Investigating the Use of Metacognitive Reading Strategies Using Think Aloud Protocol

Abstract

Reading is one of the most important skills in the process of learning. It takes place at a metacognitive level where planning, evaluating and monitoring are involved. The use of metacognitive strategies has been identified as an important variable in reading comprehension. This qualitative study reports the pilot study done to investigate the behaviors of EFL readers when they use metacognitive strategies to answer reading comprehension exercises. Specifically, this study compares the behaviors of a high achiever and a low achiever reader using metacognitive strategies. The two EFL readers were purposively chosen to fit the description needed based on the scores obtained for EFL learners from a university English Test. The finding shows that the high achiever is more global when it comes to reading comprehension strategies. On the contrary, the low achiever tends to focus on minute details. Pedagogical implications are revealed by the end of the study.