a meta-analysis of (quasi)experimental studies on the effect of metacognitiveawareness raising in l2 reading

One of the relatively recent trends in teaching reading in a second language is strategy-based instruction. research on second language readers’ strategies that follows this trend has frequently confirmed that metacognitive awareness-raising is associated with second language reading proficiency. experimental research on this topic, however, presents mixed results, making it difficult to decide whether metacognitive awareness-raising is really worth the effort. the purpose of this meta-analysis was to review and statistically summarize the results of research published between 1981 and 2020 that explored the effect of metacognitive awareness on second language reading. more specifically, the study aimed to calculate the average effect size for the target variable. a second aim was to explore possible differences between the average effect reported for iranian and non-iranian learners. the research design was meta-analytic following the systematic search, review, screening, and coding of refereed research reported in indexed journals. search in the related literature and the initial screening revealed that 50 studies had explored the effects of metacognitive strategies. careful inclusion criteria finally rendered 21 studies for merging in the meta-analysis. statistics for calculation through an effect size calculator were extracted where effect size was missing. the results showed that based on the average fixed effect size, metacognitive awareness significantly affected second language reading and that the effect was not significantly different for the iranian efl learners. implications for efl strategy-based reading instruction were presented.

A Meta-Analysis of (Quasi)Experimental Studies on the Effect of MetacognitiveAwareness Raising in L2 Reading

One of the relatively recent trends in teaching reading in a second language is strategy-based instruction. Research on second language readers’ strategies that follows this trend has frequently confirmed that metacognitive awareness-raising is associated with second language reading proficiency. Experimental research on this topic, however, presents mixed results, making it difficult to decide whether metacognitive awareness-raising is really worth the effort. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to review and statistically summarize the results of research published between 1981 and 2020 that explored the effect of metacognitive awareness on second language reading. More specifically, the study aimed to calculate the average effect size for the target variable. A second aim was to explore possible differences between the average effect reported for Iranian and non-Iranian learners. The research design was meta-analytic following the systematic search, review, screening, and coding of refereed research reported in indexed journals. Search in the related literature and the initial screening revealed that 50 studies had explored the effects of metacognitive strategies. Careful inclusion criteria finally rendered 21 studies for merging in the meta-analysis. Statistics for calculation through an effect size calculator were extracted where effect size was missing. The results showed that based on the average fixed effect size, metacognitive awareness significantly affected second language reading and that the effect was not significantly different for the Iranian EFL learners. Implications for EFL strategy-based reading instruction were presented.