| Reading is perhaps the most thoroughly studied and least understood process in education today (Clarke, 1980:203). Researches on ESL reading have repeatedly indicated that reading is not a passive but an active activity. In their interaction with the texts, readers use a variety of strategies to decode and build a mental representation of the input information. It can be said that any attempt to explain reading processes whereby a text is understood, i.e. top-down, bottom-up or interactive theories, entails a profound understanding of the cognitive processes in which reading strategies are represented and adopted in comprehension.This study is an attempt to examine the potential effect of metacognitive strategy use in Chinese college students' reading performance and its relationship with their English proficiency level. Such variables as genders and majors are also considered. Subjects of the study come from Zhejiang University and Shandong University respectively. Two types of questionnaires were administered and interviews were carried out to explore the actual use of metacognitive reading strategies in their reading.Like previous research, greater use of metacognitive strategies is found among more successful learners. However, the present study reveals more complex patterns of use. Students in different ability groups of Shandong University behave differently on the use of metacognitive reading strategies. Good male students at Shandong University tend to adopt more metacognitive reading strategies and perform better in reading comprehension. On the contrary, no significant differences seem to exist in students at Zhejiang University. "Language threshold" is found to be an important variable on metacognitive reading strategy use. Based on the literature review of studies on metacognitive strategic competence and findings of my empirical study, this thesis also discusses approaches to metacognitive reading strategy training in EFL reading instruction.
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