Reading metacognitive strategies employed by ESL learners

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between the metacognitive reading strategies employed by the ESL learners in a secondary school in Malaysia and their English proficiency. The objective of this study is to identify the types of metacognitive strategies employed by students while reading academic text. In addition, this study also aims to investigate the differences (if any) in metacognitive strategies employed by the high and low English proficiency students while reading academic text. The respondents of this research are forty students with high and low English proficiency and were selected randomly. This study is using the quantitative research method where questionnaire is used to obtain the data. Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) was used as the measuring tools to identify the metacognitive reading strategies employed by the students. The result of this study shows that the students employed the three metacognitive strategies which are Global Reading Strategies (GLOB), Supporting Reading Strategies (SUP) and Problem-Solving Reading Strategies (PROB). In addition, the mostly employed metacognitive reading strategy was Global Reading Strategies (GLOB), followed by Supporting Reading Strategies (SUP) and Problem-Solving Reading Strategies (PROB). As a conclusion, metacognitive reading strategies can be implemented by secondary school English language teachers in their teaching as it beneficial in helping learners’ comprehension.