An investigation into the effects of student use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies on students reading performance at lac hong university a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment o

Among those kinds of strategies, metacognitive and cognitive strategies are highly reported to be the ones that have great impacts on students’ performance in their second language learn

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

- -

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF STUDENTS’ USE OF

METACOGNITIVE AND COGNITIVE STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ READING

PERFORMANCE AT LAC HONG UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “An investigation into the effects of students’ use of

metacognitive and cognitive strategies on students’ reading performance at Lac Hong University” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in 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

Hochiminh City, 2016

Ly Tuan Phu

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to start my thesis by thanking all the lecturers at Ho Chi Minh Open University who have worked hard to help me gather required knowledge for conducting this thesis

I am grateful in the first place to Dr Nguyen Ngoc Vu at Ho Chi Minh University of Education for constantly guiding me in the right directions to complete this thesis His profound and comprehensive knowledge in the field has been such a reliable resource to me Without his help, this thesis could not have been finished

I am grateful to Faculty of English Department of Lac Hong University for their willing help I would like to send my special thanks to Ms Lien, Ms Nguyen, Ms Vy, Ms Ha, and Mr Tung for their kind supports

I would like to write down here my appreciation to the two classes, 14AV111 and 14AV112, for their participations in this thesis, which helps me to reach its completion

Thanks, as ever, to my family for their kind support in my long journey

ABSTRACT

Throughout their relative long history, the positive effects of learning strategies have not been completely defined A myriad of research and work was conducted by prominent authors and researchers to construct a full picture of language learning strategy There is a consensus shared by those authors that learning strategies can significantly enhance students’ language performance and competence Another key theme is that different kinds of language learning strategies are likely to yield divergent results on students’ performance Among those kinds of strategies, metacognitive and cognitive strategies are highly reported to be the ones that have great impacts on students’ performance in their second language learning

Given this important reason, the current study aims to throw more light on this relationship in order to boost students’ reading performance at Lac Hong University Designed under the paradigm of a quasi-experimental research with the participation of an experimental and a control group, the current study is aimed to detect the effects of students’ use of two kinds

of strategies, namely metacognitive and cognitive strategies on their reading comprehension The current study also employed a prominent model, the ACT (Adapter Character of Thought) model proposed by Anderson, to shed more light students’ strategy acquisition Findings from the study highlighted that metacognitive and cognitive strategies incorporated into a strategy training course could improve students’ reading performance As for the strategy acquisition, it is concluded that students need more time and practice so that they can use their new strategies automatically at the procedural stage With respect to the effectiveness of the strategy training course, students generated a positive feedback to the course In addition, they made improvements in terms of better reading comprehension, reading speed vocabulary)

Key words: learning strategy, metacognitive and cognitive strategies, ACT, strategy

training course, strategy acquisition, reading performance

Table of Contents

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABBREVIATIONS ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Background information 1

1.3 Definitions of variables and terms 3

1.3.1 Learning strategies 3

1.3.2 Metacognitive and cognitive strategies 4

1.3.3 Cognitive theory 5

1.3.4 Anderson’s ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) Model 5

1.3.5 CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Approach) Model 5

1.4 Statement of purpose 5

1.5 Significance of the study 6

1.6 Research questions 7

1.7 Structure of the thesis 7

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Introduction 8

2.2 Reading 8

2.2.1 L1 and L2 reading 8

2.2.2 Definitions of reading 8

2.2.3 The goals of reading 10

2.3 Factors of reading comprehension 11

2.4 The ways we read 14

2.5 Reading Processes 14

2.5.1 Bottom up and top down process 14

2.6 Previous literature on features of good L2 readers 15

2.7 Language learning strategy instruction and the need of a training course 20

2.8 Metacognitive, cognitive strategies and students’ performance 27

2.9 The role of teachers in strategy training course 30

2.10 Learning strategy 31

2.10.1 Definitions of learning strategy 31

2.10.2 Taxonomies of learning strategies 33

2.11 The intertwined relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies 37

2.12 Factors affect the use of learning strategies 39

2.12.1 Stages of training 41

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 42

3.2 Methods for answering research question 42

3.2.1 Quasi- experimental research 43

3.3 Data collection 43

3.3.1 Participants 43

3.3.2 The strategy training procedure 45

3.3.3 Research site 46

3.3.4 Sources of data 46

3.3.5 Data Analysis 50

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 52

4.2 Analysis of students’ test scores 52

4.2.1 Stage 1: before the treatment 52

4.2.2 Stage 2: after the treatment 54

4.3 Analysis of students’ questionnaires 56

4.3.1 The reliability of students’ questionnaires 56

4.3.3 Findings from students’ questionnaires 73

4.4 Data from interview 74

4.5 Discussions of the findings 83

4.5.1 Introduction 83

4.5.2 Students’ improvements in reading comprehension 83

4.5.3 Students’ process of strategy acquisition 84

4.5.4 Students’ attitudes towards the strategy training course 84

4.5.5 Summary 85

CHAPTER 5 SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 86

5.1 Introduction 86

5.2 Suggestions 86

5.3 Limitations 88

5.4 Recommendations for further study 88

5.5 Summary 89

REFERENCES 90

APPENDICE 98

APPENDIX 1: Pretests for two groups 98

APPENDIX 2: Posttests for two groups 107

APPENDIX 3: Strategy Training Course 116

APPENDIX 4: Questionnaire (English version) 121

APPENDIX 5: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 124

APPENDIX 6: Questions for interviews (Vietnamese version) 127

APPENDIX 7: Questions for interviews (English version) 128 APPENDIX 8: Item- Total Statistics 129

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: The means of pretest score of control and experimental group 53

Table 4.2: The non-parametric t-test of pretest scores 53

Table 4.3 : Description of the posttest scores 54

Table 4.4: The non-parametric t-test of the posttest scores 55

Table 4.5: The non-parametric dependent sample t-test of the experimental group 55

Table 4.6: The non-parametric dependent sample t-test of the experimental group 56

Table 4.7 : Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Comprehending strategies 57

Table 4.8: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Memory strategies 57

Table 4.9: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Retrieval strategies 57

Table 4.10: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Planning strategies 58

Table 4.11: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Monitoring strategies 58

Table 4.12: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for Evaluating strategies 58

Table 4.13: Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for the questionnaire 59

Table 4.14: Result of Comprehending strategy from students’ questionnaires 61

Table 4.15: Result of Memory strategy from students’ questionnaires 63

Table 4.16: Result of Retrieval strategy from students’ questionnaires 65

Table 4.17: Result of Planning strategy from students’ questionnaires 68

Table 4.18: Result of Monitoring strategy from students’ questionnaires 70

Table 4.19: Result of Evaluating strategy from students’ questionnaires 72

Table 4.20: Results of the semi-structure interviews 77

ABBREVIATIONS

L1: mother tongue

L2: second language

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication

CALLA: Cognitive Academic Language Approach

ACT: Adaptive Control of Thought

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the background information of the current study Definitions of variables and terms are also provided A brief review of the history of learning strategies is presented The purposes and significance of the study are also found in this chapter The main research question and its sub-questions are proposed in this chapter

1.2 Background information

During their history, learning strategies have been proved to possess a significant relationship with second language learning Findings from a bulk of research in the field conducted so far highlighted that the use of learning strategies is closely related to higher performance thanks to the effectiveness of those strategies in the four skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and language areas, vocabulary and pronunciation The research implied that students who employ learning strategies at a higher frequency are likely to gain higher performance in their second language learning Thus, it can be tentatively inferred that the high frequency of strategies used by students correlates with students’ performance In addition to the studies of the frequency of strategies used in language classrooms, a number of researchers have investigated the ways “good language learners” successfully employed learning strategies in order to shed more light on the positive effects of learning strategies and draw out “good lessons” to help low performers in second language learning (Flavell, 1979; Griffiths, 2008) Among those lessons, strategy use can be considered as one of the prominent lessons Throughout their long history and development, learning strategies have been defined, redefined, and further expanded by a large number of prominent researchers and experts in the field They have made great attempts to build up concrete classifications and taxonomies of learning strategy In fact, the scientific classifications of learning strategies have been established by experts in the field (Rubin, 1975; Oxford, 1990; Ellis, 1999; Chamot, 2005) Metacognitive and cognitive strategies are found in those researchers’ published books and articles Investigations into the effects of metacognitive and cognitive strategies on students’ reading performance have been carried out by prominent researchers in this theme Findings from the research concur with the research into the effects of learning strategies on second language learning In conclusion, researchers and experts in the field share the consensus on the positive effects of learning strategies on second language learning performance In a similar vein, the relationship between

the use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies and second language reading performance is likely to be significant However, previous studies tend to dissect metacognitive from cognitive strategies and vice versa In contrast, a number of researchers claim that the relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies is not a clear cut Indeed, the relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategy is “complex” and the two types of strategies can be viewed

as “two interactive facets of the same mental process” (Phakiti, 2003, pp 47 - 48) In addition to the complex relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies, the process of how students can transmit the metacognitive and cognitive strategies to a state that they can use those strategies automatically is somehow neglected in those studies It could be explained by the fact that carrying out such studies requires great amount of time as well as advanced analysis Besides, a comprehensive theory is also needed to illuminate students’ process of strategy acquisition Cognitive theory represented via a comprehensive model will shed light on this issue In addition, a study integrated with a combination of different instruments to collect both quantitative and qualitative data is needed to throw more light the issue mentioned above

The brief introduction of strategy confirms one thing that there is still space for further research into learning strategies More and more efforts are needed to clear the fuzziness which

is clouding learning strategies With respect to the Vietnamese contexts, the investigation into the relationship of learning strategies with second language learning has been scattered There has not been much research conducted to investigate the effects of metacognitive and cognitive strategies on reading and university level Vietnam As for the students who study English major

at Lac Hong University, they need to take an exam included two subjects, namely reading and writing in order to graduate The reading test takes students 90 minutes to finish while the essay writing test is much longer, 180 minutes In addition, they need to have a certificate of TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) test with the minimum score of 700 as a compulsory condition for their graduation The TOEIC test that students at Lac Hong University need to take is the kind with two subjects, namely reading and writing From the conditions to graduate mentioned above, it can be seen that reading accounts for a half in such conditions And the majority of the students are well aware of the significance of reading Therefore, reading is seen as a vital subject In a smaller scope, reading skills and strategies hence do play an important part to help students gain high score in the test

Since passing the exams to in order to graduate from university is vital to students, students need to outperform in both the reading and writing exams To do that, they need good skills for the two subjects The current study focuses on one main part of the exam, the reading test The thesis here attempts to equip students with appropriate factors to help them boost their reading skill so as to achieve the highest performance in reading in general and in reading tests in particular One of the main factors is the use learning strategies integrated in the reading course

to boost students’ reading performance The thesis is also expected to throw more light on students’ strategy acquisition and use so that further study can dig deeper in this issue

1.3 Definitions of variables and terms

1.3.1 Learning strategies

Throughout history, the definitions of learning strategies have been defined, improvised and expanded by a number of experts in the field A number of definitions of learning strategies came out from different viewpoints towards them With respect to the roles of learning strategies, they can act as mediators linking learners’ individual factors to what they achieve in learning (Ellis, 1999) Hence, it can be implied that learning strategies play a vital role in language learning by pushing students to achieve their aims in learning However, learning strategies are not easy to define and still “fuzzy” (Ellis, 1999, p 529) Ellis (1999) grouped learning strategies into two types: language learning strategies and skill learning strategies Language learning strategies “are concerned with the learners’ attempt to master new linguistic and sociolinguistic information about the target language” while skill learning strategies “are concerned with the learners’ attempt to become skilled listeners, speakers, readers, or writers” (Tarone, 1980, as cited in Ellis, 1999, p 530) Thus, conclusion can be drawn that language learning strategies are related to language areas while skill learning strategies are concerned with the four main skills in second language learning

Meanwhile, based on the aims of them, Oxford (1990) claimed that “learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning” (p 1) and the author defined learning strategies as “specific actions taken by learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (p.8) In this way, learning strategies are more concrete as they are defined as the “steps” or “actions” that learners take so smooth their language learning

Meanwhile, Chamot (2004) suggests that learning strategies are “the thoughts” and

“actions” by which learners employ to achieve their goals in learning Cohen (2003) defined language learning strategies as “conscious thoughts and behaviors” (p 1) that learners use to enhance their learning

Though the definitions and classifications of learning strategies mentioned above hold the same viewpoint that students intentionally and purposefully use learning strategies to achieve their goals in second language learning

1.3.2 Metacognitive and cognitive strategies

Metacognitive and cognitive strategies can be found in prominent writers’ and researchers‘ taxonomies of language learning strategies

Rubin (1987, as cited in Hismanoglu, 2000) classified language learning strategies into three groups; learning strategies, communication strategies, and social strategies Learning strategies in Rubin’s taxonomy consist of metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies (Hismanoglu, 2000) Cognitive learning strategies “refer to the steps or operations used in learning or problem-solving that require direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials” while metacognitive learning strategies “ are used to oversee, regulate, or self-direct language learning” (Hismanoglu, 2000, pp 2- 3)

Metacognitive and cognitive strategies are mentioned in Oxford (1990)’s model of six groups of strategies; metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, memory strategies, compensation strategies, social strategies, and affective strategies (p 16) Oxford (1990) pointed out “a common function” of cognitive strategies, i.e “manipulating or transformation of the target language by the learner” (p 46) With respect to metacognitive strategies, Oxford (1990) highlighted the relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies as:

“Metacognitive strategies mean beyond, beside, or with the cognitive Therefore, metacognitive strategies are actions which go beyond purely cognitive devices, and which provide a way for learners to coordinate their own learning process”

(p 137) Recently, White (2008) redefined cognitive strategies as “activities which learners use to remember and develop language and to facilitate comprehension” and metacognitive strategies

as “activities which learners use to organize, monitor and evaluate how well they are understanding.” (p 213)

1.3.4 Anderson’s ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) Model

Anderson (1982) proposed a framework to show the process of skill acquisition under the light of cognitive theory This framework widely known as ACT consists of two main stages:

“declarative” and “procedural” stages (Anderson, 1982) More details of the two stages are explained in the next part of this paper

1.3.5 CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Approach) Model

One of the models for teaching learning strategies which was developed by Chamot (Chamot, 2004) was the so-called CALLA The model is claimed to be “recursive “(Chamot, 2004) The author highlighted that in this model teaching and learning strategies are cyclical process by which students “have the options of revisiting prior instructional phrases as needed” (Chamot, 2004, p 21) CALLA model consists of six steps:

Preparation: Teacher identifies students; current learning strategies of familiar tasks Presentation: Teacher models, names, explains new strategy, asks students if and how they have used it

Practice: Students practice new strategy; in subsequent strategy practice, teacher fades reminders to encourage independent strategy use

Self- evaluation: Students evaluate their own strategy use immediately after practice Expansion: Students transfer strategies to new tasks, combine into clusters, develop repertoire of preferred strategies

Assessment: Teachers assesses students’ use of strategies and impact on performance

(Chamot, 2004, p 22)

1.4 Statement of purpose

As mentioned above, although research into the effects of learning strategies and their effects on second language learning has been conducted so far, there has not been much research investigating the two intertwined facets of metacognitive and cognitive strategies at university level in Vietnamese context In addition, there is also a lack of research in to the strategy training

course and its effects on students’ reading performance The rationales mentioned above lead to the urgent need to conduct more studies to investigate these issues Therefore the purposes of the current study are three-fold: (1) to investigate the effects metacognitive and cognitive strategies

on students’ reading performance, (2) to explore the process of transmitting metacognitive and cognitive strategies into a state that students can use them autonomously under the light of cognitive theory represented via Anderson’s ACT model, (3) to investigate how students raise their awareness of metacognitive and cognitive strategies to better perform in reading

1.5 Significance of the study

The current study is significant for the students and teachers who took part in this study

In addition, findings drawn from this study are expected to help unlock the door to successful reading

As for the students, this present research is expected to contribute to their reading performance as they observe the effectiveness of metacognitive and cognitive strategies in second language reading They have chance to sharpen their old reading strategies and expand these existed strategies with the new scientific system of strategies integrated in the training course, which is bound to lead the improvement in reading performance Furthermore, they can equip themselves with appropriate reading strategies to become more successful language learners, which may motivate them in language learning With respect to the teachers, this study

is intended to provide them a closer look at the positive effects of metacognitive and cognitive strategies on students’ reading performance along with the learner-strategy approach As a result, English teachers may unlock the key to a successful teaching approach that will boost students’ reading performance As for the teachers, they can see how strategies can help students boost their performance in reading They can also notice the ways students acquire new strategies for later application in their career Specially, they can expand strategy training not just in reading but also in many other subjects In addition, the present study provide teachers with the process

of how students transmit strategies from short term to long term memory, which guide teachers

to diagnose and trigger their students’ reading performance

1.6 Research questions

This thesis was set to answer the following main question:

How effectively do metacognitive and cognitive strategies affect students’ reading performance?

This main research question is then underlined by four sub-questions related to students’ reading performance before and after the training course, their frequency of strategy use, their process of strategy acquisition and their attitudes towards the strategy training course Thus, to answer the main question, the thesis is set to answer the four following sub-questions:

1 To what extent does the use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies affect students’ reading performance?

2 What are the changes in students’ use of strategy in terms of frequency after the course?

3 What are students’ perceptions on the process of strategy acquisition?

4 What are students’ attitudes towards the strategy training course?

1.7 Structure of the thesis

There are five chapters of the thesis which are organized as:

Chapter 1 describes the background of the study, along with its significance, statement of purpose and the research questions Chapter 2 highlights the literature review Chapter describes the research design and methods used for data collection Chapter 4 involves data analysis from three sources, namely students’ test scores, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews This chapter focuses on how data is used to answer the previous research questions and to write up the findings drawn from data analysis Chapter 5 presents conclusions and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

This chapter mainly focused on definitions of reading and their related aspects such as the kinds of reading, reading processes, and the main factors of reading comprehension This chapter also provided a brief review of previous studies on good readers to draw out good lessons to boost poor readers’ performance The relationship between strategies and good reading comprehension was also discussed The history of learning strategies was briefly mentioned Definitions, classifications, and taxonomies of learning strategies proposed by prominent authors were found in this chapter The intertwined relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies was mentioned in detail Before embarking on the integration of learning strategies into the reading course to boost students’ reading performance, the roles of the course and teachers were comprehensively presented

2.2 Reading

2.2.1 L1 and L2 reading

With inference to the differences and similarities between reading in students’ mother tongue (L1 reading) and reading in second language (L2 reading), Phaekity (2006) claimed that L1 is similar to L2 reading Thus, students tend to mirror what they do in L1 reading in L2 reading (Phaekity, 2005) For examples, students have a tendency to employ the reading strategies used in L1 into L2 reading Commenting on the similarities between L1 and L2 reading, Anderson (1984) claimed that reading is both a reading problem and a language problem (as cited in Wallace, 2001) He argued that good L2 readers could bridge the gaps of languages during reading process

2.2.2 Definitions of reading

Reading, along with listening is a receptive skill by which means that readers need to decode the meaning from what they see (Harmer, 2001) The ability to decode the meaning of the text is extremely necessary when readers learn how to read (Adam, 2011) These definitions share a consensus on emphasizing students’ efforts in decoding the meaning of a reading text in order to achieve a full comprehension of it This process is found in a definition of reading proposed in Zare-ee’s study (2007) in which reading is defined as a receptive language process that students are required to go through the process of internalizing the language input given to comprehend the text Moreover, students can activate their background knowledge relating to the

reading topic to help them comprehend the text In addition, readers then are provided language input from the text and from the aids of their teachers In addition, they can be put in a new context which is mentioned by Scramm (2008) as she claimed that second language learners are put into the language environment than the first language Such reading process seems to be passive at the first glance as readers are given resources from the teachers to gasp the comprehension of the text In fact, both reading and listening were considered to be passive (Wallace, 2001) in the past However, the reading process is not as passive as it seems Since the role of reading has been increasing through time, the traditional role of reading has gradually changed Wallace (2001) claimed that reading is an interactive process The author pointed out that the interactiveness can be observed in the process that students actively interact with the text

to reconstruct its meaning (Wallace, 2001) Agreed with Wallace’ viewpoint, a number of authors shared the premise that reading is an active process (Silberstein, 1994; Scramm, 2001) Silberstein (1994) proposed a similar definition of reading which emphasizes the cognitive feature of reading process During the process, students continuously interact with the text to construct their own understanding of the text Hence, reading process seems to be passive at first but is an active process due to students’ continuous interaction in their reading process In a similar vein, the same viewpoints of reading can be found in the work focusing on the topic about reading and good language learners Scramm (2001) wrote that reading is an active process in which readers build the meaning of a given text

Likewise, Mikulecky (2008) highlighted the role of cognition in her definition of reading She argued that “reading is conscious and unconscious thinking process” (Mikulecky, 2008) A more comprehensive definition of reading is proposed by Klingner, Vaugh, and Boardman (2007) that reading is a multicomponent, complex, and interactive process

Wallace (2001) provided a much more comprehensive definition of reading by stating that reading is more than a process As the roles of learners in second language learning have been emphasized, the role of reading has changed accordingly Reading can be redefined as a practice, process or product depends on its focus in reading process Reading is a practice as one focus on students’ efforts to apply reading in both classroom context and their daily life Reading

is viewed as product when students are directed to focus on the elements of text (vocabulary, sentences, and so forth) and what constitutes both the form and meaning of the text The view of reading as a process stresses the roles that readers perform in their process of reconstructing the

meaning of the text employing tools such as the strategies used In this study, reading covers the three aspects of Wallace’s definition of reading Reading is both a practice and a process as students are struggling to practice using learning strategies to remove the roadblocks to comprehension Reading is a product when readers are expected to successfully reconstruct the meaning of the text Hence, Wallace’s definition of reading is aligned with the view of reading of this study

2.2.3 The goals of reading

From the definitions of reading mentioned above, different viewpoints of reading lead to various focuses on the roles of reading The bulk of research conducted so far has exclusively focused on reading comprehension In fact, reading comprehension stills plays a key role and is worth further research (Shieh & Freiermuth, 2010) Williams and Atkins (2009) hold that reading comprehension is “the most important achievement” to students (p 26) Meanwhile, Klinger, Vaugh, and Boardman (2007) pondered the three following main goals of reading comprehension: the text meaning, learning experience, and the joys of reading The authors argued that the meaning that students have constructed from the reading materials is more important than what they employ during reading process In this way, this viewpoint swings it pendulum on side that reading is a product rather than a process In contrast, the ultimate goal of reading is not reading comprehension (Macalister, 2011) Learners do not just read texts limited

in classroom contexts They have great chance of spending more time on reading outside their classrooms which is widely refereed as extensive reading As a result, they are likely to gain more values rather than reading comprehension Hence, it is much more beneficial and essential

to equip readers with skills and strategies for their future reading (Macalister, 2011) However, one might question the author about the role of comprehension Is it important to master skills and strategies than to fully comprehend a reading text? In fact, there is a close relationship between the ways readers read a text and their levels of comprehension Thus, students who have good reading skills and wise use of strategies are bound to achieve high level of comprehension

In addition to reading skills and reading strategies, there are perhaps other ingredients of good reading comprehension Hence, it is more important to reading comprehension and recognize the factors that contribute to a high level of comprehension

2.3 Factors of reading comprehension

One of the definitions of reading comprehension is reading is defined as a “skill” that readers need to focus on (Abdelrahman & Bsharah, 2014, p 168) This viewpoint indicated that reading comprehension is similar to reading strategies employed by the students to comprehend the text This seems to be rather confusing as students may mistake their reading strategies with reading comprehension A question like this could be raised as” Do students who master good reading skills are likely to gain high level of reading comprehension?” To full answer this question, a clearer definition of reading comprehension is needed in this case A comprehensive definition of reading is proposed by Williams and Atkins (2009) that a full comprehension of the text means that readers can connect the main ideas of the text Moreover, they can have a critical look at what they comprehend from the text and apply this new knowledge in new learning Specially, a full comprehension consists of various factors such as identifying meaning(s) of new words, dealing with sentences, connecting main ideas, and the action of inference (Williams& Atkins, 2009) Other researchers stated that readers need a more effective tool, comprehension questions, in order to achieve the goal of reading comprehension In fact, comprehension questions are designed to help readers directing and monitoring their process of reading to reach its comprehension As readers can provide meaningful answers to comprehension questions, which means they can comprehend the text successfully Comprehension questions can help learner monitor the reading process so that they can achieve the aims outlined in advance (Mudzielwana, 2013) This kind of questions helps them allocate their attentions, check, evaluate, and improvise their progress Comprehensions questions are usually available in the reading text and can be added by teachers to ease students’ struggles in reading It is worth noticing that comprehension questions should be interesting enough to trigger students to answer In addition, active learners can invent the comprehension questions themselves to help them comprehend the text immediately in the reading process without waiting help from their teachers Another element which contributes to reading comprehension is vocabulary (Shieh & Freiermuth, 2010) At the first glance, one may believe that learners who know the meaning of all lexical items are expected to comprehend the texts successfully In a similar vein, Harmer (2001) in his definition of reading stresses students’ ability of decoding the meaning from the text However, good ability of decoding does not necessarily result in high reading comprehension In fact, readers may decode the text correctly but are unable to comprehend the

text (Williams & Atkins, 2009) Readers may know the meaning of all the new words but fail to see the links of the words One possible explanation is that the meaning of the same words may vary in different contexts ( Phakity, 2006) Thus, they cannot gasp the meaning of words in large and new contexts for the similar lexical items As a result, they cannot achieve a full comprehension of the text Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) highlighted two vital factors of reading, namely the awareness of strategy and the ways readers monitor their reading comprehension The former focuses on the strategy that learners use to help them overcome challenges occurring during the reading process while the latter is related to their efforts in checking and evaluating reading comprehension

Along with reading strategies, students’ background knowledge can contribute greatly to reading comprehension (Learned, Stockdill & Moije, 2011) To construct the meaning of the reading text, students can activate their pre-knowledge relating to the topics of the text to smooth their reading comprehension Students’ background knowledge can be the knowledge relating to the language of the text, students’ skills of reading text, and so on In many cases, readers’ pre-knowledge can equip students with the necessary information relating to the topics of the text However, one major issue is that this pre-knowledge is complex and diverse among the students Each student possess different levels of knowledge related to the topic of a text and Regarding

to students’ background knowledge, Phakity (2006) pointed out a number of factors that affect reading comprehension including learners’ language competence, personal factors, and reading tests

Relating to the taxonomies of reading comprehension, Anderson (2003) provided a diagram of reading comprehension which is made up from 4 main elements reading strategies, reading texts, the fluency, and the way readers constitute the act of reading The author went further to emphasize the importance of background knowledge in reading In his opinion, to achieve the full comprehension, students need to orchestrate their background knowledge and the information from the text

With inference to other factors contributing to second language reading, researchers have shifted their focus on automaticity during reading process Anderson (2000) indicated that the more automatic the reading process is, the more efficient reading will be (as cited in Phaekity,

2006, p 55) In a smaller paradigm, Rasinski and Samuels (2011) linked automaticity to the speed of word recognition They concluded that good readers are good at word recognition They

can recognize new words rapidly, which saves them from spending too much time and efforts on such process compared to the poor readers Readers who are low in automaticity need to spend more time on recognizing new words, which reduces the time resource for their reading As a result, their reading speed is stagnating In contrast, readers with high automaticity have more time to attend to the meaning of the text, which means that they have greater chance to gain higher level of reading comprehension Related to the vocabulary of a text, language comprehension means that students can understand what they can decode from the text (Adlof, Perfetti & Catts, 2011) Students do not only recognize the words but also fully grasp the meaning of the words Hence, students’ mastering the meaning of new words can contribute greatly to reading comprehension (Adlof, Perfetti & Catts, 2011) In short, it can be concluded that the automaticity of word recognition possess a significant relationship with reading speed and reading comprehension (Rasinski & Samuels, 2011) Likewise, Anderson (2000) indicated that the more automatic the reading process is, the more efficient reading will be (as cited in Phakity, 2006, p 55)

Another factor of reading comprehension is reading fluency which means the “prosody”

of the text (Rasinski & Samuels, 2011) This factor focuses on the rhythm of the sentences in a text When reading a text, students tend not to read the text monotonously Readers struggle to build up their own the rhythm of the sentences and then build the whole rhythm of the text To

do this, students need to recognize features of phonics such as the pronunciation of word, phrases, and sentences At the first glance, it can create the impression that students need to read every text out loud to gain reading fluency In contrast, fluency of reading can be gained through silent reading Rasinski and Samuels (2011) pointed out that students can hear “an internal voice” when they reading text silently (p 99) The quality of this voice tells the readers the degree of their reading fluency

Another characteristic of good reading comprehension is the cognitive process that students need to go through before they can comprehend a text thoroughly (Adlof, Perfetti, & Catts, 2011) They use their minds to guess, plan, monitor and evaluate their reading process all the time In addition, they have to go through other processes such as memorizing new words, checking their answers, and so forth

In conclusion, the analysis above provides a clearer picture of such abstract thing as reading comprehension There are a number of factors that contribute to reading comprehension

It is widely acknowledged that reading comprehension is complex and multifaceted Investigation into reading comprehension may help throw light on the path way to the goal of reading comprehension

2.4 The ways we read

When readers are reading a text, the majority of them tend to neglect the complexity of the reading process (Scramm, 2008) The author went to state that readers need to employ their background knowledge and develop their resources of receptive skills in order to help them understand the meaning of a given text Though it seems that teachers have few things to do with students’ background knowledge, teachers in fact can give guidance to help students expand their

“pre-knowledge” (p 231) Cook (2008) consolidated this theme by pointing out that reading process is not limited in the text given alone, which means the meaning of a text is the derivation

of both a text and readers' background knowledge

Harmer (2001) classified reading into two broad types: extensive and intensive reading The main feature that helps distinguish extensive from intensive reading is students’ choice of reading materials As for extensive reading, students have the right to choose for themselves the materials to read, which is encouraged by their teachers As for intensive reading, the materials for reading are chosen in advance To develop the balance of two kinds of reading, students should be involved in two kinds of reading in order to improve their reading skills Harmer also pointed out the three major receptive reading skills that students need to master: (1) reading for gist (known as skimming to get the main ideas of the text), (2) reading for specific information (known as scanning), and reading for inference (to find out what is between the lines and attitude) (p 283)

The kind of reading that participants mainly encounter in the course is intensive reading

as the reading materials are decided by the department in advance The aims of the course are also identified with the materials As for the aims, students are expected to learn vocabulary and expand their knowledge of business As for the skills, they are expected to dig deeper in reading skills and develop the speaking through discussion

2.5 Reading Processes

2.5.1 Bottom up and top down process

Bottom-up process is made up from low levels of reading process Readers start with the lowest levels such as identifying letters and sounds And then move on to morpheme recognition

followed by word recognition which in turns allows readers to identify larger and longer components such as words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs And finally they can achieve the comprehension of the text (Anderson, 2003)

As for the top-down process, Anderson (2003) stated that top-down processes emphasize that meaning is located inside the readers Readers activate their background knowledge and make predictions before reading the text to find out information for their predictions made in advance Meanwhile, Scramm (2008) based on the amount of pre-knowledge used by students to make the distinction between top-down and bottom-up processes As students need to use their background knowledge in both top-down and bottom-up processes, there is an interaction among the two processes Meanwhile, Wallace (2001) stated that the top-down processes in reading mainly rest on students' bringing their background knowledge to boost their reading performance

When reading comprehension breaks down, students need an efficient tool to help them repair their comprehension (Williams & Atskin, 2009) This tool aims to help learners pinpoint the problems and find out the solutions to help them comprehend the text The readers then need

to employ a high level of thinking so as to overcome these obstacles in reading, which means that they are highly conscious of what they are doing They need to plan, monitor, and evaluate both their reading process and the strategies employed And conscious strategies are the tool required (Williams & Atskin, 2009)

2.6 Previous literature on features of good L2 readers

Under the strong effects of Rubin’s work of investigating features of good learners in order to help poor learners, a myriad of research has been conducted with this paradigm in order

to demystify factors that help good learners succeed in second language learning and then apply the factors to boost poor learners’ performance Following this theme, a number of research into good readers has been conducted in order to help poor readers to achieve better comprehension Findings from the research weaved in this theme have offer light into factors that help boosting reading comprehension

It is inevitable that learners encounter language tasks in their second language learning Wong and Nunan (2011) argued that at least a single strategy lies in every single task even though learners are not aware of this The significant difference is that good learners are aware of

the strategies needed in a task and know how to orchestrate the strategies to achieve the goals of the task while poor learners seem to have great difficulties in doing that

There is a consensus that good readers are better at using strategies than poor readers One possible explanation is that good readers are clear about what to do to overcome the challenges occurring during their reading process (Anderson, 2003) Thus, they know what strategies to employ in order to reach the meaning of the text Indeed, there is abundant evidence that strategies possess a strong relationship with reading comprehension According to Chamot (2004), there has been a much more apparent relationship between language learning strategies and students’ proficiency In a similar vein, Lai (2009) from his study conducted in Taiwan concluded that students’ level is related to the use of leaning strategies He claimed that the students’ proficiency level well match with particular kinds of strategies

Klinger, Vaughn and Boardman (2007, p 4) pointed out specific strategies used by good readers as mentioned below:

 the ability to read quickly and correctly

 establishing what to achieve before reading

 pay attention to the layout of the text

 checking their progress constantly during the reading process

 visualize notes and summaries in their mind

 predict, monitor their predictions, and self-evaluate them

 highlight the main points of a reading text and bring them into their learning

 draw inferences from the text

 using their visualization to better their performance With the good use of the strategies mentioned above, good readers can bridge the cohesion gaps easier compared with their counterparts in reading In contrast, poor readers tend

to lack motivation, metacognitive strategies, vocabulary, and pre-knowledge of the topics In addition, they are likely to process the input given in an ineffective way All of these factors are bound to create blockages in the way to a full reading comprehension Anderson (2003) mentioned that strategies are one of the four main factors of reading comprehension Hence, identifying specific strategies can help poor readers to catch up with good readers However, the coexistence of many strategies during reading process can challenge researchers’ efforts in

isolating the specific strategies that make great contribution to reading comprehension Hence, it

is safe to conclude that different kinds of strategies may have different degrees of impact on students’ reading proficiency

Ghafounia (2014) shared one similar insight that learning strategies can smooth students’ reading comprehension Hence, it is essential to recognize the impacts of specific strategies on students’ reading comprehension Meanwhile, Graham (1997) concluded that the main strategies which are employed by effective students are metacognitive strategies This finding concurs with Cohen’ (2011) conclusion that learners may use different kinds of strategies to help them comprehend the text but metacognitive strategies are the most effective ones Apart from the kind of strategies favored by the good readers, Agor (2014) confirmed that good readers are able

to make good choice of strategies compared to poor readers This is true as high-performance readers are aware of which strategies to use and then able to make wise choice to comprehend the text

Good readers take control of their reading and manage to reach the comprehensions of what they are reading ( Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) The relationship between specific kinds of strategies and reading comprehension has been examined in a large number of research Abdelrahman and Bsharah (2014) conducted a study to investigate the relationship between speed reading strategies (i.e, skimming and scanning) and students' reading comprehension The results of the research indicated that students who employ those strategies are likely to outperform in reading Another interesting finding is that the choice of strategies can significantly affect reading comprehension Effective readers use specific strategies such as double-check monitoring, comprehension monitoring, problems identifying, and substituting, resourcing and interpreting to comprehend the text (Graham, 1997) In addition, good readers are likely to make wise choice of new words that help them comprehend the text

Lai (2009) carried out a study with the participation of 418 EFL students in Taiwan to investigate the relationship between learning strategies and their patterns under the effects of students' levels Findings from his research highlighted that high proficiency students show a high frequency of using cognitive and metacognitive strategies while low proficiency students use more social and memory strategies Another significant finding is that planning and monitoring are frequently used by more proficient learners Lai’s study suggested that good readers have a high preference of using specific strategies to help them bridge cohesion gaps

Likewise, findings from Ghafournia’s study with the participation of 307 Iranian EFL students indicated that there is a significant relationship between reading ability and the frequency of strategy use (Ghafournia, 2014) The researcher concluded that as students’ comprehension is improved, they then show a higher frequency of using learning strategies to boost their performance in reading However, Ghafournia argued that the relationship between students' proficiency and strategy use is not 'linear" (p 64) Hence, more research should be conducted to consolidate this finding

Another theme which is carefully examined by a number of researchers is the correlation between the frequency of strategy use and students’ performance In general, high frequency of using specific strategies which leads to greater performance in second language learning can be found in such studies The study conducted by Harris (2004, as cited in Chamot, 2008) revealed that good language learners have a higher frequency of using metacognitive strategies than low performance learners As for the context of strategy use, Liynaga (2012) argued that students tend to show a higher frequency of using strategies in the contexts outside the classroom Perhaps, this is could be explained by the fact that students have more time for their reading than the limited time resources in the context Thus, they have greater chance to select, monitor, evaluate, and revise the strategies to achieve their goals of reading Zare-ee (2007) argued that strategy serves as one of the prominent factors that lead to success Especially, it can be noted that the ways readers use strategy significantly affects the reading comprehension The study conducted by Zare-ee (2007) revealed that successful and unsuccessful readers differ in the frequency of strategy use In other words, successful readers showed high frequency in terms of strategy use which leads to their success in reading performance

Another issue which is worth considerations is what actions students take to clear the blockages appearing during their reading process When reading comprehension break downs, readers need to look for effective tools to help them regulate their efforts in the right track These tools do not only help them evaluate their reading progress but also direct their reading to the goals set in advance It can be seen that such a process requires a great amount of cognitive processes A prominent author of learning strategies, Oxford (1990), pointed out one distinctive function of learning strategies which helps learners become self-directed learners The author argued that self-directed learners gain “greater confidence, involvement, and proficiency” (Oxford, 1990, p 10) Meanwhile, Williams and Atkins (2009) argued that readers have to select

conscious strategies to fine-tune their reading Thus, the ability of seeking and selecting appropriate strategies to facilitate comprehension then distinguishes high from low readers The ability of employing appropriate strategies can be explained the insight proposed by Goh (1997) who claimed that good learners are more aware of using strategies to help them go further in their second language learning Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) highlighted that students tend to outperform as they are aware of their cognition process Another explanation is that as learners are aware of the learning strategies, they can select the ones matching their learning styles to boost their performance or remove the blockages in their learning (David & Nunan, 2011).This feature helps differentiate good learners from poor learners In addition, students are aware of not only strategy use but also the aims of their learning process Thus, they know what actions to take in order to achieve their aims (David& Nunan, 2011)

As for the particular kinds of strategies used by good readers in reading, Hinkel (2011) stated that it is metacognitive strategies that good readers mainly use during reading process This conclusion is similar to Lai’s study conducted in Taiwan in 2009 One of the main findings

of this study is that planning and monitoring are used frequently by more proficient learners It can be drawn from Lai’s study the kind of strategies that high performers frequently used to boost their reading performance belong to metacognitive strategies In contrast, poor readers show a low frequency of metacognitive use during reading process One particular type of reading strategies employed by successful readers is skipping the unknown words during the reading process Prior to reading, poor readers tend have inadequate preparations and they do not have enough vocabulary and background knowledge to help them decode the text As a result, their reading comprehension is low as they cannot plan, monitor, and evaluate the reading process With respect to vocabulary in reading, Waldvogel (2013) conducted a study to investigate the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and Spanish foreign language with the participations of 475 beginning-, intermediate-, and advanced- students Findings from the study suggested that there is a significant relationship between students' level and the strategies they use High level students show a higher frequency in using certain strategies and their vocabulary size has increased after the study Certain L2 learners have higher performance than others (Waldvodel, 2013).The author hold that good learners can recall and use the new words efficiently with the aids of learning strategies (p 210)

Oxford (1990) argued that the level of awareness and language possess a significant relationship with the effectiveness of strategy use

To sum up, reviews from the literature above highlight that there is a combination of factors which can have different levels of impact on students’ second language learning performance The factors affecting reading comprehension are complex and multifaceted However, efforts have been made to put such abstract thing like reading comprehension down to spectacular criteria With respect to language strategies, they do not work in a vacuum, and there

is no clear-cut boundary between these strategies However, researchers agree on a consensus that learning strategies seem to be the most prominent ones among these factors Different viewpoints lead to different perspectives of learning strategies and students’ proficiency Nevertheless, there is a consensus on students’ choice of strategies, frequency of strategy use, and kinds of strategies that can boost reading comprehension This thesis is aimed to throw more light on the relationship between language learning strategies and students’ reading comprehension

2.7 Language learning strategy instruction and the need of a training course

Oxford mentioned a number of so-called terms for the training of language learning strategies such as “strategy training”, “learner training”, learning-to-learn training”, “learner methodology training”, and “methodological training” (p 200) The current study employed the term “strategy training” as it can cover the focuses of the study, namely a strategy course integrated with metacognitive and cognitive strategies

A myriad of research has been conducted to examine the good language learners’ use of strategies and their performance in language learning Though the results of the studies investigating the relationship between language learning strategy and strategy training are mixed (Wong and Nunan, 2011), findings from those studies share a premise that there is a significant relationship between students’ use of learning strategies and high performance in language learning

Oxford (1990) pointed out the “teachability” of learning strategies (p 12) which means that the learners can be taught to learn how to use specific types of learning strategy to improve their competence and performance Thus, a training course is vital so that learners regardless of their levels can benefit from the positive effects of learning strategies

Oxford (1990) argued that it is not difficult to train learners with strategies and the strategies can be constantly adjusted during the training course Learners regardless of their levels can benefit from the training course Oxford also (1990) pointed out the values of strategy training by indicating that learners “need to learn how to learn” and teachers should nurture students’ needs (p 201) The author suggested that strategy training which can be applied in all four skills is vital in the all aspects of second and foreign language learning The key thing is that students should be provided chances to sharpen their strategies to enhance their performance

Another factor needed to be considered is that the process of learning strategy affects students’ learning result regardless of their levels Chamot (2004) maintained that all learners can gain benefits from learning strategy, especially metacognitive strategies that help them plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning process This viewpoint suggests that strategy training course is appropriate for all the students Another vital reason for the need of a strategy training course emerges from students' insufficient knowledge of strategy use which prevents them from selecting appropriate strategies to boost their reading performance Thus, this is where the strategy training course fits the gap In this way, the role of teachers in such course is crucial Chamot (2004) claimed that this role is vital as teachers are the ones who need to detect students’ current use of strategies, diagnose students’ problems in using strategies and help them overcome the obstacles, widen their strategies with comprehensive knowledge of strategies, and provide enough strategy practice for them In the classroom contexts, it is widely acknowledged that teachers play a pivotal role in providing students conditions for strategy practice

Previous research has emphasized the significant relationship between language learning strategies and students’ performance in second language learning It is mentioned somewhere in this study that students can gain greater performance provided that they are aware of and able to select appropriate strategies This process of using strategies may take learners a great amount of time as they tend to lack a comprehensive knowledge of strategies However, this does not mean that they should be trained with as many strategies as possible In contrast, teachers should ponder that too many strategies integrated in the training course cause great difficulties to students and possibly mislead them On one hand, they may introduce inappropriate strategies to the right tasks without notice On the other hand, they may wrongly believe that they are using the right strategies Besides, it is worth noticing that students may not have enough strategies practice They can be provided with comprehensive knowledge of learning strategies but they are

not able to use learning strategy due to the lack of practice Thus, students need both strategy instructions and a strategy training course to help them master the use of strategy so as to advance further in their leaning process Indeed, students are taught the strategies in the classrooms but mostly in a fragmentary way, which explains why students may encounter strategy use and use them without notice in the first school year (Veenman, Vanhout –Wolters,

& Afflerbach, 2006) Another important issue is that strategies exist in every tasks in second language learning (David & Nunan, 2011) so students themselves have the great chance of using strategies in a language task Thus, students cannot completely avoid the use of strategy in their learning As a result, they partly develop their own systems of learning strategies However, the ability to use strategies in second language reading is a skill that students can only develop though time and practice (McNamara, 2009) However, students’ own systems of learning strategies are fragmentary and not systematic And perhaps they mainly grasp the use of basic learning strategies which are easy to use As students move to higher stage of academic school years, they need more sophisticated strategies to help them unblock the obstacles in their learning So to build a systematic and scientific bank of strategies, they need more chance to learn and practice those complex strategies before they can use them automatically Goh (1997) highlighted that strategy is an effective tool that students lack so as to move further in second language learning Thus, strategy instructions and training courses are vital to help them master such an efficient tool As for reading, Macalister (2011) claimed that it is important to equip leaners with skills and strategies for future reading

Research has been conducted to examine students’ use of strategies during reading process However, these studies were designed to examine students’ use specific strategies in particular contexts such as in the English tests This is widely known as students’ state, not the trait (Phakity, 2003) Hence, results yielded from these research are not valid enough to throw light on students’ strategy acquisition and their use the strategies introduced in the training course into not only the tests but also other reading activities Thus, more research integrating teaching students strategies in a long-term period can shed light on those issues Grape (2009) suggested that learning strategies should be investigated under “the executive control mechanism” (p 60) Learning strategies can be taught and students are capable of learning them regardless of the variation among their language levels, which is one of the prominent features of learning strategies proposed by Oxford (1990) Grape (2009) also suggested that learning

strategies should be integrated into a language curriculum Students should be instructed to learn, practice, and monitor the new strategies Other researchers suggested that students can gain

significant benefits from “learning how to use metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate themselves throughout their learning efforts" (Chamot, 2004, p 18) Chamot (2004)

also noted that teachers should explicitly instruct readers to learn strategies and integrate strategies in the course

One of the distinctive features of strategic learners is the ability to use strategies automatically to solve the problems occurring during the reading process The strategic learners

are also in meta-level as they show their high awareness “in relation to reading goals and applies sets of strategies appropriately to enhance comprehension of difficult texts." (Grape,

2009, p.220) The ability and the high level of metacognition derive from the long time of using and sharping the strategies that learners are instructed to master In this paradigm, Anderson (2000) indicated that the more automatic the reading process is, the more efficient reading will

be (as cited in Phakity, 2006, p 55) In a similar vein, Grape (2009) defined this automatic process as a high level in which readers can automatically monitor and direct their strategies to adjust their reading This automatic process requires a remarkable amount of time to achieve, which means that students need a training course of strategy use to better their reading performance

With respect to strategy instructions, a number of researchers have conducted a lot of studies to investigate the effect of strategy instructions during a certain period of time The research is normally framed in the design of experimental research with the participation of two groups, namely one control and one experimental group Usually, the difference between the two groups is used to shed light on the relationship between the effect of strategy instruction and learning performance Following this theme, Agor (2014) carried out a one-year longitudinal student in Ghana to throw light on the effects of strategy instruction on students' English learning achievement Finding from his study indicated that students of the experimental group who were given strategy instructions achieve higher performance than students in the control group The researcher suggested that students need to be “exposed" (Agor, 2014, p 175) to the strategies so that they can increase their level of autonomy in their own process of learning The significant relationship between language learning strategies and students’ performance can be explained via the fact that language learners can draw meaningful ideas from strategy instruction to better

perform in their learning (Ago, 2014) The researcher went further by noting that teachers can teach their students strategies so that the students can use and develop their new systems of strategies in learning It is clear that most of the students lack sufficient knowledge of strategies and are likely not to see their positive effects in learning In this way, strategy instruction and practice of strategy use in a training course are vital to them Hence, there is a consensus that both strategy instructions and a train course should be integrated in language curriculum (Zare-

ee, 2007; Aldelrahman & Bshara, 2013; Agor, 2014; Ghafounia, 2014) Prominent benefits yielded from strategy instructions and training course have been found in a number of studies by researchers in the field Zare-ee (2007) in his study examining the relationship between cognitive and metacognitive strategy and students’ performance in Iranian context stated that strategy functions as the most prominent factor contributing greatly to students’ reading performance Hence, strategy needs to be integrated in language curriculum due to its effectiveness Meanwhile, Agor (2014) suggested that strategy training should be provided in language classrooms so that learners can gain comprehensive knowledge of strategy As students possess a profound knowledge of strategy, they are likely to gain full insights of the strategy In addition, there is a great chance that they can use the correct strategy in right manner Agor (2014) pointed out that learners who are given chance and time to learn and practice with strategy are likely to gain better performance in second language learning This conclusion is in line with Graham’s viewpoint of strategy and learning performance Graham (1997) claimed that students do not know how to use the appropriate strategies And this could be solved by providing a training course with systematic instructions so that students know how to use strategies in the right time and at the right place Focusing on EFL learners’ reading achievement

in Iranian context, Ghafounia (2014) remained that strategy instructions are required to be included in language curriculum as they play a vital role in boosting students’ reading ability

It is safe to assume that the effects of specific strategies on students’ reading comprehension are not always stable Hence, providing students with particular strategy instruction or training them with the use of specific strategies on second language reading can yield different results Momtaz and Garner (2010) in their study focusing on the relationship between collaborative learning and reading performance at a classroom in Iraq pointed out that several particular strategies defined as processes are what readers frequently employ in collaborative learning Though the researchers failed to show the relationship between these

strategies and reading performance, it is undeniable that these strategies are related to reading performance Baha and Daud (2012) concluded that the use of different strategies (using background knowledge, summarizing, asking and answering questions, evaluating, monitoring, using visualization, predicting) can boost reading comprehension Examining two kinds of speed reading strategy (namely skimming and scanning) in Jordanian context, Aldelrahman and Bshara (2013) noted that these speed reading strategies possess a significant relationship with students’ reading performance Thus, they suggest that training of these specific strategies can help students bridge the gaps in cohesion Meanwhile, Liu and Chen (2014) highlighted that the use

of specific kinds of strategies, especially metacognitive strategy, can help minimize students’ anxiety in second language learning Hence metacognitive strategy instructions should be integrated in language curriculum so that students can gain greatest benefit from it

The forms of strategy instructions have been investigated in a myriad of research specialized in learning strategy The role of strategy instructions have been documented in a number of research It is mentioned in this study that students themselves had the great chance to already know and use the strategy However, they are not sure that whether they are using the correct strategy or not (Wong & Nunan, 2011) Choosing to use inappropriate strategy in a context can leave long-term negative impacts in second language learning which possibly take a long time to fix Hence, clear strategy instructions from teachers can save students from these issues Another thing needs to take into consideration is the forms of strategy instructions Agor (2014) highlighted the positive effects of the two forms of strategy instructions, explicit and implicit instructions can generate equally positive impacts on students’ reading performance He pointed out that both explicit and implicit strategy instructions can better students’ achievement Chamot (2004) claimed that strategy instructions should be explicit and well integrated in students’ language course rather than being provided separately Related to strategy instructions, they should be given right in classroom contexts, of course (Mudzielwana, 2013) With the aids

of teachers, classroom contexts seem to the best places for strategy practice It is right in their classrooms that students are provided with comprehensive strategy instructions and practice Mercer (2012) confirmed this viewpoint by adding that if learners receive enough environmental supports (positive feedback, praise, good materials and curriculum) they can develop their language learning effectively

Students’ use of language learning strategy is not as straight as a line but “recursive” (Klinger, Vaughn & Boardman, 2007), which indicates that students may struggle to use one strategy for a long time for before they can fully master it In particular contexts, the degree that students use strategy varies Liyanage (2012) pointed out that students show higher frequency in using strategy in out-of-class contexts compared to in-class contexts This can be explained that students are likely to have greater amount time for strategy practice than their limited allocated time in classrooms However, the practice of strategy use outside classroom contexts is not stable

as students possibly use incorrect strategies This could take place as students lack the guide from their teachers, peers to help them go in the right track

Apart from the contexts of strategy use, the degree of automaticity of strategy use is worth paying attention to This degree of automaticity is usually framed under the light of Anderson’s ACT model (Ellis, 1999) Under the light of Anderson's ACT, learners are required

to be cognitive about the strategies at the declarative stage As they are able to enhance the use of strategies gradually, they become less conscious and more automatic in using strategies The process that students need to go through so that they can use the strategy without any pauses can takes a long time with a high degree of practice This conclusion is aligned with the viewpoint of strategies as procedures (Liu & Chang, 2013) that students must pass in order to attain their learning goals

The effects of strategy on students’ performance in second language learning are still open to debate Although it is commonly believed that strategy training can yield beneficial impacts on students’ performance, a number of researchers doubt this relationship In the framework of second language reading, students after the strategy training course can have better reading performance thanks to a numbers of factors such as their familiarity of the text, the development of their cognition, and the enlargement of their vocabulary It is not just the strategy but others factors mentioned above possibly make great contributions to students’ reading performance However, if the strategy training course is mainly based on the strategy, which can directs students’ attention to the strategies taught in the training, researchers are able to minimize the effects of others factors on students’ performance It is drawn in previous literature that several factors are not correlated with the strategy training courses Students’ intelligence which

is commonly referred as the main factors that helps distinguish the profile of good learners from poor learners is not the variable affecting strategy training course Veenman, Van Hout- Wolters,

and Afflerbach (2006) noted that one of the prominent factors in second language learning, the development of students’ intelligence, is not affected by the strategy training course

Another thing needed to take into consideration is how much both teachers and students focus on strategy during the training course It is mentioned above that teachers and students are expected to mainly focus on strategies to eliminate the effects of other variables However, this viewpoint should be interpreted carefully and thoroughly In fact, too much attention on strategies may yield harmful results As a result, frequent review of strategies during the training course is not necessary (Duke, et al, 2011) In a similar vein, Learned, Stockdill and Moje (2011) argued that too much focus on strategies learning may lead to the neglect of the meaning

of the reading text, which may hinder reading comprehension Hence, the proportion of strategy instructions and the focuses of strategy during their training course should be considered mindfully Strategy instructions are much beneficial provided that they are given at the good time to make learners become more strategic learners Hence, strategies certainly yield greater benefits as learners are instructed to use them to overcome the challenges right in their reading process (Duke, el at, 2011) Besides, it is noteworthy that reading strategies should not be taught separately In contrast, McNamara suggested the reading strategies are required to be taught in combinations so that they can field ultimate effects on readers’ performance Meanwhile, Mikulecky (2008) argued that students should be instructed to use on particular strategies at one time and encouraged to use the strategy to solve problems in different contexts In this way, students can transfer the strategy they have learned into a new context

Oxford (1990) argued that learners’ ability to monitor their learning strategies in second language learning develop gradually This ability cannot be seen clearly in one particular situation such as answering a questionnaire, taking part in an interview or doing a text Thus a longitudinal study is needed to examine this ability

2.8 Metacognitive, cognitive strategies and students’ performance

Mc Keown and Beck (2009) defined reading as “a complex mental process with various interacting sub processes" (p 8) Thus, there is a cognitive process and further processes taking

place in students’ mind when they are engaged in reading This concept of reading highlights both cognitive and metacognitive functions of reading and the complexity of reading process This conclusion is in line with Williams and Atkins’ (2009) viewpoint on the role of metacognitive and cognitive strategies in reading comprehension The two authors indicated that

these two specific strategies play a pivotal role in boosting students’ reading performance Another viewpoint of these cognitive processes is proposed by Mikulecky (2008) The author claimed that these cognitive processes can be defined as reading skills that readers employ to comprehend the text

There have been many findings from research indicating there is a significant relationship between learning strategies and students’ language learning An in-depth analysis of the profile

of good language learners has documented prominent qualities of this profile Good language learners can have better choice of language strategies, use strategies appropriately, and show a higher frequency of strategy use compared to low-performance learners The aim of this chapter

is to pinpoint the particular strategies that make great contributions to students’ performance drawing from previous literature

As learners possess the skills in orchestrating the ways they learn, they are bound to achieve higher performance in second language learning and able to transfer that skills into other contexts Wong and Nunan (2011) suggested that as learners possess the skills in learning-how-to-learn they can transfer good use of strategy into learning context outside the classroom Meanwhile, Cohen (2011) argued that students may encounter and employ a number of strategies

in their second language learning but metacognitive strategies are the most important ones This conclusion is aligned with Chamot’s viewpoint of metacognitive strategies:

“All learners can profit from learning how to use metacognitive strategies to plan,

monitor, and evaluate themselves throughout their learning efforts"

(Chamot, 2014, p.18) Findings from previous research have thrown light on the relationship between two particular kinds of strategies, metacognitive and cognitive strategies, and students’ performance Findings from Lai’s (2009) study in Taiwan noted that high performance students show a high frequency of using cognitive and metacognitive strategies while low performance students tend

to use more social and memory strategies In the context of metacognitive strategies, one of the main findings is that planning and monitoring are used frequently by more proficient learners Hence, the researcher concluded that students’ level is related to the strategies they choose In a similar vein, Liu and Chen (2014) shared the same conclusion that the frequency of strategy use

is related to learners' anxiety in language learning The conclusion was drawn from their study in Taiwanese contexts with the participation of 212 fifth- and sixth-grade students Liu and Chen

(2014) stated that students’ level of anxiety has a significant relationship with the choice of strategies to ease the difficulties in learning Metacognitive strategies were at the highest frequency for students in mid-anxiety level As for high-anxiety students, affecting strategies were most often used

In the field of second language reading, Graham (1997) noted that the main strategies which are employed by effective students are metacognitive strategies The author reported that these specific metacognitive strategies which are widely used by effective students such as double-check monitoring, comprehension monitoring, problem identifications, and substitution, resourcing and interpretation while weak students use " selective attention, strategy monitoring, translation, transfer, word analysis (looking for a word's meaning by breaking it down into parts), narrow focus, sentence analysis, and omission (Gragam, 1997, p 54) Likewise, Zare-ee (2007) conducted a study to examine the relationship between students' use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies and their reading performance in Iranian context Results from the study indicated that metacognitive strategies have a significant relationship with students' performance Hence, students’ use metacognitive strategies can significantly increase students’ achievement in reading

The investigations so far into the profiles of poor learners have revealed the challenges that the learners need to overcome and the good lessons drawn from good second language learners to help them overcome such challenges In terms of L2 reading, Klinger, Vaughn and Boardman (2007) indicated that poor readers tend to lack motivation, efficient metacognitive strategies, poor vocabulary, and pre-knowledge of the topics of reading texts As the authors have not clearly confirmed the role of metacognitive strategies, further research specialized in this field to strengthen this relationship so as to increase students’ performance, especially the relationship between metacognitive strategies and students’ reading performance is vital Investigations into profiles of good students in this theme are beneficial to the poor learners Chamot (2008) pointed out that good language learners have a more profound metacognitive knowledge about their thoughts and the ways they learn In addition, compared to low-performance students, good language learners understand the requirements of the tasks better and know the best to orchestrate their learning strategies to gain high achievements

To sum up, the brief reviews of previous research have concluded that both metacognitive and cognitive strategies contribute significantly to students’ performance

(Veenman, Van Hout –Wolters, and Afflerbach, 2006) This thesis is then set to examine this relationship with a study integrated a strategy training course

2.9 The role of teachers in strategy training course

Since Oxford mentioned the “teachabillity” of strategy, a number of research has been conducted so far to throw light on the relationship between strategy training, strategy instructions and students‘ performance There is a consensus shared by most researchers in the field that teachers’ efforts in helping develop strategy use can enhance learners’ performance Hence, teachers’ role in teaching students’ learning strategy is essential (Duke et al, 2011) However, the task is hard Ghafounia (2014) stressed that improving students' ability of using strategy is a challenging task for both teachers and students The task demands great efforts from both teachers and students In some cases, teaching strategies can be proved to be ineffective One reason is that most teachers find learning strategies too hard to teach, so they choose to teach the strategies they are familiar with, which is likely to fail to help their students master the required strategies for effective reading (Mudzielwana, 2013) On the other hand, if teachers can overcome this huge obstacle, students certainly gain great profits from teachers’ aids in learning strategy Commenting on the methods teachers use to teach strategy, Ghafounia (2014) suggested that teachers should foster students' metacognition, and then teach their students the ways of using strategy effectively via actual tasks in each reading lesson Besides, teachers need to equip themselves with a comprehensive knowledge of strategy in order to provide students with good strategy instructions As for the students, they need to understand the strategies thoroughly In addition, students can achieve the high results from strategy training course when they are provided with enough time for with the strategies so that they can use those strategies efficiently and automatically

As mentioned above, most of language learners partly use several strategies and have the basic level of strategy use However, students are not likely to develop a systematic of strategies Hence, teachers with the comprehension knowledge of strategy can wake up students’ strategy use Apart from the level of students, the levels of strategies are well documented in a numbers

of works Serra and Metcalfe (2008) noted that metacognition can be taught in the context of classroom

Findings from previous research have been streamed into the relationship between teachers’ teaching reading strategies and students’ reading performance In the field of second