The Correlation Between Metacognitive Strategies and Second Language Academic Writing Performance 

Liu Siyuan

Xi'an International Studies University,Xi’an, Shaanxi Province,710000；

Abstract：Metacognitive strategies have a certain influence on second language academic writing. In order to clarify the specific aspects of this effect, this paper reviews the relevant research published in domestic and foreign journals from 2015 to 2025, focusing on whether different types of metacognitive strategies will bring different effects. The results show that there is a positive correlation between metacognitive strategies and L2 academic writing proficiency, but the strength of the correlation depends on the learning environment and the writing task itself. Specifically, the planning strategy is most related to the structure of the article ; monitoring strategy more affects the logic of the article is smooth ; the effect of evaluation strategy is relatively small. In addition, the learner 's own metacognitive experience and the transfer of native language writing strategies will also affect this correlation, while the learner 's language proficiency, the major and the teacher 's teaching methods will also play a role. This article summarizes the existing research results, explains how metacognitive strategies play a role in academic writing, and also provides a theoretical reference for future research. It should be pointed out that the existing research has not done enough in long-term tracking and cross-cultural comparison, and future research needs to pay more attention to dynamic changes and specific situations. Another point is that the effect of the teaching method for metacognitive strategies may vary according to the different learners and writing tasks.

Keywords: metacognitive strategies; academic writing in a second language; correlation; dimensional differences; influence mechanism

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