Metacognition and Self-Awareness

Abstract

This article reports on the lead author’s reflection about the role of his personality in a tertiary-level English-language course that he taught in Japan in 2019, and the impact of that reflection on his self-awareness. Other participants of this self-study included the learners in the course (46 in total, nine male and 37 female), and other teachers in the same faculty. Data collection methods included a teaching log/journal, a focus group meeting with fellow part-time teachers, semi-structured interviews with learners and a full-time teacher, observations of several of his own classes, and questionnaires completed by learners. A recent systematic literature review of the definition of self-awareness (Carden et al., 2022) informed the study, with the teacher reflecting on the following components of self-awareness: his beliefs, internal mental state, physiological responses, personality traits, motivations, behaviors, and others’ perceptions. To inform his reflection about the above components, he drew on literature related to second language teacher cognition and second language teacher development. The findings of the study indicate that the teacher’s self-awareness has developed in a number of ways. Overall, he has become more aware of his personality and the potential for it to have a negative impact on his teaching practice. His reflection indicates that it is beginning to have a positive impact on his language-teaching-focused metacognition.