Learners' Met Cognitive Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension: Insights From A Vietnamese Context

Vol. 1 No. 1

Year: 2011

Issue: January-March

Title: Learners' Met Cognitive Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension: Insights From A Vietnamese Context 

Author Name: Ms. Thao M.T. Nguyen Nguyen, Dr. Lap Q. Trinh 

Synopsis: 

The effects of meta-cognitive strategy use on learning reading comprehension have gained much interest of researchers and educators (Chumpavan, 2000; Shmais, 2002; Phakiti, 2003; Aegpongpaow 2008; Subasi, 2009; Zhang and Wu, 2009). Available literature indicated a positive correlation between learners' meta-cognitive strategy use and their achievement in reading comprehension. This paper reports results of an investigation into which meta-cognitive reading strategies used by Vietnamese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and the interaction between learners' meta-cognitive strategy use and their reading achievement. The paper also focuses on problems hindering learners' use of meta-cognitive strategies. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. Data was collected from questionnaires, reading comprehension tests and interviews. Eighty-four students at grade 11 of an upper secondary school in a remote area of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam participated in this study. Results showed that participants used problem-solving strategies most often and support strategies, least often. The study found a rather strong interaction between participants' use of these strategies and their achievement in reading comprehension. Problems hindering participants' use of meta-cognitive strategies in their reading are also reported in this study.