Abstract
Grounded in an exploratory research design, the current study is centrally aimed at gauging the Moroccan English department learners’ awareness and use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (RSs). It seeks to determine the extent to which EFL learners are (meta) cognitively conscious of the use of text-based strategies. To put a bright spotlight on this issue and disclose EFL learners’ dynamic potential pertaining to metacognitive strategy knowledge, a sample of sixty-three (63) EFL learners majoring in English Studies (first-semester) were targeted. The obtained data were gathered by means of the retrospective questionnaire (RQ) and the reading comprehension texts (e.g., narrative, expository). The overall findings manifestly show that Moroccan EFL learners’ (meta) cognitive strategy awareness and usage are characterized by insufficiency. Thus, a range of implied suggestions related to the EFL learners’ reading strategy consciousness and use in academic textual reading are put forward and some encountered research limitations are stated.
Highlights
The pivotal significance of metacognition in perceived reading strategy awareness and use has been underscored by many researchers (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002; Taraban, Kerr, & Rynearson, 2004; Lawrence, 2007; Zhang & Wu, 2009; Hong-Nam, 2014; Boyraz & Altinsoy, 2017)
It is clear that only a small number of the subjects targeted in this study seemed to be aware of some cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (RSs) that are implemented in EFL textual reading
This showcases that the target EFL learners do not possess fairly large knowledge regarding the cognitive and metacognitive techniques that can be used in the reading of different written texts
Summary
The pivotal significance of metacognition in perceived reading strategy awareness and use has been underscored by many researchers (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002; Taraban, Kerr, & Rynearson, 2004; Lawrence, 2007; Zhang & Wu, 2009; Hong-Nam, 2014; Boyraz & Altinsoy, 2017). A corpus of pertinent research studies (Mokhtari & Sheory, 2002; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002; Zhang & Wu, 2009) addressed the learners’ awareness of reading strategies (RSs). Another study (Mokhtari & Sheory, 2002) revealed that competent readers invariably resort to cognitive and metacognitive RSs compared to their counterparts, ‘incompetent’ learners, who underutilize these strategies. Targeting EFL high school students, Zhang and Wu (2009) declared that the high-proficient group significantly relies on global and problem-solving strategies compared to the intermediate and low-proficient groups
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