The Impact of Training Metacognitive Strategies on Reading Comprehension among ESL Learner’s

Abstract

The present study investigates the impact of training metacognitive strategies in reading comprehension and has been conducted among students from University Putra Malaysia. Forty eight subjects majoring in English including both males and females participated in the study. They have been chosen from first level of reading and divided into two groups, namely, experimental and control group. To carry out the process, initially, a standard test of reading comprehension was given to both experimental and control groups in order to compare their reading abilities. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in their reading abilities and therefore the classification of the students was reasonable. Subsequently, twelve-week training on metacognitive strategies was given to the experimental group, and after the training sessions their performance was measured through reading comprehension tests, metacognitive strategy questionnaire, and semi-structural interview. The results showed that participants’ ability in the two strategies of monitoring and assessment increased after receiving explicit instruction of metacognitive strategy. However, only the experimental group had positive view toward these strategies and believe that the effective learning of these strategies can enhance their reading ability. The findings in this study make contribution to the body of knowledge and not only provide a clear insight of the effectiveness of metacognitive strategies in the process of reading, but also support the belief that explicit instruction of metacognitive strategies will enhance learners reading ability.

Keywords: metacognitive strategies, reading comprehension, explicit instruction.