摘要:This paper discusses theory and practice related to self-access and metacognitiveawareness in young learners. While still an emerging field, the paper presents severalstudies that describe young learners’ self-access through playing online multi-playerdigital games, watching TV/films, and reading various types of texts. The teaching ofmetacognitive awareness, or ‘learning how to learn’, is also discussed, and examplesillustrate how this knowledge is applied to learning both in class and beyond. Thelatter part of this paper describes elementary English instruction in Japan and includespractical applications of learning how to learn through examples from a Japanesesixth grade English class. The students discuss motivating factors beyond theclassroom, how they access metacognitive knowledge, and strategies they apply tobetter learn English