A survey of cognitive strategies in leaning english reading comprehension among 11th graders at tam phuoc high school in dong nai province m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE A SURVEY OF COGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

A SURVEY OF COGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION

SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

A SURVEY OF COGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION

SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr

Le Hoang Dung, Dean of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature – Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, for his guidance and encouragement during my study I‟m very grateful for being accepted as his student in this MA program and I really appreciate all his help and suggestions on various drafts

of this thesis Without his valuable advice and support, this thesis could not have been completed on schedule

I would also like to express my full appreciation to all teachers at Tam Phuoc High School (Bien Hoa, Dong Nai) who helped me so much in my data collection My special thanks also go to all 284 11th-graders at this school who agreed to participate

in the study

Additionally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends for their help and warm encouragement throughout my hard times carrying out the study Without them, I could not have overcome such times and concentrated on my study

Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my eldest sister and my younger brother for their continuous support during my study Their love and encouragement helped me overcome the difficult times during the study I could not have been able to complete this project without their intense devotion

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I declare this thesis entitled “A SURVEY OF COGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN

-GRADERS AT TAM PHUOC HIGH SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE” is

the result of my own work except as cited in the reference

The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and it is not currently submitted in candidature of any other degree

Ho Chi Minh City, February 2014

Luong Phuoc Thanh

RETENTION OF USE

I hereby state that I, LUONG PHUOC THANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating

to the retention of use of Master‟s thesis deposited in the University Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original copy of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research,

in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan

or reproduction of the thesis

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2014

Signature: ………

LUONG PHUOC THANH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgements i

Statement of originality ii

Retention of use iii

Table of contents iv

List of tables vii

List of figures ix

Abstract x

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 4

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Delimitation of the study 5

1.6 Organization of the study 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of cognitive strategies 7

2.1.1 Cognition 7

2.1.2 Strategy 8

2.1.3 Learning strategies 9

2.1.4 Cognitive strategies 15

2.2 Characteristics of cognitive strategies 17

2.3 Importance of cognitive strategies 19

2.4 Aspects of reading comprehension 21

2.4.1 Definition of reading comprehension 21

2.4.2 Aspects of reading comprehension 23

2.4.3 Reading strategies 26

2.5 Theoretical cognitive strategies in English reading comprehension 27

2.5.1 Cognitive strategies for understanding the meaning of new words 28

2.5.2 Cognitive strategies for remembering the meaning of new words 31

2.5.3 Cognitive strategies for understanding sentence structure 34

2.5.4 Cognitive strategies for understanding the content or ideas of the reading text 36

2.6 Conceptual framework of the study 42

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 46

3.1 Research context 46

3.2 Research method 46

3.3 Sampling 46

3.3.1 Learner respondents 46

3.3.2 Teacher respondents 48

3.4 Research tools 49

3.4.1 Questionnaire to learner respondents 50

3.4.2 Questionnaire to teacher respondents 51

3.5 Summary of research tools 52

3.6 Data collection procedure 53

3.7 Data analysis 53

3.8 Chapter summary 54

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 55

4.1 Analysis of data 55

4.2 Results of the questionnaire to learner respondents 56

4.3 Results of the questionnaire to teacher respondents 74

4.4 Discussion of results 93

4.5 Summary of major findings 97

4.6 Chapter summary 99

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 100

5.1 Conclusion 100

5.2 Suggestions 102

5.2.1 In understanding the meaning of new words 102

5.2.2 In remembering the meaning of new words 104

5.2.3 In understanding sentence structure 104

5.2.4 In understanding the content or ideas of the reading text 106

5.3 Limitation of the study 109

5.4 Recommendations for further study 110

5.5 Overview of the study 111

REFERENCES 112

APPENDICES 120

APPENDIX A Letter to teacher respondents 120

APPENDIX B Questionnaire to learner respondents (English version) 121

APPENDIX C Questionnaire to learner respondents (Vietnamese version) 124

APPENDIX D Questionnaire to teacher respondents 127

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2.1 Types of reading comprehension 21

Table 2.2 Summary of theoretical cognitive strategies in English reading comprehension 43

Table 3.1 Description of teacher respondents 48

Table 3.2 Construction of questionnaire items 49

Table 3.3 Summary of research tools 52

Table 4.1 Procedure of analysis of data from questionnaire to learner respondents 55

Table 4.2 Procedure of analysis of data from questionnaire to teacher respondents 56

Table 4.3 Reliability estimates of the statements included in the questionnaire to learner respondents 57

Table 4.4 Reliability estimates of the statements included in the questionnaire to teacher respondents 57

Table 4.5 Cognitive strategies used to learn English reading comprehension 58

Table 4.6 Cognitive strategies used to understand the meaning of new words 61

Table 4.7 Cognitive strategies used to remember the meaning of new words 63

Table 4.8 Cognitive strategies used to understand sentence structure 64

Table 4.9 Cognitive strategies used to understand the content or ideas of the reading text 65

Table 4.10 Cognitive strategies used to understand the content or ideas of the reading text during Pre-reading stage 67

Table 4.11 Cognitive strategies used to understand the content or ideas of the reading text during While-reading stage 68

Table 4.12 Cognitive strategies used to understand the content or ideas of the reading

text during Post-reading stage 69

Table 4.13 Learner respondents‟ self-assessment of their level of understanding the

reading lesson after learning an English text in class 71

Table 4.14 Learner respondents‟ recommendations to help English reading

comprehension classes better 74

Table 4.15 Cognitive strategies used to teach English reading comprehension 76 Table 4.16 Cognitive strategies used to help students understand the meaning of new

of the reading text 83

Table 4.20 Cognitive strategies used to help students understand the content or ideas

of the reading text during Pre-reading stage 85

Table 4.21 Cognitive strategies used to help students understand the content or ideas

of the reading text during While-reading stage 86

Table 4.22 Cognitive strategies used to help students understand the content or ideas

of the reading text during Post-reading stage 87

Table 4.23 Summary of major findings 99 Table 5.1 Summary of major findings and suggestions 108

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Chart 3.1 Distribution of learner respondents by class 47 Chart 3.2 Distribution of learner respondents by gender 47 Chart 4.1 Difficulties learner respondents believed to have when learning English

reading comprehension 72

Chart 4.2 Learner respondents‟ recommendations to help English reading

comprehension classes better 73

Chart 4.3 Activities encouraged by teacher respondents to their students when

reading an English text 90

Chart 4.4 Students‟ difficulties when learning English reading comprehension

assumed by teacher respondents 91

Chart 4.5 Teacher respondents‟ opinion on the necessity to help the students develop

their thinking skills 92

ABSTRACT

Together with other learning strategies, cognitive strategies have long been used

to enhance English reading comprehension among foreign language learners Although there have been several studies made on cognitive strategies, very few of them concentrated on those that 11th-graders applied The aim of this study was to explore the cognitive strategies which 11th-graders at Tam Phuoc High School frequently used in learning English reading comprehension

The literature review indicated 40 theoretical cognitive strategies that were used

as the conceptual framework for this study The participants of the study included 284

11th-graders of seven classes randomly chosen from ten classes and four teachers who have experienced in teaching English to 11th-graders at this school The data collected from the questionnaires to learners and teachers were analyzed in terms of frequency, percentages and mean scores

The study pointed out 17 cognitive strategies that these 11th-graders frequently used in learning English reading comprehension Among those strategies five were frequently used to understand the meaning of new words, two to remember the meaning of new words, three others to understand sentence structure, and the remaining seven to understand the content or ideas of the reading text

Finally, some suggestions were offered in the light of the findings identified in the study The suggestions regarding those cognitive strategies were specifically made to help improve teaching English reading comprehension to 11th-graders at Tam Phuoc High School

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter first provides a general background and purpose of the study Then the research question is presented followed by the significance of the study Finally, the delimitation and organization of the study are discussed

1.1 Background to the study

It goes without saying that the demand to acquire a different language especially English beside the mother tongue among Vietnamese people is increasing People from various age groups and professions can easily be found sitting for English language courses of all sorts This can be explained by the great benefits that this language has brought to them To some people, mastering English language can be a good friend giving them access to new stages in their profession and self-development Many people have benefited from English language in their study and profession as they can easily get financial support to improve those areas As a result, the important role that this language has been playing in the curricula of the national educational system has been confirmed when it gradually replaces other languages, such as French and Russian to rank second most widely used and popularized just after the national official language – the Vietnamese one

Being one of the skills of the learning process of English language, reading comprehension is obviously an important factor and indispensable to the learners (Nuttal, 1996; Anderson, 1999) This is true not only in L1 speaking context but also

in L2 one (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000) Several reasons can be mentioned to explain this phenomenon According to these authors, reading is “often the only readily available exposure to the target language”, especially to learners who want to retain knowledge of this language or live in remote places Besides, reading plays “a very significant role in most professions” (pp 118-119) Other authors, Carrell & Grabe (2002), referred to some other reasons, saying that “reading abilities are critical

for academic learning, and that L2 reading represents the primary way that L2 students can learn on their own beyond the classroom ” (p 233) Or as Anderson (1999) puts it, “with strengthened reading skills, ESL/EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic areas” (p 1) One can easily finds the similar opinion mentioned by McDonough & Shaw (1993) when they emphasized that “as a skill reading is clearly one of the most important; in fact in

many instances around the world we may argue that reading is the most important

foreign language skill ” (p 101)

This explains why researchers from different countries in the world have been studying it diligently and devotedly for years (Carrell & Grabe, 2002) A good deal of aspects of this skill has been explored so far However, there is still more work to do before we can reach a satisfactory understanding of this aspect of English language learning process, as Carrell & Grabe remarked: “Without a doubt, L2 reading reasearch and instruction will grow in importance in the coming decade” (p 233) There have been a considerable amount of studies conducted by researchers on reading comprehension skill in Vietnamese settings recently, such as frequency of use

of cognitive-metacognitive reading strategies among English majors (Nguyen, T D

& Trinh, H T, 2011), investigation into both EFL reading difficulties and a reading course (Lam, Q T M, 2005), teaching reading comprehension from the view point of discourse analysis (Ho, T M V, 2006), the instruction of EFL reading strategies (Le,

V L, 2006), suggestions to improve teaching reading comprehension (Ngo, Q A D, 2000) The result of which is that many aspects of this skill have been explored and insights gained from these studies Nevertheless, a study of such kind has not been conducted in the environment of Tam Phuoc High School up to the present time

Being members of the national system of high school, students at Tam Phuoc High School has unavoidably been experiencing certain difficulties in improving this skill It can be inferred with certainty that the teaching staffs definitely do their best to cope with the situation and help their students through the lessons and training

end of the high school educational program, 11th-graders find themselves in the position that urges them to invest all they can into this aspect of English language learning programme at school as they will be dealing mainly with it during that final exam To some others, the dream to continue to explore and master English language

at college or university seems to evoke a stronger desire in them to possess effective tools that may help them secure their competence in this skill as they will be working

on another examination on English reading comprehension Therefore, to promote the level of competence of its students on this particular skill, both teachers and learners

of English language in this school should be more informed of different dimensions of language learning acquisition so that effective measures that may help improve the reading skill of the students will be considered and implemented

One of such dimensions is learning strategies in general and cognitive strategies

in particular As literature reveals, learning strategies affect learners in many ways: first, they help learners deal with difficulties in their learning Second, they contribute positively to the learners‟ results Third, they make learners more active in their learning process and consequently become more independent And so much more This is also the case of cognitive strategies Being a part of learning strategies, they too have such influences on learners Several studies, both in global scale and in local Vietnamese settings, have reflected this

Therefore, interest in cognitive strategies should not only be the need for learners but also one for teachers On the one hand, learners find themselves in the need to be aware of these strategies in order to apply in their learning process On the other hand, teachers need to understand these strategies and their application to help their students better This is especially true in the case of Vietnamese learners For example, the research conducted by Le, V L (2006) on the instruction of EFL reading strategies at Hung Vuong High School shows the great need for high school students to be taught and to implement these strategies Le, T H (1999) concludes in his study regarding language learning strategies of different learners in Hue City that “a training course in

language learning strategies is very necessary and it is very welcome in Hue city and

in Vietnam in general” (p 121)

Having realized this, the researcher of this study has come to the decision to explore the aspect of cognitive strategies that 11th-graders at Tam Phuoc High School make use of when learning and comprehending an English reading text It is hoped that this will be contributing more or less to unlock the current situation

1.2 Aims of the study

The study will be carried out in an attempt to:

a) explore the habit of using cognitive strategies among 11th-graders at Tam Phuoc High School when learning English reading comprehension

b) find out pedagogical implications related to the use of cognitive strategies in learning English reading comprehension

1.4 Significance of the study

The rationale for choosing to investigate this specific matter lies in its importance for second language learners in improving their reading competence The following goals are expected to be accomplished in the undertaking of this study:

Theoretically, this study seeks to add to the growing body of research in this area in terms of actual facts of use of cognitive reading strategies among English language learners Also, it is hoped to provide practical and useful information about the

cognitive reading strategies in language teaching and learning to supplement the research in this field

Practically, this study is expected to provide teachers with helpful information about the importance of using cognitive strategies in a language learning context in general and in learning reading comprehension in particular The results should help teachers make suitable preparation for their teaching of reading comprehension skill based on the solutions offered in this study

1.5 Delimitation of the study

First of all, the current study was only conducted at Tam Phuoc High School with the participation of five hundreds 11th-graders from ten classes It is believed that if the sample size were larger, the results would be more remarkable Second, suggestions were only provided to help improve teaching and learning reading comprehension in English to these students, not for other groups of learners at this school

1.6 Organization of the study

The study consists of five chapters including (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review,

(3) Methodology, (4) Results and discussion, and (5) Conclusion

To begin with, chapter 1 provides a general overview of the study, starting with the context and aims of the study Later in this chapter, the two research questions are stated followed by the significance of the study The delimitation and organization of the study come in the end

The second chapter lays the foundation for the study, providing the conceptual framework for designing the research tools The next chapter presents the methodology utilized to conduct the study, including a detailed description of the sampling and participants of the study followed by the research tools and procedures

to collect data as well as data analysis

Chapter 4 presents the framework of analysis, discussion of the results, and summary of major findings The last chapter comes up with the conclusion of the study, and offers some suggestions for the administrators, teachers and learners alongside some recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter builds up the conceptual framework of the study, beginning with the definition of cognitive strategies together with the discussion of characteristics and importance of cognitive strategies Then aspects of reading comprehension are presented In the last place, it provides a summary of certain theoretical cognitive strategies in English reading comprehension that can be withdrawn from this review

“cognitive” means being related to this process Based on this definition, cognition is also believed to be related to different specific activities happening in a person‟s mind like thinking, remembering, perceiving, recognizing, classifying, etc (Richards & Schmidt, 2002) In its relation to the processing of information, cognition seems to direct toward the goal of comprehending, storing, and retrieving of information (Williams & Burden, 1997; Purpura, 1999)

One thing that requires our attention is the various uses of the term „cognitive‟ of different authors In fact, most of the authors use this term with the above-mentioned meaning The exception seems to lie on Oxford (1990) who uses the term “direct” with the same meaning This is reflected in her taxonomy of learning strategies in which she divides learning strategies into two groups, one of which is direct strategies According to this author, the group of direct strategies includes one subgroup called cognitive strategies The result is that she uses the term „cognitive‟

with a more restricted meaning implying exclusively the process of understanding and producing new language In other words, in this author‟s thinking, the term „direct‟ is broader than „cognitive‟ pertaining to meaning and includes the latter In this study, it

is believed that the terms “cognition” and “cognitive” should be used in the broad sense covering all the processes of comprehending, storing, and retrieving of information rather than their being used by Oxford (1990) Therefore, the term

“direct” will be replaced by the term “cognitive” and the latter will be used throughout this study in its broadest sense

In short, “cognition” and “cognitive” are concepts that refer to the mental processes that happen in a person‟s mind with the purpose of comprehending, storing, and retrieving of information

2.1.2 Strategy

Etymologically, it is believed that the term „strategy‟ takes root in the Greek

language The Greek term for this word is strategia from the word „stratēgos‟

meaning “generalship”, “to lead an army”, “art of leading an army” or “the art of war” (Longman; Merriam-Webster; Oxford, 1990) However, a quick look at different resources, such as Longman, Oxford, Merriam-Webster dictionaries shows that this term is frequently used with three areas of meaning, those of the war setting, a plan in general toward a goal, and the process or procedure of planning something Based on these definitions, one may find it really worth thinking about these aspects of this term: First, strategy is perceived as an activity concerning more with the mental part

of the person who is working on it It is also mentioned as „conscious manipulation‟ (Oxford, 1990), „mental operation‟ (Barnett, 1989) or „cognitive process‟ (Richards & Schmidt, 2002; Grabe, 2009) Second, strategy comes along with a goal or target Or put it more precisely, strategy is used to achieve a goal, target or objective (Oxford, 1990; Richards & Schmidt, 2002) Third, the concept of strategy can be expanded in its application to different settings, not just in the military one As Oxford (1990) mentions, one can view it from the point of view of a military setting and a non-

military one Finally, as a skill, it can be of great benefit to the person who uses it These aspects are clearly interesting, useful and important to a strategy and make this concept something worth studying and applying wherever it is appropriate This explains why for the last few decades the concept „strategy‟ has been examined, explored, and developed widely and deeply in different situations including the discipline of education, especially in second and foreign language teaching and learning

To sum up, the term “strategy” refers to the way of management or leadership that happens in the cognitive side of the person who is using it Along with it is a goal

or target and it can be applied in different settings Besides, it can also turn into a skill

in managing or leading an event or phenomenon when being used competently

2.1.3 Learning strategies

Definition of learning strategies

As mentioned above, strategy can be applied in a non-military, especially educational, setting and is known as learning strategies Therefore, when it comes to discuss the definition of learning strategies, one would be immediately reminded of the application of the concept “strategy” in a specific setting Indeed, the term itself reveals this fact as it directly makes it clear that there is a type of strategies that is used in this particular context However, a complete definition of learning strategies seems impossible as literature suggests

There have been several definitions discussed by researchers in the last few decades since learning strategies became the focus of attention of researchers and educators in this area (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986; Chamot, 1987; Rubin, 1987; Oxford, 1989; Oxford, 1990; Riding & Rayner, 1998; Purpura, 1999; Ellis, 2001; Cohen, 2011; etc.) Let us take a look at some popular definitions suggested by different researchers First of all, Chamot (1987) defines learning strategies as

“techniques, approaches, or deliberate actions that students perform to facilitate the

learning and recall of both linguistic and content area information” (p 71) Another researcher, Rubin (1987), concludes that “learning strategies are strategies that the learner constructs and that affect learning directly, contributing to the development of

a target language system” (p 22) Nunan (1999) defines learning strategies as “the mental and communicative procedures learners use in order to learn and use language” (p 171) Hall (2001) defines that “learning strategies are goal-directed actions that are used by learners to mediate their own learning (p 92) However, one that has been widely used and accepted by most people (for example, Wu, 2008) as well as considered relatively comprehensive and sufficient is that of Oxford (1990) saying that “learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (p 8)

One thing that needs our attention is how different these definitions are from one another Most of the above-mentioned authors agree that learning strategies are behaviours, actions or thoughts used by the learners However, their view of the objectives or aims for the learners‟ rendering those strategies is not unanimous In the case of Weinstein & Mayer (1986), a learner is thought to make use of learning strategies just to influence the encoding process In other words, their definition of learning strategies is limited to the bottom-up aspect of language learning process This view is shared by Rubin (1987) when she refers to learning strategies as those

“contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly” (p 23) Therefore, this limits the number of learning strategies and fails to see their impact on other aspects of language learning process

It is interesting that Chamot (1987) states a broader view including both the bottom-up and top-down aspects of the language learning process when referring to learning strategies as facilitating the learning and recalling of “both linguistic and content area information” Oxford (1989, 1990) uses the most general term “language learning” and therefore, covered all aspects of language learning process In fact, these two aspects are of primary importance in the language learning process, especially in English reading comprehension as discussed in more detail in the later

section of this chapter However, one obvious advantage that this view creates is a wider range of particular strategies that can be used to deal with issues relating to the language learning process

The history of the definition of learning strategies shows that it has been developed toward a broader perspective alongside the expanding understanding of the learning process Take, for example, the case of Cohen‟s (2011) definition when he defines language learner strategies this way: “Thoughts and actions, consciously chosen and operationalized by language learners, to assist them in carrying out a multiplicity of tasks from the very onset of learning to the most advanced levels of target-language performance” (p 7) Here the learning process includes both the receptive and productive dimensions and as Purpura (1999) defines, learning strategies can even be invoked in language testing setting Put it differently, learning strategies is getting wider and wider in use and scope and richer and richer in number What has just been discussed should therefore serve as a reminder to us that learning strategies, strategies that are used in educational settings, play a key role in language learning and potentially affect that process greatly At the same time, it should be noticed the relationship between learning strategies and the learning process when studying learning strategies of any kind

Features of learning strategies

Learning strategies possess different characteristics that should be examined closely

In fact, several researchers have come up with a good number of such features For example, Wenden & Rubin (1987) describe six features while Oxford (1990) mentions twelve of them Another author, Ellis (2001) lists eight characteristics of learning strategies However, in the scope of this study only some prominent ones will

be discussed as follows:

First, learning strategies promote the role of learners in the learning process A review of literature regarding how learning strategies have been defined shows that these strategies can be „engaged‟ (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986), „taken‟ (Chamot, 1987; Oxford, 1990), „used‟ (Oxford, 1989; Nunan, 1999; Ellis, 2001; Hall, 2001), „selected

and controlled‟ (Anderson, 1999), „acquired‟ (Riding & Rayner, 1998), „made use of‟ (Richards & Schmidt, 2002), etc by the learners This shows the active role of the learners when employing these strategies to deal with certain language matters As Oxford (1990) puts it, teachers will move towards the role of a facilitator, helper, guide, etc while students become more independent and take more responsibility (pp 10-11)

Second, the prime orientation of learning strategies is problem-solving Except for Ellis (2001) who states clearly in his work that strategies “are used to solve some learning problem” (p 533) and Wenden (1987) believes “strategies are problem-oriented” (p 7), other authors seem to mention this indirectly and refer to the goal or objective or purpose of strategies instead However, it is obvious that difficulties do exist behind and hinder learners from achieving their goal or objective The role of learning strategies is no other than to be the solutions to those difficulties and enables learners to reach where they want to

Third, it is interesting to notice how learning strategies are related to the two aspects of language: bottom-up and top-down As discussed in the previous section, researchers have had a tendency to examine learning strategies in relation to the nature of language learning process As Richards & Schmidt (2002) explain, learners use learning strategies “to work out the meanings and uses of words, grammatical rules, and other aspects of the language they are learning” (p 301) Problems and difficulties in learning a language arise during the learning process and therefore they are surely connected to these two aspects Learning strategies reflect the characteristics of the aspect that they are aimed to serve as solutions This foretells the types of strategies corresponding to the aspects of the skills in general and the reading process in particular

Fourth, learning strategies can influence the learning process directly and indirectly (Wenden & Rubin, 1987; Oxford, 1989; Ellis, 2001) On the one hand, they may help the learner deal directly with the new language Learning strategies that serve in this aspect are called direct strategies in Oxford‟s (1990) term On the other hand, they may impact the learner‟s management of the learning of new language

Oxford (1990) calls them indirect strategies The former is the focal target of this study

In short, learning strategies can manifest at least four characteristics First, they promote the role of learners in the learning process Besides, they are problem-solving Another feature of learning strategies is that they are related to the bottom-up and top-down aspects of language Last of all, they can influence the learning process directly and indirectly Those features of learning strategies are essential to our understanding of the concept They help us see more clearly how a language learner is related to his/her learning process through the medium of the strategies themselves Therefore, a study on any specific learning strategies should take these features into consideration

Types of learning strategies

One may find it meaningful to take into consideration what Oxford (1990) said regarding the understanding and categorization of learning strategies According to this author, what we have known about this area is limited because of the “infancy” of our understanding of language learning strategies So is our ability to produce an all-perfect categorization of learning strategies Therefore, we must accept the fact that any classification is relative and that there may exist differences or even “conflicts” among researchers in this respect The following are some common and widely accepted classifications

Researchers may put learning strategies in different amounts of groups depending

on how they think those strategies belong to Cohen (2011) mentions three main ways

to classify language strategies: language learning vs language use strategies, language strategies by skill area, language strategies by function The classification of learning strategies into meta-cognitive, cognitive, affective, and social groups is the example

of the third way (p 19) The number of types can be two (Oxford, 1990), three (O‟Malley & Chamot, 1987; Rubin, 1987), or four (Richards & Schmidt, 2002)

Rubin (1987) suggests three kinds of strategies: learning strategies, communication strategies, and social strategies (p 23) According to this author, learning strategies consist of two subcategories, those of metacognitive and cognitive strategies Under each of these two types, there are several general strategies and specific ones as well: six cognitive learning strategies, at least three metacognitive strategies Also five social strategies and a number of communication ones are mentioned

O‟Malley & Chamot (1987) distinguish three types of learning strategies, under which there are a number of specific strategies These types are cognitive strategies with fifteen specific strategies that will be discussed in detail in the next section, metacognitive strategies with eight specific strategies, and social/affection strategies with only two specific strategies (as cited in Ellis, 2001, pp 537-8)

Two other authors, Richards & Schmidt (2002), mention four categories of learning strategies: cognitive strategies with three specific strategies, metacognitive strategies with three specific strategies, social strategies with two specific strategies, and resource management strategies with one specific strategy (p 301)

As mentioned earlier, Oxford (1990) divides learning strategies into two groups based on the direct or indirect influence that they have on the learner‟s learning process and the new language information Under each group there are different types

of strategies The group of direct strategies includes memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and compensation strategies The other group consists of metacognitive strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies The number of memory strategies

is ten; cognitive strategies fifteen; compensation strategies ten Metacognitive strategies consists of eleven strategies; affective strategies ten; and social strategies six

The classification of learning strategies shows the relationship among different kinds of strategies that can be used by language learners Despite the differences in the way they have been grouped, their existence in those lists helps us see the role of these strategies in different researches, especially in this study when cognitive

strategies are emphasized Cognitive strategies are an important element of learning strategies Therefore, they bear many characteristics of the latter One ought to pay attention to learning strategies for better understanding of cognitive strategies

namely the direct impact of cognitive strategies on the new language to be learnt

The definitions of cognitive strategies that are suggested by other researchers are somewhat slightly different from that of Richards & Schmidt (2002) in that they do not mention the relationship of cognitive strategies and learning ones, probably because it is so obvious However, the element of directness of cognitive strategies to the learning materials in the learning process is emphasized Take, for example, the definition proposed by Rubin (1987) that defines cognitive strategies as “the steps or operations used in learning or problem-solving that require direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials Cognition consists of those processes or strategies through which an individual obtains knowledge or conceptual understanding” (p 23) Or in O‟Malley & Chamot‟s (1990) definition, cognitive strategies are “more directly related to individual learning tasks and entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning material” (p 8)

In some cases, a definition of cognitive strategies can be so briefly or generally defined and explained that these two prominent traits may be omitted or ignored For example, Oxford (1990) considers cognitive strategies as tools “for understanding and producing the language” (p 14) Or in Chamot & Kupper‟s (1989) definition,

cognitive strategies are understood as approaches “in which learners work with and manipulate the task materials themselves, moving towards task completion” (p 14) This, however, should not be taken as that these authors disregard or underestimate the role of those facts; rather, it is just that they do mention and elaborate them at another time

The definition of cognitive strategies that Williams & Burden (1997) present reflects a different aspect that is quite important and influences the way Purpura (1999) groups cognitive strategies in his research In that definition, “cognitive strategies are seen as mental processes directly concerned with the processing of information in order to learn, that is, for obtaining, storage, retrieval or use of information” (p 148) Here the specific aspects of the manipulation of the learning material that other authors mention are stated clearly through the three processes of obtaining, storage, and retrieval of information The result is that the cognitive strategies assumed by Purpura (1999) are divided into three groups corresponding to these three processes

One thing that needs our attention here is the difference in the way Oxford (1990) uses the term “cognitive strategies” in comparison with the way those authors that are mentioned above do Unlike them, Oxford (1990) considers cognitive strategies as one group of direct strategies and together with memory strategies and compensation strategies, they form the group of direct strategies This is important as it affects the number of specific cognitive strategies that each author suggests For instance, the list

of Oxford (1990) consists of 15 cognitive strategies while that of Purpura (1999) has

12 In addition, some strategies in Purpura‟s list fall into Oxford‟s lists of memory and comprehension strategies

In this research, it is believed that cognitive strategies are actions that are related

to the processes of knowing, understanding, and learning something, and deal directly with the learning information or materials with the purpose of helping learners comprehend, store, or retrieve information This understanding will serve as the foundation for the remaining sections of this study

2.2 Characteristics of cognitive strategies

Cognitive strategies possess and reveal many distinctive characteristics In the first place, as discussed in the previous section, cognitive strategies are related to the mental or conscious and intellectual side of human brain The definitions presented by Williams & Burden (1997), Rubin (1997), O‟Malley & Chamot‟s (1990), andRichards & Schmidt (2002) reflect this quite clearly Another author, Brown (1994), says that cognitive principles “relate to mental and intellectual functions” (p 16) Oxford (2011) understands that “cognition refers to the mental process or faculty of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and certain kinds of judgements” (p 46)

Secondly, the definitions given by Richards & Schmidt (2002), Rubin (1987), O‟Malley & Chamot (1990), and Oxford (1990) also emphasize the element of

“directness” of cognitive strategies in relation to the language to be learned in general and the specific activities in the learning process This is a distinctive feature belonging to cognitive strategies Oxford (1990), therefore, has a good reason to include this group of strategies in the category of direct strategies As reflected in her classification of learning strategies, cognitive strategies was put under the direct group

of strategies because of its own nature, namely, being in direct contact with “the new language” (Oxford, 1990) or “incoming information” (Richards & Schmidt, 2002) to

be learned

Thirdly, cognitive strategies can be employed in different skills The definitions

of cognitive strategies that were mentioned are stated in a quite general scope to the extent that they can be identified with learning strategies This implies the diversity of cognitive strategies in relation to the skills in learning English Put it differently, different skills may require different cognitive strategies, despite the fact that some

strategies may be suitable and able to apply to more than one skill

Fourthly, cognitive strategies can be either bottom-up or top-down in nature As literature shows, several researchers agree to divide cognitive strategies into two groups reflecting this aspect: bottom-up cognitive strategies and top-down cognitive

strategies (Block, 1986; Carrell, 1989; Davis & Bistodeau, 1993) Bottom-up processing, as Richards & Schmidt (2002) put it, “makes use of the information present in the input to achieve higher level meaning” while the top-down one “makes use of “higher level”, nonsensory information to predict or interpret “lower level” information that is present in the data” (p 557) In the learning process, learners are thought to use these strategies to work on different levels of the mental process in order to reach the full understanding of the learning materials The normal procedure

is that the learner starts with the bottom-up strategies to deal with sentence level and then continues with the top-down ones to handle the wider context of the learning materials (Barnett, 1989; Carrell, 1989; Aebersold & Field, 1997)

Finally, cognitive strategies are in close relationship with the schema theory Put

it differently, one may find how this theory operates in and through cognitive strategies In schema theory, the most important element is the schemata, which are also the background knowledge They are activated to help learners during the comprehending process by “allowing them to process and interpret new experiences quickly and efficiently” (Richards & Schmidt, 2002, p 469) They are also stored in learners‟ memory to form new background knowledge and retrieved when necessary Besides, they are even used to help the storing process

In conclusion, there are five main features that cognitive strategies possess First, they are related to the mental or conscious and intellectual side of human brain Second, they deal “directly” with the language to be learned in general and the specific activities in the learning process Next, cognitive strategies can be employed

in different skills Fourth, cognitive strategies can be either bottom-up or top-down in nature Finally, they are in close relationship with the schema theory The understanding of the characteristics of cognitive strategies, therefore, contributes positively to the understanding of how cognitive strategies may be used in different skills and stages of the learning process To see the relationship between cognitive strategies and the learning of a certain skill in language learning and determine the cognitive strategies used in that situation, one should not bypass this aspect of cognitive strategies

2.3 Importance of cognitive strategies

The importance of cognitive reading strategies is undeniable whether it is in the broadest level of language learning strategies or in the nearer one of cognitive strategies or in the aspect of reading strategies As Oxford (1990) puts it, “strategies help learners take control of their learning and become more proficient” (p 22) The findings that Cohen (2011) mentions show that there are five reasons for language learner strategies: to enhance learning, to perform a specified tasks, to solve specific problems, to make learning easier, faster, and more enjoyable, to compensate for a deficit in language proficiency (pp 29-31) All these reasons are all positive and encouraging Another author, Richards & Schmidt (2002), confirms the importance that language learning strategies hold by emphasizing that “the teaching of reading strategies and helping learners understand and manage the use of strategies is thought

to be an important aspect of the teaching of second or foreign language reading skills” (p 444) Trabasso & Bouchard (2002) shares this view by encouraging teachers to

teach and allow students to use reading comprehension strategies (p 184)

Many researchers who have conducted studies in the area of learning strategies also find out that the use of learning strategies helps improve the proficiency of language learners Take, for example, Wu (2008) who concludes that “higher proficiency EFL students use learning strategies more often than lower proficiency EFL students, especially cognitive, metacognigive and social strategies” (p 75) Ma

& Ma‟s study shows that there is a “close relationship between using reading strategies and students‟ reading proficiency” and therefore they encourage the

“reading strategy instruction in the regular classroom reading activity” (p 11)

In a narrower scope, cognitive strategies are also proved to be of great benefit to language learners Again, we can find this in Wu‟s (2008) study when he comments this way: “Regarding the relationship between language learning strategy and English proficiency, it was found that cognitive strategies had the strongest influence.” (p 75)

Another researcher, Khezrlou (2012) finds that “the consciousness-raising of the

cognitive strategies had a positive impact on the reading development of speaking students” (p 1).

Persian-Likewise, reading strategies in general and cognitive reading strategies in particular are of great importance to English language learning, particularly reading comprehension skill Li & Wang‟s (2010) study shows “the importance of reading strategies” and that “reading self-efficacy was significantly positively related to the use of reading strategies in general and the use of three subcategories of reading strategies: metacognitive strategies; cognitive strategies; and social/affective strategies, in particular” (p 144) Besides, a number of researchers (Salataci & Akyel, 2002; Phakiti, 2003) have argued for cognitive reading strategies regarding their help

to language readers or learners when understanding the written text The common conclusion one may find is that readers who use more of cognitive reading strategies are better readers (Anderson, 1999) Similarly, McDonough & Shaw (1993) states that

“in many cases an efficient reader appears to use what are called „top-down‟ and

„bottom-up‟ strategies” (p 109) Sun (2011) found that “cognitive reading strategies significantly correlate with reading achievements” and it plays “important roles in reading comprehension” (p 1)

There have also been some studies that show neutral or even opposite findings regarding the impact of learning strategies on learners Zare-ee (2007), for example, points out that little significance between reading achievement and the use of cognitive strategies was found in his study Shang (2010) finds that cognitive strategies are least frequently used by the participants of the study among the three reading strategies (cognitive, metacognitive, and compensation strategies) and that

“reading strategies were unrelated to reading achievement” (p 18) Other researchers, Shue, Wang, & Hsu (2013) find that cognitive strategies rank the last among the six subcategories of strategies in terms of frequency of strategy use among the students and that indirect strategies are used more widely than direct ones However, they also conclude that “EFL learners need strategies in language learning” (p 129)

In summary, cognitive reading strategies are important to English language learners and therefore, every effort in attempting to understand them is invaluable and

of great benefit to those who want to improve their reading skill in English

2.4 Aspects of reading comprehension

2.4.1 Definition of reading comprehension

The term „reading‟ can be understood in two ways depending on the nature and distinctive features that it may show As Richards & Schmidt (2002) mention, reading can be referred to as „silent reading‟ as the reading process is done in a silent mode with the primary purpose of understanding the contents of a written text On the other hand, reading can be „oral reading‟ when a written text is read aloud “with or without

an understanding of the contents” In either case, the understanding that the reader acquires from the process is normally called „reading comprehension‟ (p 443) What

is then the meaning of understanding? According to Grellet (2008), “understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” (p 3) This idea is also shared by Sweet & Snow (2002) The required information that is mentioned by these authors is in fact quite diverse and can be distinguished into different kinds as Richards & Schmidt (2002) did The diversity is thought to be based on “the reader‟s purposes in reading” (p 443) Therefore, Richards & Schmidt (2002) mentioned four types of reading comprehension as follows:

Table 2.1 Types of reading comprehension (adapted from Richards & Schmidt, 2002, p 443)

Literal comprehension Reading in order to understand, remember, or recall

the information explicitly contained in a passage Inferential comprehension Reading in order to find information which is not

explicitly stated in a passage, using the reader‟s experience and intuition, and by inferring

Critical or evaluative

comprehension

Reading in order to compare information in a passage with the reader‟s own knowledge and values

Appreciative comprehension Reading in order to gain an emotional or other kind

of valued response from a passage

The four types of comprehension in the table above can be taken as corresponding to four different levels in reading In the first place, the reader simply decodes and works on what is stated on the printed page In other words, the extraction of information is happening at this stage Through inferential comprehension, the reader starts using his/her prior knowledge to extract hidden information that lies behind the printed page Then in the third level, the reader does the judging work on both the explicit and implicit information that he/she has extracted based on his/her own knowledge The purpose is to discover the similarities

or differences in order to gain more insights In the last place, with the information gained from the previous levels, the reader can move forward to form emotional response to that information This level can make the information last in the reader‟s mind either as a positive or negative experience

Reading comprehension is then „an active process‟ as Silberstein (1994) and Anderson (1999) put it The reader needs to be “actively involved” and work hard or

„intensively‟ as well as deal with possible problems to reach the satisfactory level of understanding of the written text (Nuttal, 1996) It is noted that this is even true in the case of oral reading without an understanding of contents This implicitly suggests the potential role of cognitive strategies in the reading comprehension process as the reader may need to use them to understand or get to the required information

In short, reading comprehension is the process in which the reader interacts with the printed text in order to extract both explicit and implicit information that the writer expresses This process may continue as the reader compares the information he has gained with his own knowledge and forms possible emotional responses to it

2.4.2 Aspects of reading comprehension

The writer, the reader, and the text

As discussed in the previous part, the element of understanding is crucial in the reading comprehension process The meaning of the written text is therefore the target that the reader heads for (Nuttal, 1996) This explains why Sweet & Snow (2002) put

it that the extraction and construction of meaning from the reading text is the primary goal of reading

Most researchers agree that reading comprehension happens in relation to the participation of the reader and the written text (Rumelhart, 1994; Anderson, 1999; Alderson, 2000; etc.) This is not without a reason Anderson (1999) makes a good point and shows how these two elements are relating to each other when he writes:

“Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning Meaning does not reside on the printed page, nor is it only in the head of the reader A synergy occurs in reading which combines the words

on the printed page with the reader‟s background knowledge and experiences” (p 1) Other writers (Anderson & Pearson, 1984; Afflerbach, 1990; Nuttal, 1996; Meneghetti, Carretti, & De Beni, 2006) also share this view

However, the danger is that there seems to exist the neglect of the role of the writer who plays an important role in the formation of the written text As Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000) explain, the reading process consists of “at least three participants: the writer, the text, and the reader” and the reading process is “the dialog between the reader and writer via the text” (p 119) It is true that the written text is frequently considered as the representation of writer‟s intentions However, there are many more things that the reader should do to understand better the written text than just merely grasp the meaning of the text The reader needs to understand the writer too Nuttal (1996) implies this when she explains that the reader and the writer have shared assumptions in terms of language, the world, etc

Therefore, the suggestion is that there should be a harmony among these three factors: the writer, the reader, and the text (Hudson, 2007) It is the responsibility of the reader to bring about this harmony by getting the information contained in the text and at the same time, combining it with what he/she has known about the writer in order to reach a harmonious understanding

Modes of processing in reading comprehension

To reach such a harmony, it is necessary for the reader to grasp the most possible understanding of the written text This can only be done through the help of the modes

of processing in reading comprehension When it comes to explain the process that language is understood by learners in reading comprehension, researchers often mention two important modes of language processing, those of bottom-up processing and top-down processing (Richards & Schmidt, 2002; Hudson, 2007; Oxford, 2011)

Bottom-up processing, as Oxford (2011) puts it, “involves perceiving and decoding almost every letter or word in order to grasp the meaning” (p 245) The reader, at this stage of the reading process, seems to be trying to understand these written words of the written text as they are and form the most possible meaning they can Or as Alderson (2000) puts it, the reader is “looking at print, deciphering in some sense the marks on the page, „deciding‟ what they „mean‟ and how they relate to each other” (p 3) We can agree with Richards & Schmidt (2002) when they state that this type of processing “makes use of the information present in the input to achieve higher level meaning” (p 557) The potential danger that the reader may face when understanding the written text at the bottom-up stage is that they may misunderstand

or fail to get to the writer‟s original implications for the text due to certain hindrances, such as reader‟s inadequacy of world knowledge, differences in point of view between the writer and the reader (Nuttal, 1996) This results in the necessity of the second mode of processing that is called the top-down processing

Oxford (2011) states that “top-down processing refers to a mode in which learners combine their own background knowledge with information they obtain from the text in order to understand the text” (p 243) The reader is thought to be trying to understand the text at different levels as he/she experiences the ideas that are embedded in the written text Of course this is done based on what he/she has achieved during the bottom-up processing as Richards & Schmidt (2002) puts it: top-down processing makes use of “higher level”, nonsensory information to predict or interpret “lower level” information that is present in the data (p 557) Another author, Hudson (2007) even goes further when he mentions that “reading involves the interaction of an array of processes and knowledges It involves decoding skills such

as letter recognition, higher-level cognitive skills, such as inferencing, and interactional skills, such as aligning (or not aligning) oneself with an author‟s point of view” (pp 10-11) What is notable here is the possible attitudes and emotions that the reader brings along when interacting with the written text

These two modes of processing can appear in different levels of a written text As Richards & Schmidt (2002) put it, it can be „word‟, „sentence‟ or „novel‟ level (p 557) In other words, a reader can apply both of these two processing modes when they are coping with any word, or sentence, or the whole of the written text.

What we can infer from this information is that the reader may encounter obstacles in both these modes when reading a written text because of the complexity that they bear Besides, the fact that the writer is not present during the reading process makes it all the more difficult for the reader to be certain about the meaning that he/she develops from the reading text As a result, the reader needs to make use

of necessary tools or tactics to overcome those problems to understand the text Put it differently, they need to render different strategies to cope with their reading comprehension

To sum up, there are two modes of information processing in reading comprehension that the reader should use At first, the information is processed at the

surface of the printed text when the reader uses bottom-up processing to decode all the information printed After that, the reader uses the top-down processing to interact with the author based on the information extracted from the bottom-up processing with the help of other prior and own knowledge The final product of these two modes

of processing can be taken as the satisfactory comprehension expected by the reader

2.4.3 Reading strategies

Basically, the definition of reading strategies involves two concepts: the strategy and the reading comprehension As described earlier, „a strategy‟ can be understood as „a process‟ (Hudson, 2007), „an operation‟ (Barnett, 1989), „an activity‟ (Garner, 1987),

or „a behaviour‟ (Afflerbach, Pearson, & Paris, 2008) that happens in a person‟s mind when dealing with or performing an action In this setting, it is the reader‟s mind where such a strategy occurs The reading comprehension factor, with its primary purpose of reaching the meaning of a written text, seems to serve as the goal or target for that particular strategy

There have been a number of researchers discussing the definition of reading strategies Hudson (2007), for example, defines that “a reading strategy can be described as any interactive process that has a goal of obtaining meaning from connected text, and reading skills operate within the context of such reading strategies” (p 107) Another author, Garner (1987) considers reading strategies as deliberate and planned activities employed by readers According to Barnett (1989), the term “strategy means the mental operations involved when readers purposefully approach a text to make sense of what they read” (p 66) Richards & Schmidt (2002) gives a simple definition saying that reading strategies are “ways of accessing the meanings of texts, which are employed flexibly and selectively in the course of reading” (p 444) Obviously, these authors reflect the connection between the strategy and the reading comprehension as mentioned earlier In this research it is believed that a reading strategy is a process that the reader makes use of to understand

a written text better or overcome a certain obstacle in the reading process In this sense, a reading strategy can be bottom-up or top-down in nature (Brown, 1994)

One thing we should pay attention to is that reading strategies are part of language learning strategies According to Grabe (2009), “reading strategies have often been embedded within broader discussions of L2 language-learning strategies and communicative strategies” (p 208) This is obvious as reading comprehension skill is just one of the different skills that a language learner should learn There exist language-learning strategies that can be applied to other skills as well However, in its turn, reading strategies are a generic concept too as they can be categorized into different sets, such as metacognitive reading strategies, cognitive reading strategies, etc In the scope of this study, only cognitive reading strategies are of special interest These strategies can be plainly understood as cognitive strategies that the reader uses

in reading comprehension As cognitive strategies, they are ones that deal directly with the learning language in reading skill Certainly, the primary purpose of using these strategies is no other than helping the reader reaches comprehension at the highest level

In summary, reading strategies are mental operations that the reader applies to understand the reading text They can be of different kinds, one of which is cognitive reading strategies The particular cognitive reading strategies to be investigated in this study will be discussed in detail in the next part

2.5 Theoretical cognitive strategies in English reading comprehension

Despite the fact that cognitive strategies are useful, helpful and vital to the learner and the language learning process, not all cognitive strategies can be applied to English reading comprehension In the limit of this study, forty cognitive strategies are believed to be applicable to reading comprehension and discussed below They are put into four different groups according the four aspects in English reading comprehension: i) understanding the meaning of new words (9 strategies); (ii)

remembering the meaning of new words (6 strategies); (iii) understanding sentence structure (6 strategies); and (iv) understanding the content or ideas of the reading text (19 strategies)

2.5.1 Cognitive strategies for understanding the meaning of new words

One of the obstacles that learners may face in English reading comprehension is that

of understanding the meaning of new/unknown words There are several cognitive strategies that these learners can use to deal with this issue

The first strategy is named as placing new words into a context in Oxford‟s work while O‟Malley & Chamot (1987) refers to it as „contextualization‟ According to O‟Malley & Chamot (1987), this cognitive strategy means “placing a word or phrase

in a meaningful language sequence” This strategy can be applied to achieve different purposes For example, Oxford (1990) considers this strategy as one that belongs to memory strategies because she sugessts that the learners, in trying to remember new words or phrases or expressions that they have read, place them in a meaningful context However, in English reading comprehension learners can use and analyze sentences that contain the new/unknown words to grasp the meaning This strategy can also be used by teachers to help their students by supplying examples with the new/unknown words and instructing their learners discovering the meaning of that particular word

Another cognitive strategy is guessing intelligently using context clues This strategy, according Oxford (1990), is one of compensation cognitive strategies and makes use

of nonlanguage or conceptual knowledge to guess the meaning of what learners read Being a comprehension strategy, it holds the importance of “enabling learners to use the new language for either comprehension or production despite limitations in knowledge” (p 47), as Oxford (1990) confirms Some particular clues for this resource are definition, example, comparison, contrast, explanation, etc Learners may infer the meaning of the unknown word by means of these clues