Modeling the relationship between metacognitive strategy awareness, self-regulation and reading proficiency of Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

The research on the effects of metacognitive strategy awareness and self-regulation on second language reading achievements has come to confirmatory conclusions. However, the associations and possible interactions between metacognitive and self-regulatory capacities have been subject of debate. Theoretically, the relationship between the two global skills in affecting learning has ranged from rivaling alternatives to complementary associates. Accordingly, some recent perspectives have delineated the relative potency of the two concepts within models where metacognitive, behavioral, motivational and emotional dimensions of learning interact. This study resorted to structural equation modeling in outlining and testing the causal relationships between three types of metacognitive reading strategies, namely global, problem-solving, and support strategies, and selfregulation in affecting reading proficiency. The data were collected from 311 Iranian undergraduate students majoring in English using Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Questionnaire, Self-Regulation Questionnaire and reading proficiency test. By testing the hypothesized model against several fitness criteria, the causal relationships among the variables were confirmed indicating a positive ABOUT THE AUTHORThis article is the report of an MA thesis project carried out at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University in Iran. Davoud Amini is assistant professor of TEFL at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University. His areas of interest are psychology of second language acquisition and second language skills. He has published books and articles in these areas. Currently, he is the head of the English Department at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University. Mostafa Hosseini Anhari is MA in TEFL. He is interested in second language learning strategies. Abolfazl Ghasemzadeh is associate professor of Educational Administration at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University. His main research interest lies in educational leadership, administration, and human resource development of educational institutions. He has published over 50 journal papers in these areas.

Understanding learners’ metacognitive experiences in learning to write in English as a foreign language: A structural equation modeling approach

“…The factor denoted students' effort allocation concerning lexical and syntactic use, grammar correctness, organization, and task knowledge. This result lends support to some existing studies that L2 learners have clear metacognitive awareness about their learning process, including with their L2 writing (Ruan, 2014;Amini et al, 2020). The results of our study enrich the framework of metacognitive experiences in EFL writing as described by Efklides' (2002a,b) taxonomy of metacognitive experiences.…”

“…In our study, participants reported three subcategories of online task-specific metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring, and evaluating, which have also been reported in previous research on metacognitive strategies in L2 learning (Bai et al, 2014;De Silva and Graham, 2015;Amini et al, 2020;Zhao and Liao, 2021). EFL writers in this study tended to plan before writing and monitor their writing process and evaluate their language use after finishing writing tasks; it is noted that online task-specific metacognitive strategies can also be conscious processes.…”

EFL Students’ Self-Regulated Learning Strategies during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…For instance, the levels of affect regulation and classroom environment regulation to enhance English speaking performances were both high (Alotumi, 2021;Uztosun, 2020). When self-regulated learning strategies increased, there was a positively corresponding increase in reading comrehension skills (Amini et al, 2020;Yaghi (2021), in listening comprehensions skills (Nosratinia et al, 2015;Yang, 2020), and in writing skills as well (Sun & Wang, 2020;Teng & Zhang, 2020). However, the fact that the subcomponent of Debugging strategies gains the highest mean score (M=3.51) is first noted in the present study.…”

“…In the same line, on finding a close relationship between students' self-regulation levels in learning and their academic success by the results of surveying undergraduate students from two universities in Turkey, Tekkol and Demirle (2018) contended that "Learning how to learn is among the fundamental skills of lifelong learning" (p.2). Meanwhile, investigating the relationship between metacognitive strategy awareness, self-regulation, and reading proficiency among Iranian EFL learners, the study by Amini et al (2020) revealed that "participants who had higher scores in self-regulation strategies tended to have higher scores on the reading comprehension" (p.14). Also, Uztosun (2020), surveying 1065 EFL learners via a 20-item scale (of four factors: task value activation, regulation of learning environment, regulation of affect, and regulation of classroom environment), showed that changing both in-class and out-of-class settings is essential for self-regulated learners because it creates more opportunities to practice spoken language.…”

Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of self-assessment and teacher feedback in foreign language teaching in general upper secondary education – A case study in Finland

“…Moreover, SRL is also a vital skill for the workforce (Lord et al, 2010) and a factor of success in foreign language learning (Andrade & Bunker, 2009;Seker, 2016). For example, previous research has shown that SRL strategies contribute to writing proficiency (Sun & Wang, 2020) and reading comprehension (Amini et al, 2020) in foreign language learning. Previous research has indicated that to some extent, teachers enhance SRL (e.g., Ewijk et al, 2013;Perry et al, 2008).…”