Studies have documented the significance of scaffolding as a sociocultural theory driven type of assistance for the development of English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ language skills in general; however, the comparative efficacy of various cognitive and/or metacognitive scaffolding procedures for EFL learners’ listening comprehension development and progress has received scant attention. As a partial attempt in this regard, this study investigated the comparative efficacy of cognitive and metacognitive scaffolding strategies for EFL learners’ listening comprehension development. For this purpose, 90 intermediate level EFL learners aged 15 to 20 were selected to participate in this study. The participants’ actual proficiency level was assessed using a sample TOEFL Junior Standard test and relatively homogeneous classes of nearly 15 learners were formed and randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and a control one. The listening section of TOEFL Junior standard test was used as the pre- and posttest. While the learners in both experimental conditions worked in groups of three or four learners on some listening comprehension tasks, the participants of the first experimental condition received cognitive scaffolding strategies, and the second experimental group members were treated using metacognitive scaffolding strategies, the control group members received teacher-fronted non-scaffolding instruction. In addition to a listening comprehension posttest, a semi-structured interview was given to a number of participants of each experimental condition to explore their attitudes towards given scaffolding strategies. The analyses verified that metacognitive scaffolding strategies had a significant superior effect on EFL learners’ listening development compared to cognitive scaffolding strategies and non-scaffolding instruction. Furthermore, the analyses revealed that the EFL learners were generally more pleased with the metacognitive scaffolding procedures and viewed them as instructive, innovative, and effective for finding problems, better comprehension and increased readiness.

研究表明，脚手架作为一种社会文化理论驱动的辅助类型，对英语作为外语 (EFL) 学习者的总体语言技能的发展具有重要意义；然而，各种认知和/或元认知支架程序对 EFL 学习者听力理解发展和进步的比较功效很少受到关注。作为这方面的部分尝试，本研究调查了认知和元认知支架策略对 EFL 学习者听力理解发展的比较功效。为此，选择了 90 名 15 至 20 岁的中级 EFL 学习者参与本研究。参与者的实际熟练程度使用托福初级标准测试样本进行评估，并形成了近 15 名学习者的相对同质班级，并随机分配到两个实验条件和一个控制条件。TOEFL Junior标准考试听力部分作为前测和后测。两个实验条件下的学习者以三到四个学习者为一组进行听力理解任务，第一个实验条件的参与者接受认知支架策略，第二个实验组成员使用元认知支架策略进行治疗，对照组成员接受了以教师为主导的非脚手架指导。除了听力理解后测，对每个实验条件的一些参与者进行了半结构化访谈，以探讨他们对特定脚手架策略的态度。分析证实，与认知支架策略和非支架教学相比，元认知支架策略对 EFL 学习者的听力发展具有显着优越的影响。此外，分析显示，EFL 学习者通常对元认知支架程序更满意，并将其视为具有指导意义、创新性和有效的发现问题、更好的理解和增强的准备。分析证实，与认知支架策略和非支架教学相比，元认知支架策略对 EFL 学习者的听力发展具有显着优越的影响。此外，分析显示，EFL 学习者通常对元认知支架程序更满意，并将其视为具有指导意义、创新性和有效的发现问题、更好的理解和增强的准备。分析证实，与认知支架策略和非支架教学相比，元认知支架策略对 EFL 学习者的听力发展具有显着优越的影响。此外，分析显示，EFL 学习者通常对元认知支架程序更满意，并将其视为具有指导意义、创新性和有效的发现问题、更好的理解和增强的准备。