7.4　Limitations

7.4Limitations

Theresultsofthecurrentstudyshouldbeinterpretedinlightofthefollowingthreemajorlimitations.

(a)Themetacognitivelisteningstrategytrainingwaslimitedtoarelativelyshortperiodoftime(fiveminutes),andfurthermore,itoccurredindependentlyofthestudents'curriculum.Itmightbethattheeffectofmetacognitivestrategytrainingwillonlyemergeweeksormonthslaterwhenthelearnersareabletoemploystrategiesontheirown.Therefore,itissuggestedthat,infuture,studiesdesignlongertrainingtodetecteffectsinlearners'actualuseofthestrategiesandtheapplicationofstrategytrainingshouldbeincorporatedintocourseinstruction.

(b)Itisverydifficultforstudentstoreportdoingsomethingthattheyhavenotbeenconsciouslymonitoring.Regardingthedatagatheredontheparticipants'metacognitivelisteningawareness,thestudyonlyemployedaquestionnairewithnoobservationofthelearners'actuallisteningperformance.Thequestionnairemayonlyreflectwhattheparticipantsthoughttheyshoulddoinsteadofwhattheyactuallydo.However,asLynchandMendelsohn(2002,p.202)remarked,“Thefactthatlisteningcomprehensionoccurslargelyunobservedmeansthatitcanbeverydifficulttoestablishthe‘process’bywhichlistenersreachtheirinterpretations,evenifwehavetheevidenceofthe‘product’”.

(c)Anotherlimitationofthisstudyconcernsthereliabilityofthevocabularydelayedposttests.Becausetheparticipantswereengagedinrecyclingrecentlymetvocabulary,theymayhavestudiedsomeofthetargetwordsoutsideofthecontextoftheexperimentintheone-weekintervalbetweentheimmediateanddelayedposttests.Althoughthisprobablydidnotoccurtoanygreatdegree,itisnevertheless,apossibilitythatmustbeacknowledged.