term memory, and we don’t practice. Well, we already tested our hypotheses, but,
now, what? To practise and use. We are only half the way and that’s why we forget.

However, he did not give any evidence of the arranging of those conditions, in this case,
finding proper situations to practise.

d) Self-monitoring

For O’Malley et al, monitoring is “checking, verifying, or correcting one’s
comprehension or performance on the course of a language task” (quoted in O’Malley
and Chamot; 1990, 137). In the data collected, there were several instances of
monitoring. For example:

Ge: I feel that I make my sentence in Spanish first and then I say it

E: When I am speaking in English I think it is like Spanish and I see everything as
cognates, but there are a lot of things that aren’t cognates

F: I like hearing myself saying a word

However most of the participants seem to be only referring to checking and verifying
(like Ge and E) but expressed that they were not able to correct the problem.

A: I don’t know what to do, how to cope with my problem

e) Self-evaluation

For O’Malley et al, the metacognitive strategy of self-evaluation is

Checking the outcomes of one’s own language performance against an internal
measure of completeness and accuracy; checking one’s own repertoire, strategy
use, or ability to perform the task at hand (quoted in O’Malley and Chamot; 1990,137)

Most of the participants were able to give an overall evaluation of their language
competence. Some expressed this in general terms:

T: I know my needs, my problems and achievements

A: I have been here for a lot time and I don’t progress

And some were specific about it:

E: It is difficult for me to speak and understand oral English

J: I know enough to write a sentence

Most of the participants showed an extended use of self-evaluation of their overall
process of learning and they seemed to be very eager to talk about it.

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