Abstract
Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies measures how readers of a text engage with it and think about their own reading processes. This paper presents the findings of a descriptive study on the metacognitive awareness of reading strategy use on the undergraduate students of Lahore, Pakistan. The study makes use of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), which is a self-report instrument, and has 30 items on a 5-point Likert scale; it was administered to 500 public and private sector universities students. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed for analysis through the use of SPSS, version 22. The results reported that problem-solving and support strategies are equally preferred over global strategies. Results of the t-test revealed that students from the public sector demonstrate greater strategy awareness than those from the private sector in all the subscales of MARSI, while no overall significant difference between Humanities and Sciences was found.
Key Words
Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), Non-Native Speakers of English, Reading Strategies, T-Test, Undergraduate Students.
Introduction
Reading is among the fundamental skills required to function as a 21st-century citizen. A skilled reader employs and is aware of many diverse strategies for reading text and materials in different formats and mediums (Duke & Pearson, 2002; Pearce, 2018). Among these strategies, metacognitive awareness is as important as the reader’s cognitive, self-regulation and motivational processes (Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Alexander & Jetton, 2000; Pressley, 2000; Pearce, 2018; Smith-Keita, 2018). If appropriate strategies are not used effectively by the readers, reading productivity and efficiency may be affected, especially for university students, as they have to constantly engage with and read diverse texts for their education. This paper reports the findings of research conducted on undergraduate students of two universities in Lahore, Pakistan. This study focused on the metacognitive strategies of reading strategies (MARS) which were used when reading and engaging with academic texts, materials and books. This area is significant as it provides insights into the reading processes of learners involved in reading in varying chunks of time and for various purposes. Improving the use of one’s metacognitive strategies can contribute to increasing reading efficiency and motivation.
Reading and the Role of Metacognition
Metacognition is the capability of an individual to think about their thinking processes (Flavell, 1979). Pearce (2018) explains metacognitive strategies as those which guide the person when to use which strategy in order to perform or complete a task, such as reading; this includes analyzing the potential and effectiveness of a particular strategy, based on which it is selected for future use. In the same vein, Hertzog, C., & Dunlosky, J. (2011) have proposed that metacognitive monitoring entails how a person evaluates a particular cognitive process or activity while doing something (like reading); similarly, metacognitive control is how that person regulates a cognitive activity as it happens (Hertzog, & Dunlosky, 2011).
This is especially interesting and pertinent to readers (including undergraduate readers) because learners need metacognitive monitoring and control when they academic texts and materials for a specific purpose within the given time. Although metacognitive reading strategies awareness and use may not be the only contributing factors that enhance reading ability and performance (Meniado, 2016), it is still of considerable importance for intermediate-level readers. Research by Mokhtari (2017) has shown the many benefits of using metacognition and its related strategies to improve reading comprehension, while other studies have highlighted how it increases motivation to read (Becker, McElvany & Kortenbruck, 2010). Koli?-Vehovec, Zubkovi? and Pahljina-Reini? assert that metacognitive awareness leads to the development of positive reading attitudes in learners at all levels, leading to the use of reading as a recreational activity (2014).
Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI)
Mokhtari and Reichard (2002, p.2) developed the Metacognitive
Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI). It is a well-established
self-report instrument to gauge how often, or not, do readers use different
strategies when reading texts, books, notes or journals. The inventory is a
valuable instrument to assess whether the readers are metacognitively aware of
their own strategy use, and how these strategies affect their reading.
Mokhtari & Reichard
(2002) assert that English teachers can use this instrument for “assessing,
monitoring, and documenting the type and number of reading strategies used by
students…(and) monitoring students’ progress in becoming constructively
responsive readers” (p. 255). Although it is considered valid and reliable, the
self-report nature of the instrument makes it necessary to factor in
participant subjectivity (Greene, 2015; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002).
The Likert-scale
instrument has 30 items and usually takes 10 minutes to execute (Pearce, 2018);
it has a scale based on five points that range from “I never or almost never do
this” at 1, to “I always or almost always do this” at 5. The items are about the use of the different
strategies of reading such as note-taking, establishing the purpose of reading,
and re-reading etc., and are further distinguished within the subcategories
encompassing “global”, “problem-solving”, and “support strategies”. The
division of items in the categories and the areas of metacognition they cover
are elaborated in Table 1
Table 1. Description
of Subscales of MARSI
Category |
Description |
Example |
Item |
1
|
Techniques to modify and manage
reading intentionally |
Overall preview of the text |
1–12 |
2
|
Techniques focused on solving
problems in understanding texts |
Re-reading; modifying the speed
of reading |
13–19
|
3 |
Supporting reading through
various aids |
Use of dictionaries; notetaking |
20–28 |
Note: 1=Global, 2=Problem Solving,
3=Support. Modified from Mokhtari and Sheorey (cited
in Azhar, Awan & Khalid. 2015)
Reading in Pakistan
Liyanage (2004) has proposed that
English in ESL or EFL contexts, uses teacher-centered and deductive teaching
techniques. Such techniques are usually not conducive to developing
metacognitive awareness and its relevant strategy use while reading. The same
study also highlighted that the overall reading proficiency in Pakistan is low
despite offering instruction for more than ten years. These lead to
difficulties with the demands of the required reading tasks at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. The results of the study (Kazi, 2017) showed
that Pakistani students do not make use of metacognitive and cognitive
strategies, even to the extent that they do not use note making or note-taking.
The most prevalent learning strategies in Pakistan are translation and
repetition, with no attention to identifying the purpose or aim of reading a
text; similarly social affective strategies were less preference in reading.
Research Questions
1. Which metacognitive awareness of reading strategies are used by learners at the undergraduate level in Pakistan?
2. Which demographic variables (public or private sector university; the field of study) influence the students’ metacognitive awareness of reading strategies (MARS) at the undergraduate level in Pakistan?
Research Methodology
The research is descriptive in nature as it investigates undergraduate students’ MARS of print material. It also explores the relationship of various demographic variables on their reading strategy use. Two private and two public sector universities were randomly selected. From these 150 students were randomly selected from different departments of each university, making a total sample size of 500 students. The number of male participants was 191 and females were 309 from two public and two private colleges and universities of Lahore. Data was collected through a survey with the use of the “Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory” (MARSI) created by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002). The instrument contains thirty items that assess “global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, and support strategies” using a five-point scale. The tools were pilot tested, and language was modified for better understanding (words like ‘context cues’ (item 19) and ‘paraphrase’ (item 20) were replaced by ‘taking hints from the text’ and ‘restate/write in other words’ respectively). The reliability analysis of Cronbach Alpha was also conducted for the modified instrument as well as the three subscales. Overall Cronbach Alpha value was .85, whereas values for global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, and support strategies were .71, .64 and .68 respectively. The relatively low values for two of the subscales did not adversely affect the reliability of the instrument, because Kline (as cited by (Field, 2005, p. 668) argues that values below .7 are to be expected when psychological constructs are involved, due to the “diversity of the constructs being measured” (ibid.). The gathered data from the MARSI was analyzed using SPSS, version 22.
Analysis and Discussion of Results
For analysis of data means and
standard deviations were analyzed with respect to demographic variables, which
were public/private sector university and academic field of study. In
inferential statistics t-test was conducted to observe if the undergraduate students’
demographic variables showed a significant influence on their metacognitive
strategies. The researcher decided that high means are considered to be 3.5 to
5.0, medium 2.5 to 3.4 and low means are 2.4 or less, as suggested by the
developers (Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002).
Descriptive Analysis of MARSI
A
look at Table 2 reveals that the highest and lowest preference from all three
strategies, global, support and problem-solving, falls between the medium
ranges (3.4 ? M ?
2.5). Strategies of problem-solving and a single support strategy are the most
preferred in the five highest. The results reveal that participants do not
prefer to use global strategy as these are not reported in
the five most used strategies.
Table 2. Computation of Means and
SD for Strategy items (from highest to lowest mean)
Item
No. |
Type |
M |
D |
30 |
PROB |
3.47 |
1.33 |
8 |
PROB |
3.42 |
1.23 |
5 |
PROB |
3.41 |
1 |
15 |
SUP |
3.41 |
1.27 |
16 |
PROB |
3.38 |
1.28 |
20 |
SUP |
3.33 |
1.31 |
3 |
GLOB |
3.31 |
1.231 |
22 |
GLOB |
3.30 |
1.164 |
25 |
GLOB |
3.29 |
1286 |
18 |
PROB |
3.29 |
1.295 |
9 |
SUP |
3.28 |
1.265 |
19 |
GLOB |
3.27 |
1.297 |
29 |
GLOB |
3.23 |
1.240 |
28 |
SUP |
3.23 |
1.229 |
21 |
PROB |
3.23 |
1.235 |
23 |
GLOB |
3.23 |
1.304 |
12 |
SUP |
3.23 |
1.247 |
17 |
GLOB |
3.22 |
1.269 |
13 |
PROB |
3.22 |
1.226 |
6 |
SUP |
3.21 |
1.174 |
11 |
PROB |
3.20 |
1.250 |
7 |
GLOB |
3.19 |
1.232 |
2 |
SUP |
3.16 |
1.32 |
14 |
GLOB |
3.16 |
1.21 |
10 |
GLOB |
3.10 |
1.26 |
1 |
SUP |
3.09 |
1.24 |
12 |
GLOB |
2.95 |
1.72 |
Table 2 shows that 3 of the
strategies which fall in the medium range but towards the higher end, belong to
problem-solving strategy items. Item (30), “I try to guess the meaning of
unknown words or phrases” (M = 3.47, SD= 1.33), which is most used; item (8),
“I read slowly but carefully to be sure I understand what I am reading” (M =
3.42, SD 1.23), which preferred as the second strategy; and item (5), “When the
text becomes difficult, I read aloud to help me understand what I read” (M = 3.41, SD= 1.27), which ranks third. A
look at the lowest strategies preferred by the participants reveals that global
and support strategies are the least preferred. A global strategy item 12 “I
have a purpose in mind when I read”, is the least used strategy (M= 2.95, SD=
1.72) by the participants. The next least used strategy is a support strategy,
and it was item (1), “When text becomes difficult, I read aloud to help me understand
what I read” (M=3.09, SD= 1.24). The third least used strategy is again global
item (10) stating, “I skim the text first by noting characteristics like length
and organization” (M= 3.10, SD=1.26).
Table 3. Overall Means, Standard
Deviations for Overall MARS
Strategy |
N |
M |
SD |
1 |
500 |
3.22 |
.61 |
2 |
500 |
3.25 |
.61 |
3 |
500 |
3.25 |
.61 |
4 |
500 |
3.26 |
.56 |
Note: 1=Global, 2=Problem
Solving, 3=Support, and 4=Overall Strategies
Table 3 shows that
overall strategy use is in the medium range < 3. It also shows that support
strategies are less preferred and global and problem-solving is relatively more
preferred.
Results of t-test of MARSI by University Sector
A t-test (Independent Samples) was
performed to determine the effects of readers being from public or private
universities on their MARS use. The results showed a significant difference in
preference for all sub-categories of MARS, as below.
Table 4. T-Test for All
Strategies by Public/ Private University Students
|
Public |
|
Private |
|
|
||||
Strategy |
|
|
|
t-Test |
|
||||
N |
M |
SD |
N |
M |
SD |
T |
Sig(2tailed) |
Difference |
|
1 |
250 |
3.30 |
68 |
250 |
3.14 |
68 |
2.87 |
.004* |
Pub > Pvt |
2 |
250 |
3.34 |
66 |
250 |
3.16 |
66 |
3.24 |
.001* |
Pub > Pvt |
3 |
250 |
3.34 |
66 |
250 |
3.16 |
54 |
3.24 |
.001* |
Pub > Pvt |
4 |
250 |
3.35 |
63 |
250 |
3.16 |
46 |
3.89 |
.000* |
Pub > Pvt |
Note: 1=Global, 2=Problem
Solving, 3=Support, and 4=Overall Strategies
Results reveal a
significant statistical difference in preferences in overall use of strategy of
students from university from the public sector (M = 3.35, SD = .63) and
students of private sector university (M = 3.16, SD = .46; t (500) = 3.89, p =
.000, two-tailed). The mean difference = .18, 95% and CI: –.91 to .286 however
was small.
Results of T-Test of MARSI by Academic Field of Study
The t-test showed that
the results when assessed on the basis of Academic Field of Study
(Humanities and Sciences), were not statistically
different with respect to the use of overall strategies according to MARSI.
Table 5. T-Tests for Overall
Strategy Use by Academic Field of Study
Acad Field |
N |
M |
SD |
T |
Sig. |
Humanities |
339 |
3.27 |
.57 |
-.617 |
.538 |
Sciences |
161 |
3.24 |
.54 |
*p
<0.05
Results revealed a significant statistical difference in preferences only
in in global strategy use by Humanities (M = 3.26, SD = .58) and Sciences (M =
3.16, SD = .58; t (500) = -2.12, p = .034, two-tailed). The differences in the
means (mean difference = -.12,
95% CI: –.241 to -.009)
however was small.
Discussion and Conclusion
The focus of the first research question of the study was to investigate the most preferred and least preferred MARS of undergraduate students. The results reported that students' most preferred strategies are problem-solving, as reported in Table 2. This is supported by Yüksel and Yüksel (2012), who reported less use of global and support strategies as compared to problem-solving. This is also supported by Azhar, Awan and Khalid (2015) who found students using Problem Solving Strategies to be proficient readers. Anderson (2002) in his research also highlighted that for second language readers Problem Solving Strategies are the most preferred.
The results from Table 3 show that although Problem Solving and Support Strategies are more preferred as compared to Global Strategies, the overall means for all the strategies are in the medium range. This indicates that metacognitive strategy use for the Pakistani readers is not highly prevalent, which is in contradiction to the results of a study by Yüksel and Yüksel (2012). Their results showed that non-native speakers made high use of strategies as it was crucial to developing comprehension of the material(s).
What is also interesting is that the least used strategy is global in nature, stating that they have a purpose in mind when they read. This points out that students fail to develop a focus before reading and therefore encounter language issues. It is pointed out by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) students focus more on the completion of a task instead of giving attention to the reading strategies. As a consequence their reading practices are weak. They assert that merely having reading strategies knowledge is not a solution, but careful monitoring and application of the correct strategies for reading is essential.
The learners in the study do not exhibit the use of smart strategies, as the fourth highest strategy used by them is “I use reference materials such as dictionaries to help me understand what I read”. Oxford (1993) elaborated that language learners who are not so successful prefer strategies such as using a dictionary for translation, rote learning, and repetition. Research also tells us that high strategy use is not what makes one a successful language learner, but using the appropriate strategies in the right combination does (Oxford, 1993; Oxford & Crookall, 1989).
The current study also explored the effect of background variations such as public or private sector universities and field of study on MARS. The results by Kazi and Iqbal (2011), reported that arts major students from the public sector reported higher strategy use for all the categories of strategies as compared to those from the sciences. In this study as well, humanities have displayed more use of global MARS as compared to the sciences.
In light of the results, it is recommended that students need to be explicitly imparted the use of MARS explicitly. This explicit strategy instruction is asserted in studies by Oxford (1993). In the local context, this view is also endorsed by Azhar, Awan and (2015) and Sheikh, Soomro and Hussain (2019). It is suggested to conduct extensive research in this area utilizing experimental methods to check the effects of reading strategies metacognitive awareness (MARS), and also extensive surveys with more demographic variables for deeper understanding in the Pakistani context.
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Cite this article
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APA : Kazi, A. S., Moghal, S., & Asad, Z. (2020). Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan. Global Social Sciences Review, V(I), 44-51. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-I).05
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CHICAGO : Kazi, Asma Shahid, Shagufta Moghal, and Zoobia Asad. 2020. "Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan." Global Social Sciences Review, V (I): 44-51 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2020(V-I).05
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HARVARD : KAZI, A. S., MOGHAL, S. & ASAD, Z. 2020. Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan. Global Social Sciences Review, V, 44-51.
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MHRA : Kazi, Asma Shahid, Shagufta Moghal, and Zoobia Asad. 2020. "Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan." Global Social Sciences Review, V: 44-51
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MLA : Kazi, Asma Shahid, Shagufta Moghal, and Zoobia Asad. "Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan." Global Social Sciences Review, V.I (2020): 44-51 Print.
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OXFORD : Kazi, Asma Shahid, Moghal, Shagufta, and Asad, Zoobia (2020), "Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan", Global Social Sciences Review, V (I), 44-51
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TURABIAN : Kazi, Asma Shahid, Shagufta Moghal, and Zoobia Asad. "Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies for Academic Materials: A Study of Undergraduate Students in Pakistan." Global Social Sciences Review V, no. I (2020): 44-51. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-I).05