An Empirical Study On The Effects Of Metacognitive Strategy Training On English Reading Of Non-English Majors

Reading plays an important role in the four basic language skills of English and has a direct impact on learners' overall English level.Therefore,how to improve learners' English reading proficiency has long been a common concern of researchers and English teachers.Foreign scholars have carried out a large number of experimental studies on metacognitive strategy training combined with English reading skills.The results showed that learners could improve their English reading ability by mastering metacognitive strategies.However,most of the researches on metacognitive strategy training in China focuse on the teaching field of junior and senior high schools,and the researches on higher vocational students need to be further developed.In order to explore the effects of metacognitive strategies on non-English majors' English reading proficiency,the research was conducted.Three questions were discussed in this research:1.What is the general situation of the application of metacognitive strategies in English reading for non-English majors?2.Can the training of metacognitive strategy effectively enhance non-English majors' using frequency of metacognitive strategies in English reading?3.Does metacognitive strategy training play a positive role in improving students' English reading proficiency?A total of 135 students from two parallel classes of nursing major were selected as subjects.One class was randomly selected as the experimental class(EC)and the other as the control class(CC).Students in the experimental class received metacognitive strategy training,while the control class received traditional reading training methods.The experiment lasted for 16 weeks.Data were collected through questionnaires,pre-test,post-test and interviews.All data were analyzed by software SPSS 24.0.According to the results of data analyses,conclusions can be drawn as follows:1.The overall using frequency of metacognitive strategies in English reading by non-English majors is at a “medium” level.Selective attention is the most frequently employed strategies and planning is the least frequently adopted one among four categories of meta-cognitive strategies.2.Through metacognitive strategy training,the using frequency of metacognitive strategies in the experimental class has been increased.3.The experimental class improved metacognitive strategy awareness and its using frequency through metacognitive strategy training,and its reading proficiency was significantly improved compared with the control class.Therefore,metacognitive strategy training can improve students' reading proficiency.This study further confirms the important role of metacognitive strategies in English reading.Therefore,English teachers should pay attention to cultivating students' awareness of metacognitive strategies,and combined with effective reading teaching methods to improve students' English reading proficiency.