Regressive transfer of metacognitive writing strategies from English (L3) to Standard Arabic (L1) among trilingual university students: a quasi-experimental study

While a plethora of studies have documented the transformative effect of teaching metacognitive writing strategies (MCWSs) on students’ strategy use and writing performance within one language, the cross-linguistic transferability of this effect remains limited, particularly in its regressive nature. Adopting a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test non-equivalent design, this study examines the impact of explicit MCWSs instruction in English (L3) on students’ strategy use and argumentative writing performance in English and Standard Arabic (L1). Participants were 85 English majors assigned to an experimental group (EG, n = 45) and a control group (CG, n = 40). Data were collected through questionnaires and writing tests in both languages as pre- and post-measures to evaluate strategy use and writing performance. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and repeated-measures MANOVA. Results revealed that the EG obtained better writing scores than the CG in both languages following the intervention. The training also contributed to a regressive transfer of MCWSs from L3 to L1 for the EG. The study contributes to cross-linguistic transfer research by providing evidence that MCWSs are not inherently language-dependent but operate as domain-general metacognitive-regulatory processes transferable across typologically distant languages. Findings support multilingual MCWSs instruction to promote cross-linguistic transfer.