cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in reading: the case of iranian efl students’ test performance

Individual characteristics and differences, namely strategyuse behavior have been gaining much attention among researchers due to influences that they may have on test takers rsquo; performance on reading tests. from a language testing perspective, however, further experimental studies are needed in this regard. this study investigated the relationship between testtakers rsquo; strategyuse behavior and their reading test performance. five hundred and twenty iranian english as a foreign language (efl) learners (both male and female) participated in this study. they were assigned to high and the lowreading ability groups based on their scores on a teachermade reading comprehension test. they were also required to sit for a teachermade toeflbased reading comprehension test and answer the adapted version of phakiti rsquo;s (2008) cognitive and metacognitive strategy questionnaire with 30 items immediately after the test. the reliability of both instruments was approved through cronbach alpha and the validity was assured through content and construct evidences of validity. confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) on the questionnaire indicated that three factors were identified as cognitive (comprehension, retrieval, memory) and three as metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, evaluation) for both ability groups. moreover, structural equation modeling (sem) analysis showed that metacognitive strategies had a regulating function on cognitive strategies in both groups. furthermore, the results showed that in the high ability group comprehension (com) and memory (mem) strategies and in the lowability group, retrieval (ret) strategies were the best predictors of reading test performance. finally, some implications and suggestions for further research are presented.

Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Use in Reading: The Case of Iranian EFL Students’ Test Performance

Individual characteristics and differences, namely strategyuse behavior have been gaining much attention among researchers due to influences that they may have on test takers rsquo; performance on reading tests. From a language testing perspective, however, further experimental studies are needed in this regard. This study investigated the relationship between testtakers rsquo; strategyuse behavior and their reading test performance. Five hundred and twenty Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners (both male and female) participated in this study. They were assigned to high and the lowreading ability groups based on their scores on a teachermade reading comprehension test. They were also required to sit for a teachermade TOEFLbased reading comprehension test and answer the adapted version of Phakiti rsquo;s (2008) Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Questionnaire with 30 items immediately after the test. The reliability of both instruments was approved through Cronbach alpha and the validity was assured through content and construct evidences of validity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the questionnaire indicated that three factors were identified as cognitive (comprehension, retrieval, memory) and three as metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, evaluation) for both ability groups. Moreover, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis showed that metacognitive strategies had a regulating function on cognitive strategies in both groups. Furthermore, the results showed that in the high ability group Comprehension (COM) and Memory (MEM) strategies and in the lowability group, Retrieval (RET) strategies were the best predictors of reading test performance. Finally, some implications and suggestions for further research are presented.