher training technique (Yusuf, 2006). As Ekşi (2012) points out despite the theoretical knowledge that the teacher education programs provide for the teacher trainees, the field-based experience known as mainly practicum process takes priority since the core knowledge of the teaching skills does not promise the perfect mastery of being a teacher. (Lewin, Heublein, Ostertag & Sommer, 1998; Seferoğlu, 2006). Thus, integrating the theory with practice is the ideal way to master the teaching skills of prospective teachers (Benton- Kupper, 2001; Çakır & Aksan, 1992; Ekşi, 2012; Fernandez & Robinson, 2006). To execute the teaching skills in practice needs basic metacognitive abilities that all prospective teachers need to have during their professional lives. From this respect, metacognitive awareness shares common sense allowing systematic and reflective ways of organizing and evaluating the practices taking place in the center of teacher education programs. Hence, metacognitive abilities necessitate the management of information-processing activities that occur International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 171 during cognitive transactions, more simply involves being knowledgeable about and in control of one's cognitive abilities with the goal of enhancing learning (Flavell, 1976), it is one of the key factors and a critical predictor underlying the effective and appropriate teaching skills of prospective teachers as this study aims to demonstrate statistically. 5. Conclusion and Suggestions Based on the subsequent research, metacognition has been revealed as holding two main dimensions (Baker & Brown, 1984; Brown, 1985; Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, & Campione, 1983; Carrell, Gajdusek, & Wise, 1998; Flavell, 1976, 1978). The first dimension consisting of three sub-dimensions of declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conditional knowledge has been defined as knowledge of cognition. The second dimension including planning, information management strategies, comprehension monitoring, debugging and evaluation has been described as regulation of cognition. All of these make attribution to Flavell’s (1979) model of metacognition, which has four categories of: (1) metacognitive knowledge, (2) metacognitive experiences, (3) goals/tasks, and (4) actions/strategies. As he reported people monitor their cognitive process with these four components. Moreover, metacognitive knowledge, which is the first category in the model, is explained as the knowledge or assumptions of an individual about the components that influence the cognitive attempts. It is acquired that the awareness of one’s cognitive process and the distinct “cognitive tasks, goals, actions, and experiences” (p. 906), and has three variables categorized as person, task, and strategy. The person variable is associated with any knowledge or awareness about how individuals learn and process their cognitive enterprises. Thus, metacognitive awareness should have an indispensable place for teacher education because it contributes to the teacher training process by ensuring the opportunity of integrating the practice with reality as kind of teaching skills reflections of teacher candidates. It is evident that teachers are the most important component of the educational system and pre-service teachers should be attributed to achieve their career in excellence. Quality teachers are also quality student teachers who retain the knowledge, comprehension, skills and values to compete with the other countries and take place in the global world (Mirici, Ekşi, 2016). Parallel to these, the comparability of the educational systems with different countries is enhanced and such kind of instruments as The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), the European Language Portfolio (ELP) which aim to develop various learning styles of language learners not only in European countries but also in others should become prevalent for language learners and pre- service language teachers (Mirici, Kavaklı, 2017). Notably, by these self assessment scales, the underlying assumptions of reflection, motivation and self-reflection (Mirici, Kavaklı, 2017) can be promoted, which provide autonomy and put forward metacognitive awareness even at bachelor degree in English Language Teaching Departments. Since the metacognitive knowledge exists in learners of all ages (Öz, 2007), the identification of the learners needs, beliefs and reflection that reveal the potential metacognitive levels of individuals can be taken into consideration by the policy makers and syllabus designers for effective language learning and teaching planning for all levels of instruction. In this sense, qualified teachers or the student teachers of English as a foreign language may have the ability to comprehend and capacity to deal with the knowledge in order to design the curriculum and their own learning/teaching environments. These qualifications can be fulfilled with metacognitive training sessions applied in educational faculties as well (Öz, 2005). The traditional instruction giving ways with little or no time to teach metacognitive skills and strategies can be accepted as a waste of time. As for one of the 21st century competencies, the student teachers of English language who hold their graduate degrees in the programs developed for Su-Bergil 172 them should be gifted with metacognitive awareness, skills, and strategies that will be promising for their own professional practice and personal lives (Wilson & Conyers, (2016). The participants' consisting of two groups of prospective teachers studying at Amasya University limited to the 3rd and 4th graders of English Language Teaching Department because of conducting their potential teaching skills in their micro practices is considered as a limitation of the study. Moreover, the commitment to use the results of MAI and micro- teaching scores of Teaching English to Young Learners within the context of the findings of this research and the implementation of the original MAI format in which the statements have to be answered as ‘true’ or ‘false’ despite the fact that they have been adapted in many research to a common 5-point likert-type format could be counted as another limitations of the study. Alongside with the statistical provable findings and results of the current study, further studies can be repeated with different teacher education programs or/and English Language Teaching Departments of state or private universities in Turkey in order to reach a general conclusion and belief about the metacognitive awareness levels of prospective teachers at bachelor degree. In this way, exploring the underlying reasons and reflections of why and how teacher candidates convey their metacognitive awareness to their learning and teaching settings would be an outstanding suggestion for further studies. Acknowledgments This article is produced as a part of the scientific research project funded by the Scientific Research Commission of Amasya University [SEB-BAP 18-0171]. Some of the findings in this study were presented in the International Eurasian Congress on Multidisciplinary Studies-III held on April 4-7, 2019, Gaziantep, Turkey. Funding This work was supported by the Scientific Research Commission of Amasya University [SEB-BAP 18-0171]. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 173 References Akın, A., Abacı, R., & Çetin, B. (2007). The validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the metacognitive awareness inventory. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 7(2), 671-678. Baker, L., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Metacognitive skills and reading. In P. D. Pearson, M. Kamil, R. Barr, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 1, 353-394. New York, NY: Longman. Benton-Kupper, J. B. (2001). The microteaching experience: Student perspectives. Education, 121(4), 830-835. Brown, A. L. (1985). Metacognition: The development of selective attention strategies for learning from texts. In H. Singer & R. B. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (3rd ed., pp. 501-526). Newark, DE: International ReadingAssociation. Brown, A. L., Bransford, J. D., Ferrara, R., & Campione, J. (1983). Learning, remembering and understanding. In J. H. Flavell, & E. M. Markman (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, 3. Cognitive development (4th ed., pp. 77-166). New York: Wiley. Carrell, P. L., Gajdusek, L., & Wise, T. (1998). Metacognition and EFL/ESL reading. Instructional Science, 26(1 & 2), 97-112. Chi, M. T. H., Glaser, R., & Rees, E. (1982). Expertise in problem solving. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence,1, pp. 17-76). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Creswell, J. W. (2014) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Sage, Los Angeles. Çakır, Ö. & Aksan, Y. (1992). Yabancı dil öğretmeni yetiştirmede mikroöğretimin rolü: Bir model. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 7, 313-320. Debreli, E. (2012). Change in beliefs of pre-service teachers about teaching and learning English as a foreign language throughout an undergraduate pre-service teacher training program. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science, 46, 367 – 373. Dwyer, J. B. O. & Atlı H. H. (2015). A study of in-service teacher educator roles, with implications for a curriculum for their professional development. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 4-20. DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2014.902438 Ekşi, G. (2012). Implementing an observation and feedback form for more effective feedback in microteaching. Education and Science , 37(164), 267-282. Eret, E. (2013). An assessment of pre-service teacher education in terms of preparing teacher candidates for teaching. A doctoral dissertation submitted to the graduate school of social sciences of Middle East Technical University. Ankara. Everson, H. T., & Tobias, S. (1998). The ability to estimate knowledge and performance in college: A metacognitive analysis. Instructional Science, 26, 65-79. Fernandez, M. L. (2005). Learning through microteaching lesson study in teacher preparation. Action in Teacher Education, 26(4), 37-47. Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp. 231-235). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Su-Bergil 174 Flavell, J. H. (1978). Metacognitive development. In J. M. Scandura & C. J. Brainerd (Eds.), Structural/process theories of complex human behavior (pp. 213-245). Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands: Sijthoff and Noordhoff. Flavell, J.H.(1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive developmental inquiry. American Psychologyist, 34, 906-911. Flavell, J. H. (1987) Speculation about the nature and development of metacognition. In F. Weinert & R. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation, and understanding (pp.21 - 29). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Fowler, F. J. (2009). Survey research methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Joseph, N. (2010). Metacognition needed: Teaching middle and high school students to develop strategic learning skills. Preventing School Failure, 54, (2), 99-103, Heldref Pub. Kagan, D. (1992). Professional growth among preservice and beginning teachers. Review of Educational Research. 62, 129-169. Klin, C. M., Guizman, A. E., & Levine, W. H. (1997). Knowing that you don't know: Metamemory and discourse processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1378-1393. Kruger, J., and Dunning, D. (1999) Unskilled and unaware of it: How differences in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, (6), 1121-1134. Kunt, N. & Özdemir, N. (2010). Impact of methodology courses on pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 3938–3944. Lewin, K., Heublein, U., Ostertag, M. & Sommer, D. (1998). HIS Ergebnisspiegel 1997. Hannover: HISHochschul‐Informations‐System GmbH. Livingston, J. A. (1997). Metacognition: An overview. Retrieved from: http://www.gse.buffalo,edu/fas/shuell/cep564/Metacogn.htm Maki, R. H., Jonas, D., & Kallod, M. (1994). The relationship between comprehension and metacomprehension ability. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1, 126-129. Memnun, D.S.&Akkaya, R. (2009). The levels of metacognitive awareness of primary teacher trainees. Procedia social and behavioral Sciences, 1, 1919-1923. Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (Eds.). (1994). Metacognition: knowing about knowing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Mirici, İ. H., Ekşi, Y. G. (2016). A descriptive study on the profile of some potential English language teachers. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching- IOJET. 3(1) 2016 p. 65/81, ISSN: 2148-225X Mirici, İ. H., Kavaklı, N. (2017). Teaching the CEFR oriented practices effectively in the M.A. program of an ELT department in Turkey. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching- IOJET, 4(1) 2017, ISSN: 2148-225X Öz, H. (2005). Metacognition in foreign/second language learning and teaching. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 29, 147í156. Öz, H. (2007). Understanding metacognitive knowledge of Turkish EFL students in secondary Education. Novitas-Royal (Research on Youth and Language, 1(2), pp. 53- 83. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2020, 7(1), 160-175. 175 Özgün-Koca, S. A & Şen, A. I. (2006). The beliefs and perceptions of preservice teachers enrolled in a subject-area dominant teacher education program about ‘‘Effective Education’’. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 946–960. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers' beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307– 332. Pekkanlı, İ. (2009). The prospective English language teacher's reflections of self efficacy. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 1561-1567. Richards, J. C. (1998). Teacher beliefs and Decision making. In J. C. Richards (ed.). Beyond Training. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seferoğlu, G. (2006). Teacher candidates’ reflections on some components of a pre‐service English teacher education programme in Turkey. Journal of Education for Teaching, 32(4), 369–378. Sarıçoban, A. (2015). Metacognitive awareness of pre-service English language teachers in terms of various variables. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 186, 664 – 669. Schraw, G., & Dennison, R. S. (1994). Assessing metacognitive awareness. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 19, 460-475. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1994.1033 Tok, H., Özgan, H., & Döş, B. (2010). Assessing metacognitive awareness and learning strategies as positive predictors for success in a distance learning class. Mustafa Kemal University Journal of Social Sciences Institute, 7 (14), 123-134. Wilson, D. & Conyers, M. (2016). Teaching students to drive their brains: Metacognitive strategies, activities, and lesson ideas. ISBN-13:978-1-4166-2211-6. Retrived from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117002/chapters/The-Case-for-Teaching-for- and-with-Metacognition.aspx Yusuf, M. O. (2006). Influence of video and audiotapes feedback modes on student teachers’ performance–Malaysian. Online Journal of Instructional Technology (MOJIT), 3(1), 29-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1994.1033 http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117002/chapters/The-Case-for-Teaching-for-and-with-Metacognition.aspx http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/117002/chapters/The-Case-for-Teaching-for-and-with-Metacognition.aspx