The Use Of Learnes’ Diaries As An Application Of Metacognitive Strategies in Learning if Clauses on Third Semester Students of English Teacher Training Program Uhamka 2013/2014 Academic Year

i kadek suartama; dr. atiq susilo, ma; dr. santi chairani djonhar, ma;

This study was conducted to investigate how students’ metacognition can be
reflected in a diary. The study focused on how diaries could illustrate students in planning their learning, how they could describe their monitoring and how they could indicate their mental process in evaluating their learning. Twenty-one participants of third semester students were involved. Nine of them were selected to be probed intensively for their metacognitive habits in learning If Clauses. Then, they were divided into three groups according to the level of students’ progress and their mid test score. The first group was assumed as novice learners, the second group was categorized as medium level students and the last group was presumed as expert learners. In its implementation, the study was carried out for six meetings. The participants were instructed to write their learning activities and what they had achieved in learning If Clauses. They were given guidelines so that they could document their learning experiences within a framework and avoid giving irrelevant information. They wrote their diary entries on the sheets that they created by themselves and submitted until the end of the course. For research purpose, the diary entries were photocopied with permission. To support and gain more information about their habit in using the target language, the researcher observed the students’ social media as well. This study revealed that expert learners were better diarist in documenting what they did when learning. What they wrote on their diaries reflected whether or not their metacognitive knowledge was used in learning. The medium level students also indicated that their capability in realizing the use of their cognition was up and down. They were good at evaluating their shortcoming and monitoring some progress, but they were poor at planning and modifying strategies. Meanwhile, the novice learners less reflected how they learned on their documentation. It could be illustrated that they did not have any motivation
to plan their learning, evaluate and monitor their learning.