A Closer Look at Gender and Strategy Use in L2 Reading

Abstract

This study examines gender differences in cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in the context of an English as a foreign language reading comprehension test. Three hundred eighty‐four Thai university students took a multiple‐choice reading comprehension test, then completed a questionnaire on their strategy use. Gender differences were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Males and females did not differ in their reading comprehension performance and their use of cognitive strategies. Unexpectedly, males reported significantly higher use of metacognitive strategies than females. Within the same achievement groups (highly successful, moderately successful, and unsuccessful), however, there were no gender differences in either reading performance or use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The article discusses the implications for future gender‐based research.

A Comparison of Perceived Use of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies by Iranian Master of Science Students for Hypertext and Printed Academic Materials

“…This result is also consistent with the recent researches on gender and reading strategies (Phakiti, 2003;Poole, 2005).…”

Post-adjunct Reading Comprehension Questions and Meaning Construction: A Case of Gender Study

“…Genderrelated characteristics of the texts have been confirmed to account for the superiority or inferiority of one sex to the other in some of these studies (e.g. Scott, 1986;Bügel & Buunk, 1996;Brantmeier, 2003;Phakiti, 2003& Pae, 2004. The contribution of text type and topic to such gender-related studies can be viewed psychologically and culturally.…”

Vol. 2, No. 3, September 2009

“…Zimmerman and Martinez-pons (1990) discovered that girls used metacognitive strategies, such as goal-setting, planning, keeping records, and monitoring, more than boys. In contrast, Phakiti (2003) established that male university students in Thailand reported significantly higher use of metacognitive strategies than females. Furthermore, Kaylani (1996) asserted out that girls were different from boys in strategy use not because of gender variable only, but because of gender in relation to language proficiency.…”