VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Textual clarity remains a major challenge in EFL descriptive writing, as many learners produce grammatically acceptable sentences without developing ideas in a way that is clear, vivid, and easy to follow. Building on earlier quantitative findings showing that Metacognitive Strategy Instruction (MSI) integrated with the explicit teaching of Minor Supporting Sentences (MSS) improved students’ textual clarity, this paper examines learners' perceptions of the intervention. Conducted as the explanatory follow-up of a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study at a private university in Lombok, Indonesia, the paper draws on post-intervention questionnaire responses from 25 students and semi-structured interviews with 15 selected learners from the experimental group. The findings show that learners generally viewed MSI and MSS as helpful in organizing ideas, enriching descriptions, and making their writing clearer and more reader-friendly. At the same time, they reported challenges in generating varied supporting details, maintaining writing flow during monitoring, and managing the extra time required for revision. Overall, the study suggests that integrating MSI with explicit MSS instruction supports not only clearer descriptive writing but also greater learner awareness, confidence, and strategic control over the writing process.