This study investigates how metacognitive strategy training—planning, monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting—enhances Japanese university students’ communicative competence in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) classrooms. The research explores: (1) how students engage with metacognitive strategies during ELF-oriented tasks, and (2) how these strategies influence their confidence, autonomy, and attitudes toward ELF communication. Methodologically, the classroom-based qualitative study was conducted over 15 weeks in an ELF-focused English course. Students wrote weekly reflections to monitor their learning, which the teacher analyzed to trace growth in metacognitive awareness and communicative adaptability. A supplementary questionnaire examined students’ perceptions of the reflection process and their evolving attitudes toward ELF.
Findings show that consistent reflection fostered self-regulation, intercultural sensitivity, and confidence in managing communicative diversity. Students gradually shifted from pursuing native-like accuracy to valuing effective, adaptive communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
