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Volume 12. Issue 1
Article 8

Title
The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Instruction on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension Performance and Metacognitive Awareness

Author
Fatemeh Takallou

Bio Data:
Fatemeh Takallou has an M.A. in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) from the Teacher Training University of Tehran in Iran. She is currently lecturing and researching in Payame Noor University, Kermanshah, Iran where she has taught courses in EFL, ESP, and translation to graduate and undergraduate students.

Abstract
As learners have an important role in new teaching methodologies, raising their awareness of learning strategies and helping them utilize these strategies is a crucial aim of teachers. One type of these learning strategies is metacognitive strategies including planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluation. The present study aimed at examining the effect of metacognitive (planning & self-monitoring) strategy instruction on EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance (on authentic and inauthentic texts) and their metacognitive awareness. To this end, two tests (TOEFL and a reading comprehension test) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) were administered to 93 male and female EFL learners in four phases of this study.

At the first phase, TOEFL was administered to all the students both to homogenize students regarding language proficiency and to validate the reading comprehension test. At the second phase, SILL was administered to two experimental and one control groups before strategy instruction. SILL assesses the frequency with which the subjects use a variety of techniques for foreign language learning. At the third phase, two experimental groups received five sessions of instruction on metacognitive strategies, one on planning and the other on self-monitoring strategy based on the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). Both experimental and control groups worked on authentic and inauthentic texts (some articles from Readers' Digest and Reading Skillfully III).

At the fourth phase, after completion of instruction, the reading comprehension test and SILL questionnaire were administered to all groups. Data analysis revealed that two experimental groups which received instruction on ‘planning’ and ‘self-monitoring’ outperformed the control group on the reading comprehension test. Moreover, text type played an important role in the subjects' reading comprehension. The subjects performed better on authentic texts. In addition, the results showed that experimental groups’ awareness to metacognitive strategies significantly increased after instruction. The findings of the present study have implications for learners, teachers, and textbook writers in the realm of TEFL in particular and education in general.

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