Research Article The Impact of Scaffolded Metacognitive Writing Strategy Instruction on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ IELTS Writing Task 2 Somayeh Nourazar, Rokhsareh Kakvand , and Seyed Hesamuddin Aliasin Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran Correspondence should be addressed to Rokhsareh Kakvand; rokhsarehkakvand@gmail.com Received 18 April 2022; Revised 10 July 2022; Accepted 1 August 2022; Published 5 September 2022 Academic Editor: Karin Bakracevic Copyright © 2022 Somayeh Nourazar et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. According to research findings, metacognition has been shown to have an essential role in education. As individuals are different,6 metacognitive knowledge cannot be the same for all learners. Learners need to be trained to improve their metacognition. Given this, the current study has examined the influence of scaffolding awareness and the use of metacognitive strategies during a strategy instruction program on the performance of Iranian EFL learners on IELTS writing task 2. To achieve this aim, using the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT), eighty intermediate EFL learners (males and females) were selected from among 100 learners. ey were randomly assigned to two groups of forty participants each as control and experimental groups. To benchmark the participants’ writing skills, an IELTS writing task 2 question was administered as the pretest. e experimental group received scaffolded metacognitive strategy instruction in their writing practices for four weeks, with 6 hours per week. e control group was instructed in traditional writing practices. e purpose was to promote the metacognitive awareness of the experimental group in performing the writing task. At the end of the treatment, another IELTS writing task 2 question was assigned as the posttest to measure the participants’ gain due to the treatment application. e independent and paired samples t-tests indicated that scaffolded metacognitive instruction effectively improved learners’ metacognitive awareness, which led to their improvement in writing skills. ere was not any significant difference between males and females’ posttest mean scores. 1. Introduction ere is an increasing emphasis on the importance of metacognitive knowledge in cognitive activities associated with language use and learning [1–3]. Metacognition is defined as awareness and control of cognitive activities [4–6]. Most simply, metacognition is learning about learning. Metacognition allows learners to understand better their strengths and weaknesses in the process of learning and helps them use appropriate strategies. According to Anderson [7], metacognitive skill helps learners make conscious decisions to improve their learning by self- reflection. A large number of studies have concentrated on the critical role of metacognitive knowledge in developing re- ceptive English language skills such as reading and listening [8–12]. Furthermore, some studies have found that devel- oping learners’ metacognitive knowledge results in their better performance in writing tasks [1–3, 13–16]. Further- more, in another study, Panggabean and Triassanti [17] found that metacognitive strategy training enhanced the students’ oral presentation skill in an EFL class. It also helps learners be more aware of their responsibility as autono- mous learners. Many EFL instructors and learners may consider English writing as a challenging skill to teach and learn. ere might be different reasons for this. EFL writers may be faced with some problems such as “lacking appropriate English lexical expressions and struggling with mechanics, grammar, sentence structure, paragraph coherence, rhetorical patterns, revision at both higher and lower ends, and English writing conventions” [18] (p. 20). Furthermore, due to the need for Hindawi Education Research International Volume 2022, Article ID 6297895, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6297895