A Descriptive Analysis of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Employed by EFL College Students in Kuwait

Abstract

The study measured the awareness and use of metacognitive reading strategies among English as a foreign language (EFL) students at a medical college in Kuwait. The college offers a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and a two-year Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). Data collection involved distributing the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) online through Google Forms to a sample of 80 students (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002). Data were analyzed for strategy use, variations in strategy use between the BSN and ADN students, and the most and the least frequently-used strategies by the participating students. Microsoft Excel software generated the means, percentages, rankings, and standard deviations of strategy use. Findings indicated that the participating students were overall highly aware of metacognitive reading strategies. Moreover, the results showed that while the participating students were high users of problem-solving and global strategies, they were medium users of support strategies. The results also indicated that years of studying English showed a possible impact on the variations in strategy use between the participating students at the BSN and ADN programs. Finally, the analysis revealed that while the most frequently-used strategies among the participants were problem-solving strategies followed by global strategies, the least frequently-used strategies were support strategies. Implications for pedagogy included the need for English teachers to first identify their students’ awareness of metacognitive reading strategies. Second, English teachers can implement evidence-based instruction to maximize the use of students’ metacognitive reading strategies.

Perceived Use of Metacognitive Strategies by EFL Undergraduates in Academic Reading

“…The trend of problem-solving strategies as perceived by the students seems to be strongly preferred by the students over the other types of strategies. According to Alrabah and Wu (2019), one of the most consistent findings on research on metacognitive strategies is that problem-solving strategies have been preferred by learners from a variety of native languages. Additionally, these findings suggest similar findings to those of Miller (2017) and Dumlaio, et al (2019) in which the respondents tend mostly to perceive problem-solving strategies as the mostly frequently used strategies in comparison with global and support strategies.…”

Investigating Metacognitive Reading Strategy Awareness of Saudi Tertiary Students: Comparisons of Gender, Reading Ability and Year Level

“…They found that the most frequently used strategy was problem-solving followed by global reading strategies and the least were support reading strategies. Alrabah and Wu (2019) also reported a possible effect between years of study and use of strategies among students. Mukhlif and Amir (2017) explored the metacognitive online reading strategies of 50 fourth-year tertiary Iraqi students enrolled at Al-Salam University college.…”

“…On other contexts similar to the Saudi Arabian one, a few studies have been identified that examined metacognitive reading strategies. Alrabah and Wu (2019), for example, conducted a recent study in Kuwait investigating the awareness and use of metacognitive reading strategies among 80 EFL students at a medical college using Mokhtari and Reichard's (2002) MARSI. The results indicated that students generally have high awareness of metacognitive reading strategies.…”

“…This would help determine proper measures and pedagogical implications to address this important issue. It also provides a good indicator of the reading level of students as many scholars (Alrabah & Wu, 2019;Cubukcu, 2008) have attested that employing reading strategies is more frequently used and a feature of good readers rather than poor readers. Accordingly, proper interventions and design of pedagogical training can be implemented based on solid data and evidence on the status quo of the students.…”

An Empirical Study on the Effect of Instruction on Metacognitive Strategies on EFL Reading Comprehension: The Case of Foundation-Level Students in Oman

“…In fact, in various EFL and ESL settings, concerns have been raised about students' unpreparedness to meet college reading requirements, especially where the medium of instruction is dominantly English (Al Seyabi & Tuzlukova, 2015;Cahyono & Widiati, 2006;Moss & Bordelon, 2007;Sivaraman, Al Balushi, & Rao, 2014). Although part of the problem is attributed to students' poor language levels (Snow, 2002), a major reason that the literature often cites is students' lack of reading strategies such as self-planning, self-monitoring, self-regulating and self-evaluating (Tavakoli, 2014;Al Rabah & Wu, 2019;Al-Mekhlafi, 2018). & Sheorey, 2002).…”