Measuring Moroccan English Department University Students’ (Meta) Cognitive Awareness and Usage of Reading Strategies

Abstract

Grounded in an exploratory research design, the current study is centrally aimed at gauging the Moroccan English department learners’ awareness and use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (RSs). It seeks to determine the extent to which EFL learners are (meta) cognitively conscious of the use of text-based strategies. To put a bright spotlight on this issue and disclose EFL learners’ dynamic potential pertaining to metacognitive strategy knowledge, a sample of sixty-three (63) EFL learners majoring in English Studies (first-semester) were targeted. The obtained data were gathered by means of the retrospective questionnaire (RQ) and the reading comprehension texts (e.g., narrative, expository). The overall findings manifestly show that Moroccan EFL learners’ (meta) cognitive strategy awareness and usage are characterized by insufficiency. Thus, a range of implied suggestions related to the EFL learners’ reading strategy consciousness and use in academic textual reading are put forward and some encountered research limitations are stated.

Exploration of Moroccan EFL University Students’ Retrospective Knowledge of Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategies in Processing Advanced-level Written Discourse in English

“…This can be ascribed to their extensive experience in reading various written texts and their familiarization with some issues and facts that are correlated with the topicality of the assigned texts. Hence, this attested view validates the premise that linking the text content to what one already knows is a precondition for facilitating the comprehension act (Msaddek, 2015). Yet, what can be underscored is that most of the targeted learners were not sufficiently aware of the role of the previously acquired knowledge in textual analysis.…”

“…This is ample evidence that awareness of text 'reinspection', as a robust technique for remedying the perceived comprehension failure, forms a substantial portion of the EFL learners' attentive thinking vis-à -vis the construction of text meaning. Realistically, it can be acclaimed that, although most of the Moroccan EFL university learners, namely at the first-semester level, engage in self-monitoring and rereading, they are not fully conscious of the outstanding steps of the strategic processes of self-monitoring and self-questioning which form the core aspects of metacognition (Msaddek, 2015). They are only aware of the rereading strategy as a gateway to overcoming the difficulties encountered during textual analysis and synthesis.…”

“…This underlying theory is tacitly delineated as a "pluralistic view of cognition" (Solso, 1979, p.369). In effect, information processing can be proactively performed by the learners either in an automatic or controlled manner depending on the easiness or difficulty of the cognitive task (e.g., reading, writing) under study (Msaddek, 2015). This showcases that the critical analysis of the textual content, the reasoned synthesis of the ideologies, and the reasonable processing of viewpoints and formulations stated in the university-level written discourse rest upon the 'attentional' mechanisms and the cognitive/ executive control exercised by the learners for the optimal goal of gaining comprehension.…”

“…Thus, it is deduced that the strategies deployed for analyzing and synthesizing the textual input, as some reading researchers (e.g., Barone & Xu, 2008;Brown, 1981;Garner, 1987;Msaddek, 2015;Vellutino, 2003) affirm, can be grouped into cognitive and metacogntive RSs.…”

“…It is a truism that a vast range of reading materials coped with by the EFL learners at the university level necessitate not only a measurable degree of cognitive sophistication and critical thinking, but also recourse to the working memory mechanisms and the high-order processes for achieving high-level comprehension. As emphasized by some researchers (e.g., Boakye, 2017;Hoeft, 2012;Msaddek, 2015;Msaddek & Boudassamout, 2023;Pintrich & Garcia, 1991;Suyitno, 2017), awareness of efficient higher-order reading strategies (RSs) is part of the key to complying with the criteria of successful university-level reading undertaking. In this regard, given the complexity of understanding the diversified types, the functional role, and the concerted application of (meta) cognitive RSs used for absorbing the authentic textual meaning, the present study tends to target university-level rather than high school-level students on the grounds that university learners exhibit both greater cognitive maturity in learning and more robust readiness to process a variety of cognitively demanding written discourse assigned by professors in many courses throughout the semesters.…”