scholarly journals A Review of Studies on Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension for ESL/EFL Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Aziza M. Ali ◽  
Abu Bakar Razali

Being able to read well is important for English language learners. Through the process of reading, the learner becomes an active participant in producing an interaction with the writer of the text through predicting, analyzing, summarizing and using other types of reading strategies. However, building such a connection between the reader and the written information of the text is complex and for English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) students, it can be quite difficult for them to apply different types of reading strategies. This article provides a review of literature on 27 studies on the teaching of reading strategies (particularly cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies) for ESL/EFL learners, which reveals that ESL/EFL teachers need to keep updating their teaching methods to meet the ESL/EFL students’ needs, particularly in the use of correct reading strategies. The authors also highlight some of the main issues that prevent ESL/EFL students from improving and developing their reading comprehension. Furthermore, the authors discuss and conclude the article by suggesting to ESL/EFL teachers some teaching strategies to be applied in the reading lesson to improve the ESL/EFL students’ use of reading strategies.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1043-1050
Author(s):  
Asalefew Mekuria Wudneh

The study was an attempt to investigate the level of awareness on Metacognitive reading strategies among first year Ethiopian EFL students.  It  also  tried  to  figure  out  the  possible  relationship  between  Metacognitive reading strategies  use  and  reading comprehension achievement.  Ninety-four EFL learners participated  in  the  study.  Metacognitive reading strategy inventory and reading comprehension test were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics to determine the mean value of strategies employed by the learners. Moreover, Pearson correlation coefficient  was  used  to discover  the  association  between  reading  strategy  use  and  reading  comprehension  achievement. According  to  the  findings  Ethiopian  EFL  learners ,were almost near to the lower limit (M=2.55,Sd.=0.34)line of medium level reading strategy users. Furthermore, the use of metacognitive reading strategy had weak correlation (r=0.21,p=0.039) with reading  comprehension achievement. The possible cause of this could be lack of awareness on how to regulate and monitor reading comprehension.


Author(s):  
Ali Akbar Khansir ◽  
Afsaneh Salehabadi

As the topic suggests, the research paper presents Study of Consonant Pronunciations Errors Committed by EFL Learners. Error analysis always tries to resolve language learners’ problems in acquiring second or foreign language setting. Learning to English pronunciation is perhaps as important as learning listening skill, speaking, and spelling. Errors in English pronunciation create several problems for English language learners in their works. In other words, most of the English language errors of pronunciation are due to the lack of knowledge of language learners. However, all the students in our sample are of age group (16-25) at Bushehr language institute and they are all Iranian nationals. In addition, all of them were female learners. An English pronunciation (consonant) test was used to get information about the knowledge of the learners in English pronunciation. Findings of this article indicated that the first and second hypotheses of this article were accepted, but the third hypothesis was rejected. However, the findings of this paper showed that the Iranian EFL students have problem to pronounce English sounds correctly.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
AbdulRahman Al Asmari ◽  
Choudhary Zahid Javid

This empirical survey investigates the perceptions of English language teachers towards the role of content schemata in reading comprehension among Saudi EFL learners. Furthermore, it also attempts to explore the use of appropriate classroom strategies employed by English language teachers to activate content schemata to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. A modified Likert-scale strongly-agree to strongly-disagree questionnaire was administered to 61 male and female EFL faculty from English Language Center (ELC), Taif University to generate data. The findings have reinforced that background knowledge of Saudi EFL learners help them significantly in reading faster with better understanding. It has also been reported that pre-reading strategies of brainstorming, classroom discussions about the topic and questioning are the most favored ones to activate Saudi EFL learners’ background knowledge. It has also been learnt that while-reading strategies of directing the students’ attention to signal words, main idea, important phrases, titles, subtitles and effectively linking the target text to their students’ cultural and social experiences also contribute towards reading comprehension. The findings have also revealed that English language teachers consider low English language proficiency and poor reading skills of Saudi ELF leaners as well as the lack of appropriate teaching aids as the major obstacles in activating the content schemata. Several recommendations have been forwarded which have significant pedagogical implications in materializing much sought-after goal of effective ELT in the KSA by ensuring better reading skills among Saudi EFL learners.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Amel AlAdwani ◽  
Anam AlFadley ◽  
Maha AlGasab ◽  
Ahmad F. Alnwaiem

Metacognitive reading strategies play an essential role in improving reading comprehension. This study explores the effects of English metacognitive reading strategies and reading comprehension in Kuwaiti primary school students as foreign language learners; this experimental study tries to find a relationship between students' metacognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, and students' reading performance. Participants were fifth grade EFL students in Kuwait primary education government public schools. The students' reading comprehension was evaluated. Comprehension tracking strategies were measured using Metacognitive strategies (K-W-L Plus). While the experimental groups (B) received instructions according to (K-W-L Plus) techniques, the control (A) group was trained with the traditional teaching approach based on the Kuwait national curriculum school textbooks. A questionnaire investigating the use of English and perceived English proficiency was also conducted. The results revealed that Perceived proficiency in English was not determined by the early or late pre-school age of second language acquisition. Also, bilingual students with perceived proficiency in English had better meta-cognitive reading skills than low perceived proficiency in English. Comprehension monitoring and (K-W-L) strategy was adequate and the most important predictor of reading comprehension among all students in the research sample.


Author(s):  
Parviz Ajideh ◽  
Mohammad Zohrabi ◽  
Kazem Pouralvar

This study investigated the effect of explicit instruction of metacognitive reading strategies on ESP reading comprehension among university students in Iran. Strategy instruction has recently been integrated into language teaching methodologies, stressing that successful language learners take advantage of appropriate strategy selection and application in order to develop better language skills. Poor learners, on the other hand, fail to know how to use strategies and for what purposes. There has been ample research on the impact of explicit strategy instruction on the EFL learners’ language skills. These studies indicate the effectiveness of strategy instruction on the various aspects of language learning such as skill development among EFL learners but the notion of the effectiveness of strategy instruction on ESP reading comprehension in university level has not been much scrutinized in Iranian context. The participants in this study included undergraduate first and second year students studying Islamic Art and Architecture Engineering at Tabriz Islamic Art University. A randomized subjects and posttest-only control group design was employed in this study. The number of students in Art control and experimental groups was 28 and the one for Architecture control and experimental group was 26 students. The participants in the experimental groups received explicit instruction of metacognitive reading strategies through the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) for strategy instruction. The results of independent t-test revealed that the students in the experimental groups outperformed those in the control groups and showed greater achievement in their ESP reading comprehension ability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-103
Author(s):  
Somayyeh Mousavian ◽  
Hossein Siahpoosh

Reading comprehension is a key issue in learning English as a foreign language, and it is critical that teachers utilize pre-reading strategies in reading classes in order to help students enhance their comprehension. The present study investigated the effectiveness of two pre-reading strategies of pre-questioning and vocabulary pre-teaching on EFL students’ performance in reading comprehension. A group of 60 students participated in this study. An experimental design was used, with 20 students being assigned to the first experimental group that received one pre-reading strategy (vocabulary pre-teaching), while the second experimental group which also consisted 20 students received another pre-reading strategy (pre-questioning) and the remaining 20 students received the traditional method. Students in the groups were asked first to perform the pre-reading strategy, read a passage, and then answer comprehension questions. Results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the groups. The experimental groups got better results than the control group. Comparison of the two experimental groups, moreover, showed that the vocabulary pre-teaching group outperformed the pre-questioning group.   Key words: EFL teaching, Pre-reading strategies, Pre-questioning, Reading comprehension, Schema theory, Vocabulary pre-teaching


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeinab Kafi ◽  
Khalil Motallebzadeh

The present study aimed at examining the relationship between EFL teachers� effective teaching and the language learning motivation of Iranian EFL learners whose English proficiency was upper-intermediate and above. To this end, 150 upper-intermediate and advance EFL students, from some language schools in Mashhad, Iran participated in the study. The participants were firstly asked to fill out a researcher made questionnaire which aimed at checking their opinions on how effective they considered their teachers in teaching (Effective Teaching Questionnaire). Afterwards, the same students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that investigated how much motivated they were for learning English (Language Learning Motivation Questionnaire). These questionnaires were validated by two experts in the field, also their reliability, using Cronbach's Alpha, was estimated to be .87 and .80 respectively. Afterwards the relation between teachers� effectiveness in teaching and the extent to which students were motivated as a result was investigated. For measuring the probable relation, correlation as well as multiple regressions was run for analysis of the obtained data. The results exhibited the existence of a positive relation between the two.Keywords: Effective teaching, motivation, EFL learners, EFL teachers


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Trisevgeni Liontou

Research has shown that EFL learners face specific difficulties when processing phrasal verbs, mainly due to the fact that identical or similar expressions rarely exist in their mother tongue. Though some studies on second language acquisition have explored the development of figurative language competence and the strategies employed for the interpretation of phrasal verbs, limited research based information is available as regards the relationship between such a processing and learners' reading comprehension performance according to their level of English language competence. This paper reports on a one-year study that aimed at investigating the development of young learners’ reading competence in relation to comprehending phrasal verbs. A total of 50 young EFL students aged 9 to 12 years old took part in the study. The findings could provide practical guidance to EFL instructors, material developers and test designers with regard to the type of reading comprehension difficulties EFL learners face when exposed to phrasal verbs while learning English as a Foreign Language.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel C. Meniado

<p>Metacognitive reading strategies and reading motivation play a significant role in enhancing reading comprehension. In an attempt to prove the foregoing claim in a context where there is no strong culture for reading, this study tries to find out if there is indeed a relationship between and among metacognitive reading strategies, reading motivation, and reading comprehension performance. Prior to finding out relationships, the study tried to ascertain the level of awareness and use of metacognitive reading strategies of the respondents when they read English academic texts, their level of motivation and reading interests, and their overall reading performance. Using descriptive survey and descriptive correlational methods with 60 randomly selected Saudi college-level EFL students in an all-male government-owned industrial college in Saudi Arabia, the study found out that the respondents moderately use the different metacognitive reading strategies when reading academic texts. Of the three categories of metacognitive reading strategies, the Problem-Solving Strategies (PROB) is the most frequently used. It was also revealed that the respondents have high motivation to read. They particularly prefer to read humor/comic books. On the level of reading comprehension performance, the respondents performed below average. Using t-test, the study reveals that there is no correlation between metacognitive reading strategies and reading comprehension. There is also no correlation between reading interest/motivation and reading comprehension. However, there is positive correlation between reading strategies and reading motivation. The findings of this study interestingly contradict previous findings of most studies, thus invite<span style="text-decoration: line-through;">s</span> more thorough investigation along the same line of inquiry.</p>


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