A Study Of Metacognition In Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

Based on the study of the relevant literature home and abroad and associated with the interview research done by the authors, the paper discusses the connotation of metacognition which plays an important role in English reading, and the relationship between comprehensive level of English reading and metacognitive ability. The conclusion is that metacognitive knowledge is a way to help the learners become autonomous learners, promote their motivation, increase their responsibility, highlight the efficiency of metacognitive strategies and distinguish the good readers from the poor readers. Finally some expositions are made to the teachers in teaching English reading as to how to foster the metacognition ability of the students.Metacognition is one of the latest buzz words in educational psychology. A common definition is"thinking about thinking"or"cognition about cognition".Though the notion of learners thinking about their own thinking dates back to at least Plato and Aristotle .Yet, as a term for the concept of thinking about or controlling one's own thinking and learning processes was not introduced until 1976 by Flavell .But people stated the role of thinking in study from a sentimental point of view then, they could not analyze or probe it individually. So it is indispensable to discuss the problems in foreign language reading comprehension from the angle of metacognition.There are many reasons that accounted for students'reading deficiency and less interest in English class. Some students did not feel interested in reading English. They did not realize the importance of learning English. Some students'vocabulary was so limited that they could hardly understand what they read. They were not armed with English reading skills. They could not raise their English reading speed. Some students are lack of reading strategies and the last one is that most students have some bad reading habits, such as pointing at the words with their fingers or pens when they were reading or read aloud when they were doing reading exercises. All influence their reading comprehension. In fact, the humanistic psychologist believes that psychology should study the whole person and affective factors should be centered in foreign language reading. learning atmosphere is very important. If a child has to read aloud in the class, or his reading gets the other's scorn, or his marks show that he's a failure, he will seldom make any progress in improving his reading ability at school. But, if this sense of failure can be eliminated in a mutual understanding and mutual supporting atmosphere, in which there are no evaluation, as a result, his/her reading ability will get improved for lack of anxiety. Learners'reading ability can be improved in a relaxed atmosphere is acceptable. No doubt, the learners'motivation, confidence and interest will affect their reading proficiency.The metacognition–based reading method pays specific attention to the teachers'role. They are detectives, demonstrators and counselors. Gradually, the teachers'role as scaffolds should be let down; the learners should become the masters of their own learning, they should know how to solve the problems in their reading process, and those problems include reading method, as well as language points. The teachers should call on the learners to help each other. Peer learning is a good way in reading comprehension because learners'thinking styles will be more similar with their peers than with their teachers.Of course, the ways to increase learners'metacognition are more than these, which need the teachers to look for and reflect their own reading experiences and communicate with the others to find the best way of reading instruction. All in all, metacognition is important in foreign language reading. How to enlarge learners'metacognition in foreign language teaching is always a big topic for all the teachers of English.