Effects of Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Training on Achievement in and Motivation for College Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Abstract. The present study aimed to explore the effectiveness of training on both cognitive and metacognitivestrategies of EFL Saudi college students (n = 29) on their achievement in and motivation for English readingcomprehension in an EFL reading class. The study utilized the experimental method of the type “pretest, posttestcontrol group design”. The objective of the training course was improved reading comprehension of texts inEnglish based on Tapestry Reading Comprehension II. The experimental group was taught by the researcher withthe interactive reading processing approach grounded in schema theory by using the interactive reading processingapproach (bottom-up and top-down), which emphasized the process of recalling background knowledge, guessing,prediction, inference, analysis and synthesis, self-evaluation, self-regulation and self-monitoring in Englishreading. Findings indicated that cognitive and metacognitive strategy training through manipulating bottom-up andtop-down processing of reading texts, and schema-activating techniques like word-mapping, inferencing, analysis,synthesis, self-evaluation, self-regulation and self-monitoring has proven effectual for developing reading strategyuse, increasing motivation for reading, and, consequently, reading comprehension.