Investigating the Impact of Meta-discourse on Task Achievement of IELTS General Reading Modules

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of Meta-discourse on task achievement of IELTS general reading module. The inquirer analyzed and interpreted the collected data to find out if meta-discourse markers have positively affected the participants, Iraqi EFL learners, to improve their reading comprehension ability. The researcher recruited and finally selected 160 undergraduate students (80 experimental groups and 80 control groups) majoring in English from 7 classes in Baghdad University with different language proficiency levels, i.e., elementary, lower-intermediate, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. Employing One-way and Two-way ANOVA analyses, the inquirer found out that the use of Meta-discourse markers in experimental groups left a positive impact on the students of different language proficiency levels in their approach to IELTS general reading comprehension tasks. In a parallel analysis, the researcher administered SORS questionnaire to investigate the reading strategies and found that all the students in different proficiency levels performed in SORS significantly better in the treatment group as compared to the performance of the EFL learners in control groups.