Using metacognitive strategies in academic reading: A case study on Bangladeshi ESOL learners

Abstract

Students of English language classrooms in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) context often face difficulties in understanding English texts. Research suggests that various metacognitive reading strategies may help students to improve reading comprehension. To date, there has been limited studies on this aspect in an ESOL context such as Bangladesh. Thus, this study explored how a training on metacognitive strategies affect tertiary level students’ reading comprehension. The researcher chose a qualitative, multiple case study approach to conduct the study. In the first phase, the participants were asked to comprehend a text without any training on metacognitive strategies. The second phase consisted of a training on metacognitive strategies of reading while the third phase asked the participants to read a new text utilising the learnt strategies. Finally, the participants shared their views on their experience through a semi-structured interview. The findings revealed that students have improved their ability to comprehend a text after receiving the metacognitive training in terms of timing, fluency and motivation for reading. The study has pedagogical and theoretical implications as well as replicable for any teacher researcher in a similar ESOL context.