阮周林所著的《基于元认知知识的中国学生自主学习与自主写作研究》基于在英国雷丁大学2002年9月至2005年12月间完成的博士论文修改而成，研究主题为在中国外语教学环境下的学习者语言自主学习能力发展。自主学习通常界定为学习者的能力或意愿，涉及中国外语学习者的语言自主学习研究往往从跨文化的视角，把自主性阐释为西方教育传统的文化理念，以探讨在中国外语教学环境下的可适用性。本书则突破了这一文化范畴的局限，研究基于认知心理学领域中的元认知知识为理论框架，以元认知知识的三个构成要素，即主体知识、任务知识和策略知识，界定和分析了中国外语学习者的自主语言学习和二语写作的各种观念和知识，同时结合学生二语写作技能的培养，通过以自主写作能力为课程目标的写作教学行动研究，以历时观察的方法考察学生在学习过程中元认知知识结构的变化和自主学习与自主写作能力的发展。

阮周林所著的《基于元认知知识的中国学生自主学习与自主写作研究》以认知心理学研究中的元认知知识体系为理论框架，以中国外语学习者为研究对象，通过自主写作教学探究实践和多途径的研究观察，详尽分析和研究了学生自主语言学习和自主写作能力发展相关的各种学习观念与知识。《基于元认知知识的中国学生自主学习与自主写作研究》提出了可解释外语自主学习和自主写作的元认知知识交互作用的理论模式以及基于过程写作法的自主写作课程教学原则，在元认知理论应用、教学行动研究设计以及定性数据分析处理等方面均可以为国内外语教学研究和实践提供重要的参考资料。

Chapter 1 Introduction

 1.1 Introduction

 1.2 The Chinese ELT context

 1.3 Aims and significance of the study

 1.4 0rganisation of the thesis

Chapter 2 Literature Review

 2.1 Introduction

 2.2 Autonomy in language learning

 2.3 Metacognition

 2.4 Research on writing and writing instruction

 2.5 Summary of the literature review

Chapter 3 Research Design

 3.1 Introduction

 3.2 Research approaches to language leaming in dassrooms

 3.3 Instrument design

 3.4 Pedagogical design of the writing course

 3.5 Data collection

 3.6 Data analysis

 3.7 Summary

Chapter 4 Knowledge and Beliefs about Self-regulated Language Learning

 4.1 Introduction

 4.2 Descriptive results of the questionnaire survey

 4.3 Relationships between the subcategories of the personvariable

 4.4 Attributional factors in learning success

 4.5 Inter-group differences in person, task and strategic variables

 4.6 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 5 Person Knowledge

 5.1 Introduction

 5.2 Pre-course person knowledge about writing

 5.3 Post-course person knowledge about writing

 5.4 Key themes of pre- and post-course person knowledge

 5.5 Developing trend of person knowledge: triangulation of the diaries

 5.6 Participants' questionnaire results of the person variable in language learning

 5.7 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 6 Task Knowledge and Strategic Knowledge

 6.1 Introduction

 6.2 Pre-course task knowledge about writing

 6.3 Post-course task knowledge about writing

 6.4 Key themes of pre- and post-course task knowledge

 6.5 Developing trend of task knowledge: triangulation of the diaries

 6.6 Pre-course strategic knowledge

 6.7 Post-course strategic knowledge

 6.8 Key themes of pre- and post-course strategic knowledge

 6.9 Developing trend of strategic knowledge: triangulation of the diaries

 6.10 Participants' questionnaire results of task and strategic variables in language learning

 6.11 Effects of the writing course on participants' writing performance

 6.12 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 7 Case Studies

 7.1 Introduction

 7.2 Xue

 7.3 Cheng

 7.4 Zhang

 7.5 Fang

 7.6 Summary of the chapter

Chapter 8 Overall Discussion and Conclusions

 8.1 Introduction

 8.2 Revisiting the research goals

 8.3 Summary of the research findings and discussion

 8.4 The issue of sustainability

 8.5 Theoretical model of metacognitive knowledge in language learning

 8.6 Pedagogical principles of self-regulation in L2 writing

 8.7 Evaluation of the research

 8.8 Final conclusions and recommendations for future research

Bibliography

Appendices