Metacognitive Strategies and Reading Proficiency: The Case of 5-Year College Students in Taiwan

Abstract

English reading comprehension ability occupies a rather significant role in ESL/EFL learning. Since the late 1970s, the theory of metacognition has received a great deal of attention from educational psychologists and reading researchers. Meanwhile, textbooks are extensively used in class as teaching aids to promote student learning. This study aimed to examine EFL students' metacognitive awareness and perceived use of reading strategies when they are reading English textbooks. This study also explored the relationship between the use of reading strategies and personal characteristics. Ninety- two 5-year college students participated in this study. Three instruments were used to collect data: (1) the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), (2) Background Information Questionnaire, and (3) the reading test of GEPT intermediate level. The major findings are as follows. First, there is a moderate awareness of all the strategies. Second, the students reported using Problem Solving Strategies most frequently, followed by Global and Support Reading Strategies. Third, the students' reading proficiency was highly related to their reported metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Fourth, the results indicate that female subjects employ reading strategies more often than male subjects in all of the strategy use. Fifth, student s with cram school experiences used strategies more often, with a little bit higher mean score than that for students without cram school experiences. Sixth, the metacognitive reading strategy use was highly related to the number of certificates the subjects owned.