The Role of Beliefs and Metacognitive Awareness in the Strategic Reading Behavior of ESL Learners

Subject Areas :

Fatemeh Khonamri ¹ (عضو هیات علمی)

Received: 2009-06-27 Accepted : 2009-09-29 Published : 2009-12-20

Keywords: metacognitive knowledge, Keywords: beliefs, metacognitive awareness, reading strategies,

Abstract :

  Abstract                                                In the present study, the relationship between ESL advanced students’ beliefs, metacognition and their strategic reading performance was examined. The study was divided into two phases. In the first phase of the study, three questionnaires were used to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness and learners’ beliefs. In the second phase, learners’ strategic reading behavior was explored through think-aloud protocol analysis, retrospective questions and interviews. Through correlational analyses conducted with the entire sample, it was clear that significant positive correlations exist between BALLI and BAR (r =.393).  The one-way Anova analyses indicated that the belief variables (BALLI and BAR) accounted for a greater portion of total MQ variance (mean square =.141). The result of the second phase of the study indicated that though the metacognitive knowledge was shown to play no significant role in the strategic reading behavior of the subjects, it proved useful in facilitating the reading performance of the readers. In short, the findings of the study suggest an interaction between beliefs, metacognitive knowledge and strategic reading behavior o f learners. This may mean that in reading instruction, a consideration of these variables can lead to better reading performances.