Writing performance competence is not a process in which teachers transmit knowledge to students, but one in which students construct their writing performance competence on their own initiative. This article proposes a novel approach to the investigation of student writing ability. It applies theories of Cognitivism, Constructivism, metacognition, and self-regulated learning to understand how beginning writers develop the ability to participate in the communicative practices of academic written communication and develop rhetorical consciousness. This paper advocates both teaching with metacognition and teaching for metacognition. To teach with metacognition, an EFL writing instructor should reflect upon his or her own teaching, and possess both metacognitive strategic knowledge and executive management strategies. When instructors teach for metacognition, students can learn about what the strategies are, how to use the strategies, when and why to apply the strategies, and as a result, learn to regulate their cognitive and constructivism activities. Article visualizations
