Background and Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the metacognitive reading strategies used by low and high proficiency Form Three ESL (English as Second Language) students and highlight suitable strategies that can be exposed to the low proficiency students.   Methodology: To serve the purpose of this research, an explanatory sequential mixed method design was used. As for the sampling, purposive sampling was employed in this study. The respondents were drawn from two Form Three classes in the selected secondary school in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia. There were twenty-four boys and thirty-six girls. They were all fifteen years old and represented three main ethnic groups which are Malays, Indians and Chinese. The number of respondents was equally the same for both groups; 30 from the low proficiency group and 30 from the high proficiency group.   Findings: The data gathered in this study revealed that the most popular metacognitive reading strategy among the respondents is self-evaluation. In addition, the most significant difference between the high and low proficiency students is that the latter employed fewer metacognitive reading strategies than the former. Furthermore, through the findings, this research also suggested the metacognitive reading strategies suitable for the low proficiency students; advanced organization, selective attention, self-management, directed attention and monitoring.   Contributions: This research aids the teachers in adapting their instructions and putting extra effort into training students, especially low proficiency students, to use suitable metacognitive reading strategies. Keywords: Low proficiency students, high proficiency students, purposive sampling, metacognitive reading strategies, explanatory sequential mixed method design.   Cite as: Jeevaratnam, J. A., & Stapa, M. (2022). Exploring metacognitive reading strategies used by low and high proficiency form three ESL students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(1), 335-365. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss1pp335-365

Previous studies reported that many low proficiency students have poor comprehension skills. Therefore, this research aims to study the cognitive reading strategies employed by ESL (English as Second Language) students and suggest appropriate cognitive strategies to be utilized by low proficiency students. This research was carried out in one of the secondary schools in Pasir Gudang, Johor. The purposive sample for this study consists of 60 Form 3 students (30 low proficiency and 30 high proficiency). Explanatory sequential mixed method design was used to carry out this research. The data collected via questionnaire, observation and interview for this research is analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse data gained from questionnaire and observation whereas for the interview data, extracts from the interviews were used to corroborate the findings. The findings reveal that the most common cognitive reading strategies employed by both group of students are skimming and translation. This research further highlights the most significant difference in reading strategies between both groups of students, which is, the high proficiency group outperformed the low proficiency group in overall strategy use, demonstrating the most frequent use of the strategies. Most prominently, in this research, the reading strategies that are deemed appropriate for the low proficiency students are highlighted. These strategies include four cognitive strategies; guessing, elaboration, summarizing and prediction.