Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/45649

Metacognition is cognition of one's own cognition and consists of Lwo parts knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition. Many researches have shown that metacognition promotes learning but there are few 'metacognitive' studies in Japanese learning / teaching, especially kanji learning. For speakers of character-languages metacognition is important because they must be aware of differences between kanji in Japanese andl characters in their mother language, and control their own kanji learning. The aims of this paper are: 1) to introduce metacognitive studies, 2) to show the importance of metacognition in language learning, 3) to classify metacoginition into two categories: 'metacognition for task processing' and 'metacognition for learning control', 4) to describe metacognition needed for kanji learning by speakers of character-languages, and 5) to discuss how to support these learners from the viewpoint of metacognitison.