Utilizing metacognitive awaress of reading strategies to overcome reading comprehension problems among EFL learners at Nguyen Tat Thanh University

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

PHAN NGOC HUY

UTILIZING METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS OF

READING STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME READING

COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS AMONG EFL

LEARNERS AT NGUYEN TAT THANH UNIVERSITY

MASTER OF ART IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2019

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Utilizing Metacognitive Awareness of Reading

Strategies to Overcome Reading Comprehension Problems among EFL Learners at

Nguyen Tat Thanh University” is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains material

published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have

qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text

of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other

tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2019

PHAN NGOC HUY

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Master of Arts in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people

who have kindly contributed with an enormous commitment and enthusiasm in my

research. Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways,

it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A. thesis.

First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr. NGUYEN DINH THU, from Ho

Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, whose compassion,

encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion of this

thesis. I have truly learned from the excellence of his skills and from his wide experience

in research; no words are adequate to describe the extent of my gratitude.

I am also sincerely grateful to all lecturers of the Open University in Ho Chi Minh City for

providing me with invaluable sources of intellectual knowledge during my study there.

This knowledge was very useful when I conducted this research.

Besides, a big thank you goes to my family for their financial and spirit support during my

thesis completion process.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the anonymous participants who contributed data to this

thesis. Without them the data collection for this study could not properly been carried out.

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ABSTRACT

Reading is a complex information processing skill in which the readers interact with the

text in order to create meaning discourse; therefore, most Vietnamese EFL students can

hardly avoid reading comprehension problems. In addition, metacognitive strategies have

been proved as a potential way to heighten EFL readers’ meaning construction, reading

comprehension and help them to avoid reading problems. Hence, the prominent purpose of

the present research was to discover the university learners’ reading problems, along with

their perceptions and actual utilization of metacognitive reading strategies during their

reading process.

To achieve this purpose, a body of literature on reading comprehension, reading problems

and metacognitive strategies were reviewed in the theory chapter to shape the theoretical

framework of the study.

Based on this conceptual framework, the study was conducted at the Nguyen Tat Thanh

University with the sample of 78 EFL fourth-years. Data were collected through three

instruments of a 48-item questionnaire, a reading comprehension test and an interview.

Quantitative results from the questionnaire and the test were analyzed by SPSS 20.0 while

qualitative results from the interview were thematically analyzed.

The findings of the study indicated that most of the target sample often encountered reading

problems apropos of linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, motivation and reading

strategy use. In addition, although most of them agreed on the great merits of metacognitive

reading strategies, which would help them self-plan, self-monitor and self-evaluate their

reading process, their actual use frequency of these strategies was at a low level. Moreover,

problem-solving strategies were remarkably utilized among the EFL learners rather than

other groups including global strategies and supporting strategies.

Based on the research findings, the paper concluded with some pedagogical implications

and a recommendation for further study in the line of research on metacognitive reading

strategies to tackle reading breakdowns and improve reading comprehension.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF CHARTS, FIGURES x

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. Educational and Social-cultural Background of the Study 1

1.2. Rationale for the Study 2

1.3. Problem Statement 4

1.4. Research Objectives 6

1.5. Research Questions 6

1.6. Structure of the Thesis 7

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1. Background of Reading Comprehension 9

2.1.1. Definitions of Reading Comprehension 9

2.1.2. Reading Comprehension Models 9

2.1.2.1. Bottom-up Model 10

2.1.2.2. Top-down Model 11

2.1.2.3. Interactive Model 12

2.1.3. Reading Comprehension Problems 13

2.1.3.1. Language Knowledge-related Problems 13

2.1.3.2. Background Knowledge-related Problems 14

2.1.3.3. Reading Strategy-related Problems 15

2.1.3.4. Reading Motivation-related Problems 15

2.2. Background of Metacognitive Reading Strategies 16

2.2.1. Reading Strategies 16

2.2.1.1. Definitions of Reading Strategies 16

2.2.1.2. Classifications of Reading Strategies 18

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2.2.2. Metacognitive Reading Strategies 18

2.2.2.1. Metacognitive Awareness or Metacognition 18

2.2.2.2. Definition of Metacognitive Reading Strategies 19

2.2.2.3. Types of Metacognitive Reading Strategies 20

2.2.3. Knowledge Source Necessitating Metacognitive Awareness in Strategic

Reading

23

2.2.3.1. Declarative Knowledge 23

2.2.3.2. Procedural Knowledge 24

2.2.3.3. Conditional Knowledge 24

2.2.4. Metacognition in EFL Reading Strategies among Skilled and Unskilled Readers 25

2.3. Previous Studies 26

2.3.1. Outside Vietnamese Context 26

2.3.2. Inside Vietnamese Context 27

2.3.3. Research Gaps 28

2.4. Chapter Summary 33

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 34

3.1. Overall Approach 34

3.1.1. Case Study 34

3.1.2. Mixed Methods Design 35

3.1.3. Research Sampling Technique 36

3.1.3.1. Phase 1: The Sample of Questionnaire Piloting 36

3.1.3.2. Phase 2: The Sample of Questionnaire and Test Main Study 37

3.1.3.3. Phase 3: The Sample of Interview Involvement 37

3.2. Research Context and Participants 37

3.2.1. Research Context 37

3.2.2. Overview of the EFL Curriculum of the Current Research Context 38

3.2.3. Research Participants 40

3.3. Data Collection Instruments 41

3.3.1. Questionnaire 42

3.3.1.1. Rationale for Questionnaire 42

3.3.1.2. Description of the Questionnaire (See Appendices A.1, A.2) 43

3.3.1.3. Piloting the Questionnaire 45

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3.3.1.4. Collecting Data from the Questionnaire 46

3.3.2. Reading Comprehension Test 46

3.3.2.1. Rationale for Test 46

3.3.2.2. Selecting and Piloting the Test 47

3.3.2.3. Description of the Utilized Test (See Appendix B) 48

3.3.2.4. Collecting Data from the Test 48

3.3.3. Interview 49

3.3.3.1. Rationale for Interview 49

3.3.3.2. Justifying the Interview 49

3.3.3.3. Description of the Final Version of Interview (See Appendices C.1 and

C.2)

50

3.3.3.4. Collecting Data from the Interview 51

3.4. Analytical Framework 52

3.4.1. Descriptive Analysis of the Questionnaire 52

3.4.2. Statistical Analysis of the Test 53

3.4.3. Thematic Analysis of the Interview 53

3.5. Methodological Issues 54

3.5.1. Reliability and Validity 54

3.5.1.1. For the Questionnaire 54

3.5.1.2. For the Reading Comprehension Test 55

3.5.1.3. For the Interview 55

3.5.2. Ethical Considerations 55

3.5.2.1. Consent Form 55

3.5.3.2. Anonymity and Confidentiality 56

3.5.3. Triangulation of the Study 56

3.6. Chapter Summary 56

Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 57

4.1. Data Analysis 57

4.1.1. Data Analysis of the Questionnaire 57

4.1.1.1. Reliability Value (Cronbach’s Alpha) 57

4.1.1.2. Theme 1: Students’ Reading Problems 58

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4.1.1.3. Theme 2: Students’ Perceptions on the Benefits and Challenges of

Utilizing Metacognitive Reading Strategies

61

4.1.1.4. Theme 3: Students’ Actual Practice on Using Metacognitive Reading

Strategies

63

4.1.2. Data Analysis of the Test 71

4.1.3. Data Analysis of the Interview 73

4.1.3.1. The Interviewees’ Reading Comprehension Problems 73

4.1.3.2. The Interviewees’ Perception on Using Metacognitive Reading

Strategies

80

4.1.3.3. The Interviewees’ Actual Utilization of Metacognitive Reading Strategies 84

4.2. Discussion 88

4.2.1. Research Question 1 88

4.2.2. Research Question 2 91

4.2.3. Research Question 3 93

4.3. Chapter Summary 95

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 96

5.1. Conclusion 96

5.2. Implications 98

5.2.1. For the Learners 98

5.2.2. For the Teachers 99

5.3. Limitations 100

5.4. Recommendations for Further Study 100

5.5. Chapter Summary 101

REFERENCES 102

APPENDIX A.1: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 110

APPENDIX A.2: QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 114

APPENDIX A.3: SURVEY OF READING STRATEGY (ORIGINAL VERSION) 118

APPENDIX B: READING COMPREHENSION TEST SAMPLE 119

APPENDIX C.1: INTERVIEW PROMPTS (ENGLISH VERSION) 128

APPENDIX C.2: INTERVIEW PROMPTS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 129

APPENDIX D.1: CONSENT FORM FOR DEAN 130

APPENDIX D.2: CONSENT FORM FOR STUDENT PARTICIPANTS 131

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APPENDIX E.1: TRANSCRIPT SAMPLE (ENGLISH VERSION) 132

APPENDIX E.2: TRANSCRIPT SAMPLE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 134

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 A Recap of Reading Strategy Definitions 16

Table 2.2a A Periodic Classification of Metacognitive Strategy Groups 21

Table 2.2b A Functional Classification of Metacognitive Strategy Groups 22

Table 2.2c A Nature-driven Classification of Metacognitive Strategy Groups 23

Table 2.3 A Recap of Previous Studies 29

Table 3.1a General Learning Outcomes of the EFL Curriculum 39

Table

3.1b

Specific Learning Outcomes of the EFL Curriculum 39

Table 3.2 Demographic Information of the Participants (N=78) 41

Table 3.3 The Links between Research Questions and Research Instruments 42

Table 3.4 Description of the Questionnaire Content 44

Table 3.5 Reliability of the Piloted Questionnaire 45

Table 3.6 Description of the Test Structure 48

Table 3.7 Description of the Interview Content 50

Table 3.8 Description of the Interview Sessions 51

Table 3.9 IELTS Reading Marking Scheme (Academic) 53

Table 4.1 Reliability of the Student Questionnaire for Total Items (Items 1-48) 58

Table 4.2 The Participants’ Reading Comprehension Problems 58

Table 4.3 Students’ Perceptions on the Benefits and Challenges of Utilizing

Metacognitive Reading Strategies

61

Table 4.4 Students’ Use of Global Group of Reading Strategies 64

Table 4.5 Students’ Use of Problem-solving Group of Reading Strategies 66

Table 4.6 Students’ Use of Support Group of Reading Strategies 68

Table 4.7 Students’ Overall Use of Reading Strategies 70

Table 4.8 The Mean Value of the Test Scores 71

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Table 4.9a The Interviewees’ Linguistic-related Problems 74

Table

4.9b

The Interviewees’ Background Knowledge-related Problems 76

Table 4.9c The Interviewees’ Motivation-related Problems 77

Table

4.9d

The Interviewees’ Reading Strategy-related Problems 78

Table 4.10 The Interviewees’ Perceptions on Utilizing Metacognitive Reading Strategies 81

Table 4.11 The Interviewees’ Actual Utilization of Metacognitive Reading Strategies 85

x

LIST OF CHARTS, FIGURES

Page

Figure

3.1

The Research Procedure 36

Chart 4.1 The Reading Test Score Distribution 72

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Educational and Social-cultural Background of the Study

Since the 1986 Open Door policy that stimulated foreign investment, socio￾economic refinements have enhanced the teaching and learning of English throughout the

whole country. Therefrom, English has been approved as a compulsory subject in the

authorized curricula from secondary schools to universities, and recently from the three

primary grades 3, 4 and 5. Aside from being a mandatory subject at educational sites,

Vietnamese students learn English for a specific purpose such as tourism, banking, or

business. In general, English has become the most influent foreign language in the context

of the open door policy (Hoang, 2013).

One of the most important decisions in the teaching and learning of English was

Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTg on the national educational three-stage plan for “Teaching and

Learning Foreign Languages in the National Educational System, Period 2008-2020” dated

September 30, 2008 (Duong, 2015). The first stage (2008-2010) aspires to developing a

ten-year foreign language curriculum, composing a foreign language textbook series, and

drawing up for piloting the curriculum from the third grade to higher education; while the

second stage (2011-2015) emphasizes the application of the ten-year foreign language

curriculum into the educational system throughout the country; and the objective of the

third stage (2016-2020) is to make modifications to the ten-year foreign language

curriculum and to develop profound programs for vocational schools, colleges, and

universities. Thus, the ultimate goal of the National Foreign Language Project is for

Vietnamese students to become proficient in the English language by 2020.

In respect of English programs at the Vietnamese tertiary level, Decision No.

36/2004/QĐ-BGD-ĐT promulgates that the inclusive aim is to offer students with

background knowledge, professional skills, and professional behaviors so that they can

work efficiently in specialized areas in which English is means of communication (Duong,

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2015). Therefore, the bachelor’s degree of English-major program in a Vietnamese

university must strictly abide by the framework specified by the Vietnamese Ministry of

Education and Training. The Vietnamese students at this schooling system take all pre￾determined courses in the general knowledge phase before moving to their specialized

phase such as Interpretation and Translation, TESOL, Business, or Literature, etc.

1.2. Rationale for the Study

Since printed language has been remarkably developed in recent decades, reading

seems to become more and more indispensable in modern life (Kasim & Raisha, 2017).

People spend more time on reading activities for various purposes in different ways. For

example, people read newspapers, magazines, advertisements and so on to get the

information necessary for their daily work and life. In professional environments, people

are also asked to engage in intensive reading activities related to their daily work. Similarly,

in the academic environment like English as a Foreign Language (EFL) / English as a

Second Language (ESL) community, reading is one of the most popular and regularly

mandatory activities that language students must do constantly to satisfy their academic

demands. Literally, specific to language learning contexts, reading is a fundamental skill

that can improve students’ vocabulary and structures, speaking and writing (Do & Nguyen,

2014).

However, reading comprehension is still one of the most controversial topics in EFL

reading classrooms these days since it has been extensively set in various ways by

numerous theorists. It is viewed as a complicated process in which a set of skills and sub￾skills are employed (Cain, Oakhill & Bryant, 2004), to understand what is read, which is

the terminal goal of any kind of reading (Carnine, Silbert, Kame’enui, & Tarver, 2009). In

this sense, the desire of any EFL readers is to comprehend the texts intensively.

Particularly, during university education, the necessity of reading and understanding the

text including a multiple of concepts in different fields of study increases the necessity of

comprehension (Solmaz, 2015). In fact, however, many EFL readers are still struggling to

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gain mastery over their reading comprehension problems (Kasim & Raisha, 2017). A

variety of possible problems in the EFL reading classroom can be specified such as limited

vocabulary range, lexical and syntactic knowledge, inefficient reading skills, etc. (Grabe,

1991; Cabaroglu & Yurdaisik, 2008; Kasim & Raisha, 2017). As a matter of fact, reading

is of complexity due to various obstacles (e.g. background knowledge, language

proficiency, and metacognitive capacity) causing huge influence on the readers’ reading

processes and their comprehension of written texts (Karbalaei, 2010; Ismail & Tawalbeh,

2015; Meniado, 2016). Reading comprehension, for those reasons, is uneasy for many EFL

learners to achieve.

In another way, Yukselir (2014) explicates that reading comprehension is the

product of serpentine linkages among text, setting, the reader’s background knowledge and

reading strategies. Emerged from this author’s definition, reading strategies are of the

factors directly contributing to reading comprehension degree. Unquestionably, different

learners may tackle reading tasks in different ways and some of them seem to achieve better

comprehension (Do & Nguyen, 2014). In theory and practice, pursuing recent researches

in the field of reading strategies is to investigate the most effective techniques or

approaches the EFL readers’ opt for handling the written texts. Many studies have broadly

centralized on EFL readers’ awareness of reading strategies, and strategy training enabling

them more effective reading comprehension. In fact, contemporary researches have

evidently documented that good readers possess the comprehensive metacognitive

awareness of reading strategies, and utilize these tools effectively and reasonably so as to

finish the specific given reading tasks (Ismail & Tawalbeh, 2015). Unfortunately, many

EFL learners, particularly in Vietnamese context, almost suffer from reading

comprehension problems. That being the case, it is crucial for the current researcher to

make an investigation into the use frequency rate of metacognitive reading strategies

among the EFL students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University together with their perceptions

on benefits and challenges of utilizing metacognitive strategies in fortifying their reading

comprehension.