A Study of EFL Students’ Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies

Reading is a complex skill and some English as a foreign language (EFL) students have difficulties in comprehending academic texts. Moreover, research has showed a positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and success in reading comprehension. This study was intended to assess metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies of EFL university students in reading academic texts in English. It also examined the differences between more proficient and less proficient EFL students in the use of metacognitive reading strategies in reading academic texts. To these ends, 75 university students participated in this study. Based on their scores in a reading comprehension test, they were divided into more and less proficient readers. To collect data, Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) and Test of English as Foreign Language (TOFEL) were used. The results revealed that the students reported using the overall strategies at a moderate frequency level. The most frequently used reading strategies were problem solving strategies, followed by global and support strategies respectively. Furthermore, the more proficient group significantly outperformed the less proficient group in problem solving, global and support reading strategies. The findings of this study can help less proficient students improve their reading comprehension and lead them to autonomous learning.

Keywords:

Reading comprehension , Reading strategies , Metacognitive strategies