The Effect Of Metacognitive Instruction On Learners' Expository Reading Proficiency And Metacognitive Strategy Awareness

Reading is an essential and important skill for English as foreign language students.At the present, most studies on strategy training support that there is a positive correlation between strategy training and reading proficiency, while some argue against the claim. The present study partially duplicates the metacognitive reading strategy training carried out by Nebila (2003). The study combines strategy training with the metatextual features of expository. Subjects are divided into three groups according to their different reading proficiency. The current study explores answers to the following questions: 1) Does metacognitive strategy training improve the subjects'procedural knowledge? 2) Does metacognitive strategy training improve the subjects'declarative knowledge? 3) After the training, what is the gain of declarative and procedural knowledge for three-level readers (high-level, intermediate-level and lower-level readers) in the experimental class?All the subjects in the current study are Grade two non-English majors in the Chongqing College of Sciences and Arts with total numbers of 87. The training has lasted for 10 weeks. There are a pretest and posttest of reading comprehension, a twice-used questionnaire and one written report included in the study. Data collection and analysis are implemented by SPSS (Version 11.5). The conclusions of the survey are described as the following. First, the reading scores, reading speed and the usage of strategies in the experimental class, compared with those of the controlled class, are significantly improved. Second, the reading scores and strategy awareness among the high level subjects don't enhance significantly, but their reading speed improved significantly. Third, the intermediate level subjects benefit most from the training indicated by their significant enhancement in reading scores, timings, and strategy awareness. Fourth, the lower level improves significantly only in their declarative knowledge of strategies. Fifth, the treatment increases the subjects'awareness of the text environment according to qualitative analysis of written reports from subjects in the experimental class.