A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers 英语阅读策略.docx
《A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers 英语阅读策略.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers 英语阅读策略.docx(27页珍藏版)》请在冰点文库上搜索。
![A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers 英语阅读策略.docx](https://file1.bingdoc.com/fileroot1/2023-6/15/a89346e1-3bfc-4243-b44e-a1213076e5c3/a89346e1-3bfc-4243-b44e-a1213076e5c31.gif)
AComparisonoftheMetacognitiveReadingStrategiesUsedbyEFLandESLReaders英语阅读策略
AComparisonoftheMetacognitiveReadingStrategiesUsedbyEFLandESLReaders.
By:
Karbalaei,Alireza,ReadingMatrix:
AnInternationalOnlineJournal,1533242X,Sep2010,Vol.10,Issue2
ThisstudyinvestigatedwhetherthereareanysignificantdifferencesbetweenEFLandESLreadersinmetacognitivereadingstrategieswhentheyarereadingacademictextsinEnglish.Onehundredandninetyundergraduatestudents(96Iraniansand93Indians)completedaninstrumentdesignedtomeasurethestudents'metacognitiveawarenessofreadingstrategiesafterperformingareadingcomprehensiontest.Theresultofthisstudyindicatedthatthesubjectsinbothgroupsreportedasimilarpatternofstrategyawarenesswhilereadingacademictextsalthoughthetwostudentgroupshadbeenschooledinsignificantlydifferentsocio-culturalenvironments.Regardingthedifferenceexistingamongbothgroups,Indiansreportedmoreawarenessanduseofglobalsupportandtotalmetacognitivereadingstrategies.Iranianstudentsreportednosignificantdifferenceinusingproblem-solvingreadingstrategies.ThesefindingsexplainsomeofthedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenEFLandESLreadersbyemployingmetacognitivestrategiesinbothcontexts.
INTRODUCTION
Interestinsecondlanguageacquisition,particularlyasitrelatestoreadinginthesecondlanguage,hasburgeonedinthepastdecade.Thishasresultedinagrowingdemandforbotheffectivereadingcoursesaswellashigh-qualitysecondlanguagematerials.Researchhasdemonstratedthatinessence,readinginasecondlanguageisadynamicandinteractiveprocessbywhichlearnersmakeuseofbackgroundknowledge,textschema,lexicalandgrammaticalawareness,L1-relatedknowledge,andreal-worldknowledge,aswellastheirownpersonalpurposesandgoals,toarriveatanunderstandingofwrittenmaterial.Atthesametime,readers'viewsofthenatureofreadingareseentobeshapedbytheirownsocial,cultural,andpersonalhistories.
AccordingtoAnderson(2003),readingistheinteractionoffourthingsincludingthereader,thetext,thefluentreadingor"theabilityorreadatanappropriateratewithadequatecomprehension,"andstrategicreading,or"theabilityofthereadertouseavarietyofreadingstrategiestoaccomplishapurposeforreading"(p.8).Discoveringthebestmethodsandtechniquesorprocessesthelearnerschoosetoaccess,isthegoalofresearchinreadingstrategies.
Inaddition,readingisthekindofprocessinwhichoneneedstonotonlyunderstanditsdirectmeaning,butalsocomprehenditsimpliedideas.AsTierney(2005)states,"[l]earningtoreadisnot[only]learningtorecognizewords;itis[also]learningtomakesenseoftexts"(p.51).Itinvolvesagreatdealofcognitivecapacityavailableforcomprehension(Pressley,2002).Forexample,goodreadersknowthatcomprehensionismostlikelytooccurfromreadingactivity.Theyknowhowtorelatewhatisbeingreadtopriorknowledge,howtopredictwhatmightbecomingupinthetext,andsummarizewhatisbeingread(Pressley,2002).Thesecomprehensionstrategiesaremetacognitiveconceptsinreading.Ifstudentsarecapableofcomprehendingwhattheyarereadingthroughavarietyofstrategies,theywillcreateaninterestedandself-regulativeattitudetowardthepathofacademicachievement.
Regardingtheimportanceofreadingcomprehension,itshouldbepointedoutthatitisspecificallythebasicgoalforESL/EFLstudentstogainanunderstandingoftheworldandofthemselves,enablingthemtothinkaboutandreacttowhattheyread(Tierney,2005).AccordingtoGrabe(1991),readingisanessentialskillandprobablythemostimportantskillforsecondlanguagelearnerstomasterinacademiccontexts.Sincereadingcomprehensionhasbeendistinctivelyimportantbothinfirstandsecond/foreignlanguages,readingstrategiesareofgreatinterestinthefieldofreadingresearch.Readingresearchhasalsoshedlightonmetacognitiveawarenessofreadingstrategies,perceptionofstrategies,andstrategytraininganduseinreadingcomprehension.
METACOGNITION
Metacognitionisdefinedas"thinkingaboutthinking"(Anderson,2002,p.23).ThistermwasfirstcoinedbyFlavellinthemid1970s.AccordingtoByrd,Carter,andWaddoups(2001),itisaccountedasself-awarenessofmentalprocess.Oxford(1990)believesthatmetacognitivestrategies"provideawayforlearnerstocoordinatetheirownlearningprocess"(p.136).
Otherscontendthatmetacognitionreferstotheknowledgeandcontrolthatwehaveoverourcognitiveprocesses.Asfarasitisconcernedwithreading,itiscommontotalkaboutmetacognitiveawareness(whatweknow)andmetacognitiveregulationorcontrol(knowingwhen,where,andhowtousestrategies,thatis,whatwecando).Asawhole,metacognitiveinvolvesawarenessandcontrolofplanning,monitoring,repairing,revising,summarizing,andevaluating.Essentially,welearnstrategiesthatsupportourcomprehension(ourawarenessofstrategies)andwelearnhowtocarryoutthesestrategieseffectively(ourcontrolofstrategies)(Baker,2002,2008;Pressley,2002b).
Sinceitsdevelopmentinthelate1970s,thetheoryofmetacognitionhasreceivedagreatdealofattentionandseriousconsiderationfromcognitiveanddevelopmentalpsychologists,aswellasreadingresearchers.Althoughthetheoryofmetacognitionoriginatedfromtheresearchonlearningandmemory,thesuccessofresearchstudiesincognitive/developmentalpsychology,especiallyKreutzer,Leonard,Flavell,andHagen's(1975)studyonchildren'smetamemory,hasundoubtedlyexertedasignificantinfluenceonreadingresearch.Cognitiveanddevelopmentalpsychologistshaveprovidedreadingresearcherswithdeepinsightsintoproblemsofreadingcomprehension,andhavecreatedanongoingenthusiasmforfurtherexplorationandinvestigationofreadingproblemswithinthetheoreticalandconceptualframeworkofmetacognition.
Researchontherelationshipbetweenmetacognitionandreadingcomprehensionhasprogressedthroughseveraldifferentstages.Duringtheearlystages,researchfocusedontheinvestigationoftherelationshipbetweenmetacognitionandreadingcomprehensionfromthedevelopmentalperspective.Brown(1980)andBakerandBrown(1984)wereamongthefirstinfluentialresearchersinthisfield.Theyconcludedthatyoungstudentsareignorantofmetacognitivestrategiesinknowingwhentheyarecomprehending,knowingwhattheyneedtoknowandwhattheyhavecomprehended,knowingwheretheyfailtocomprehend,andknowingwhattheyneedtodoinordertorepaircomprehensionfailure.
READINGSTRATEGYRESEARCH
Astrategyisanindividual'scomprehensionapproachtoatask.Itincludeshowapersonthinksandactswhenplanningandevaluatinghisorherstudybehavior.Ineffect,successfulpeoplearegoodstrategyusers;theyknowhowtouseavarietyofgoal-specifictactics,executeaplannedsequence,andmonitortheiruse(Weinstein&Mayer,1985;Weinstein&Underwood,1985;Gettinger&Seibert,2002;Adams&Hamm,1994).Therearemanyreadingstrategiesemployedbysuccessfullanguagelearnerssuchasbeingabletoorganizeinformation,uselinguisticknowledgeoftheirfirstlanguagewhentheyarelearningtheirsecondlanguage,usecontextualcues,andlearnhowtochunklanguage,tonameafew.
Successfullanguagelearnersknowhowtousesuchreadingstrategiesefficiently.Thepurposesofreadingstrategiesaretohavegeneralknowledge,getaspecificdetail,findthemainideaortheme,learn,remember,delight,summarize,anddoresearch(Hyland,1990).Regardingtheimportanceofreadingstrategies,PressleyandAfflerbach(1995)identifiedseveralkeystrategiesthatwereevidentintheverbalprotocolstheyreviewed,including:
(a)overviewbeforereading;(b)lookforimportantinformationandpaygreaterattentiontoit;(c)relateimportantpointstooneanother;(d)activateandusepriorknowledge;(e)changestrategieswhenunderstandingisnotgood;and(f)monitorunderstandingandtakeactiontocorrectinaccuraciesincomprehension.
Thecurrentunderstandingofreadingstrategieshasbeenshapedsignificantlybyresearchonwhatexpertreadersdo(Bazerman,1985;Pressley&Afflerbach,1995).Thesestudiesdemonstratethatsuccessfulcomprehensiondoesnotoccurautomatically.Rather,successfulcomprehensiondependsondirectedcognitiveeffort,referredtoasmetacognitiveprocessing,whichconsistsofknowledgeaboutandregulationofprocessing.Duringreading,metacognitiveprocessingisexpressedthroughstrategies,whichare"procedural,purposeful,effortful,willful,essential,andfacilitativeinnature"and"thereadermustpurposefullyorintentionallyorwillfullyinvokestrategies"(Alexander&Jetton,2000,p.295),anddoessotoregulateandenhancelearningfromtext.Throughmetacognitivestrategies,areaderallocatessignificantattentiontocontrolling,monitoring,andevaluatingthereadingprocess(Pressley,2000;Pressley,Brown,El-Dinary,&Afflerbach,1995).Additionally,SheoreyandMokhtari(2001)statedthatitisthecombinationofconsciousawarenessofthestrategicreadingprocessesandtheactualuseofreadingstrategiesthatdistinguishestheskilledfromunskilledreaders.Studiesshowthatunsuccessfulstudentslackthisstrategicawarenessandmonitoringofthecomprehensionprocess(Garcia,Jimenez,&Pearson,1998).
ResearchaddressingmetacognitiveawarenessanduseofreadingstrategiesbyfirstandsecondlanguagereadersofEnglishhasshownthatimportantreadingstrategieswhichdealwithplanning,controlling,andevaluatingone'sunderstanding(e.g.,settingpurposeforrea