This classroom-based, quasi-experimental study explored the impact of metacognitive instruction designed to promote young learners’ (1) willingness to communicate (WTC), (2) participation in communicative activities, and (3) metacognitive knowledge of oral communication. Forty-four Grade 3 students (8–9 years old) from two intact classes participated in the study. The learners in Class A (n = 23) engaged in a series of activities designed to increase their metacognition in relation to WTC, while Class B (n = 21) served as the control. Three outcome measures were explored in the pre-post design: (1) WTC questionnaire; (2) second language (L2) production during group work; and (3) empty WTC pyramids that the participants drew before and after the intervention. In addition, post-intervention interviews were conducted to understand the learners’ metacognitive knowledge of oral communication. The results showed that the intervention did not have an observable impact on the learners’ WTC. However, their metacognitive knowledge of oral communication was heightened after the intervention. The behavioral data showed that the experimental participants produced the target language more and that group members started to share turns more evenly. The study concludes that metacognitive instruction can be a useful pedagogical tool to improve L2 learners’ metacognition as well as classroom participations patterns, even with young learners whose metacognition can be obscure or inaccurate.

这项基于课堂的准实验研究探讨了旨在促进年轻学习者（1）交流意愿（WTC），（2）参与交流活动以及（3）口头交流元认知知识的元认知教学的影响。来自两个完整班级的44名3年级学生（8–9岁）参加了该研究。A类（n = 23）的学习者进行了一系列旨在提高他们对WTC的元认知的活动，而B类（n= 21）作为对照。在岗前设计中探讨了三种成果衡量标准：（1）世界贸易委员会调查表；（2）小组工作中的第二语言（L2）的产生；（3）参与者在干预前后绘制的空的WTC金字塔。此外，进行干预后访谈​​以了解学习者对口头交流的元认知知识。结果表明，干预对学习者的世贸中心没有明显的影响。然而，干预后他们对口语交际的元认知知识得到了提高。行为数据表明，实验参与者产生了更多的目标语言，并且小组成员开始更加平均地分享转弯。