Grounded in an exploratory research design, the current study is centrally aimed at gauging the Moroccan English department learners’ awareness and use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (RSs). It seeks to determine the extent to which EFL learners are (meta) cognitively conscious of the use of text-based strategies. To put a bright spotlight on this issue and disclose EFL learners’ dynamic potential pertaining to metacognitive strategy knowledge, a sample of sixty-three (63) EFL learners majoring in English Studies (first-semester) were targeted. The obtained data were gathered by means of the retrospective questionnaire (RQ) and the reading comprehension texts (e.g., narrative, expository). The overall findings manifestly show that Moroccan EFL learners’ (meta) cognitive strategy awareness and usage are characterized by insufficiency. Thus, a range of implied suggestions related to the EFL learners’ reading strategy consciousness and use in academic textual reading are put forward and some encountered research limitations are stated.

This study is a potential endeavor to make an inquiry into the perceived effect of text typology on reading achievement gains among Moroccan English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. It also evinces whether strategy instruction can be an influencing variable on learners' reading achievement with regards to text type (i.e., narrative, expository). Indeed, incorporating two primary text genres (i.e., narrative, expository) in the conduct of this current research, the study is intended to substantiate any marked interrelatedness existing between text typology and reading achievement at the pre-and post-testing stages among EFL university learners. For assuring a thorough, rich investigation of this stated postulate, two sampled Moroccan EFL groups (n=113), as first-year English majors, were addressed. The obtained data were collected by means of a corpus of research instruments such as reading comprehension tests (i.e., pre-test, post-test), strategy training and reading comprehension texts (i.e., narrative, expository). The findings showcased that text genre is not a significant, influential variable on reading achievement scores among the control (n=50) and treatment groups (n=63). Finally, the study puts forward some useful implications pertaining to EFL text processing/ analysis and an explicit mention of some limitations, which encountered the undertaken study, is made.

The present study, drawing on a quasi-experimental design, is geared towards probing into the value of the delivery of metacognitive control training in improving English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ performance in textual reading at the university level. To investigate this issue at length, two EFL first-semester groups majoring in English studies were selected as the main respondents. The treatment group trained in metacognitive control consists of sixty-three (n=63) students and the non-treatment group receiving no training is comprised of fifty (n=50) students. These two groups were presented with both a narrative and an expository reading text at the pre- and post-intervention phase along the continuum of the semester (Semester One) and were administered a ‘self-report questionnaire’ at each phase. The findings feature that the treatment group reflected a more significant measure of improvement in terms of the executive and metacognitive control exercised during the reading process than the non-treatment group did. Thus, the study puts forward the implied view that metacognitive control instruction with regard to reading comprehension is to be embedded in the university curriculum for the optimization of the learners’ reading process.

The intent of this quasi-experimental study is to investigate the impact of explicit metacognitive reading strategy instruction (RSI) on Moroccan English as a foreign language (EFL) university learners' strategy use and reading achievement. It reflects whether this sort of instruction can make of learners strategic and critical readers. In this regard, a pre-post-test design involving the administration of reading comprehension pre-and post-tests to both the control and the treatment group was used. Two research questions were addressed: To what extent does explicit metacognitive reading strategy instruction influence Moroccan EFL university learners' strategy usage? To what extent does explicit instruction in metacognitive reading strategies impact Moroccan EFL university learners' reading achievement gains? A total of 113 participants were targeted in an attempt to reveal the perceived correlation exiting among the variables of strategy training, strategy use and reading achievement. The elicited data were collected by means of the reading comprehension texts, 'self-report questionnaire' and reading comprehension tests (e.g., pre-test, post-test). The findings unveiled that, through exposure to reading strategy training, as an effective medium of enhancing the learners' reading potential, the experimental group (N=63) reflected a more significant improvement at the level of strategy usage and reading performance than their counterpart, the control group (N=50), did at post-testing. Finally, the study concludes with some recommendations relatable to pedagogy and research.