The Relationship Between Metacognitive Strategies, Gender, and the Reading Comprehension of Lebanese Sixth Graders

Abstract

Given the fact that English is a global language and that cultivating a good command of the language is essential for academic success, comprehending authentic English texts has become a priority for EFL learners. Hence, there is emphasis on developing EFL learners’ reading abilities.. To overcome various reading difficulties, research has been directed towards exploring the effectiveness of metacognitive reading strategies in increasing learners’ levels of reading comprehension.. Besides, investigating gender differences in the employment of metacognitive reading strategies is also an important concern. To this end, the present study investigated the association between metacognitive reading strategies, gender, and the reading comprehension of a cohort of sixth graders enrolled in a private school in Beirut Lebanon (n = 28). Specifically, the study examined the relationship between six different metacognitive reading strategies and the literal and higher order comprehension of the EFL learners participating in the study (literal, interpretive, critical, and creative). In addition, the study attempted to explore gender differences in the employment of metacognitive reading strategies. An MSI Questionnaire developed by Schmitt (1990) was used to determine students’ knowledge of strategic reading processing. A reading comprehension test is used to assess students’ literal and higher order reading comprehension. Descriptive statistics were computed to examine the frequency use of metacognitive strategies by students. Besides, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed to investigate the relationship between metacognitive strategy use and reading comprehension. In addition, an Independent Sample t-test was used to determine gender differences in metacognitive strategy use. The study results showed that Predicting/Verifying was the strategy most frequently used. As for strategies and reading comprehension, there was a positive correlation between the use of strategies and students’ reading achievement. However, no significant gender differences were found in the employment of metacognitive strategies. The present study findings can help educators and Lebanese EFL teachers determine effective reading strategies that help develop reading comprehension and increase their students’ L2 literacy levels.