Undergraduate Students’ Use of Metacognitive Strategies While Reading and the Relationship Between Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension Skills

Abstract

Background: Lately in national and international reports, there has been an increasing interest on the significance of the development of reading skills. Countries are facing the problem of a decrease in reading habits (Niemann, 2016; Iyengar, 2007). Method: This study examines the perceived use of metacognitive strategies among undergraduate students during reading, which encompasses the use of metacognitive strategies before, during and after reading. The sample group comprised 236 students at Primary Education (PE) and Social Studies Teaching (SST), Language & Literature (LL) and Sociology departments during 2014–2015 academic year. The data were collected using the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and reading comprehension achievement tests (informative and narrative). Results: Overall strategy use among the sample group was “high”. Whether there was a significant difference among students’ perceived use of strategies in reading based on gender, grade, faculty and department was investigated. The results indicated a significant difference based on gender and grade level. Finally, it was found that as the reading comprehension increased in narrative texts, so did the strategy use in overall scale as well as in Global Reading Strategies and Problem Solving Strategies sub-scales. Conclusion: The findings indicated gender differences in the use of reading strategies. It can be suggested that students be provided with reading strategies training that considers the gender differences in the use of metacognitive strategies in reading. In addition, based on the grade difference between freshmen and senior students, in favor of senior students and arising from including strategy use training in the curriculum, reading and learning strategies training could be provided for students during undergraduate education.

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