Metacognitive Strategy Knowledge - Predictive of the Language Competence and Overall Success of International Students at German Universities

International students face a variety of challenging situations in everyday life at German universities. The ability to adapt to a new learning environment independently and effectively becomes crucial for academic success. Based on a sample of 289 international students at German universities, this study examines the role of metacognitive strategy knowledge in second-language competence as well as overall academic success. Metacognitive strategy knowledge at the beginning of the first semester not only shows strong correlations with second-language competence at the same time, it is also predictive of language competence 1 year later as well as academic success after the first three semesters. Therefore, our study shows a relationship between metacognitive strategy knowledge and language competence as well as academic success in international students and paves the way for further research.