2.3. The awareness of reading strategy use
2.3.2. The role of the awareness of reading strategy use
Over the last decade, numerous studies have been conducted in order to investigate the awareness of using strategies in reading. And, there is consensus that awareness and monitoring of one’s comprehension process are critical ‘aspects of skilled reading, because successful reading comprehension is “not simply a matter of knowing what strategy to use, but the reader must also know how to use it successfully” (Anderson, 1991, p. 19). This is why the following of this sub-section reviews the results of previous studies on the awareness of strategy use in order to see it's importance to students in learning reading.
In assessing students’ awareness of strategies, researchers like Barnett (1988); Carrell (1989); O’Malley & Chamot (1990); Anderson (1991) and Pressley & Afflerbach (1995) indicated that the awareness especially metacognitive awareness is crucial to proficient reading.
Barnett (1988), for example, investigated the effects of the awareness of strategy use on reading comprehension. The subjects were 278 university students enrolled in a French course. To collect the data for the study, Barnnet first required students to complete a prior knowledge questionnaire and read an unfamiliar passage. Then they were asked to write a recall composition on the passage. Next, they read another unfamiliar passage and completed a test which assessed their ability in using contextual information. The test required the students to select the most appropriate phrase, sentence or paragraph to continue the passage. The students then completed a questionnaire on their perceived strategy use. Findings of the study seemed to indicate that there was a linear relationship between the awareness of strategy use and reading comprehension. Students who used better strategies in reading performed better than students who did not use effective strategies.
Carrell (1989) carried out a study to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness and reading comprehension in L1 and L2. The study involved students from two language backgrounds Spanish L1 and English LI university students. The Spanish L1 students were learning ESL while the English students were learning Spanish as a foreign language. To measure the students’ reading ability in L1 and L2, they answered two sets of multiple choice reading comprehension questions for each language. Then they completed a metacognitive questionnaire about reading in both languages. The metacognitive questionnaire comprised four sections: self-confidence, repair strategies, effective reading strategies, and finally, reading difficulties. Although students among different groups showed their different choice of strategies, the results indicated that proficient students are more aware of the characteristics of the text and the strategies they use while reading and therefore they are better at monitoring their understanding than less proficient students. In addition, thanks to the awareness of the difficulties that proficient students encounter they can adjust their reading such as speeding up or slowing down to get some background information about the text. Finally, the study came to conclusion that the awareness of reading strategy use seemed to be related to reading ability and also be an important component in reading comprehension.
O'Malley & Chamot (1990) suggested that good readers are more able to monitor their comprehension than poor readers and they are more aware of the strategies they use and they use them more flexibly than poor readers. Good readers adjust their strategies to the type of text they are reading and to the purpose for which they are reading. They distinguish between important information and details as they read, they use context more efficiently and are able to relate new information with information already stated, as well as to notice inconsistencies in the text and employ strategies to make these inconsistencies understandable (O’ Neil, 1992; Paris, Wasik, & Turner, 1991).
Anderson (1991) concluded from his study that both advanced and low L2 readers may use the same kind of strategies, but the more proficient readers tend to use a higher number of different strategies and are able to orchestrate their use more effectively.
Studies conducted later have supported the findings of Anderson (1991) (e.g., Yang, 2002; Zhang, 2001, 2002; Zhang et al., 2008) and also further confirmed the role of awareness in successful L2 reading.
Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) after examining 38 published studies that used think- aloud protocols to explore native speakers’ strategy use, discovered that efficient readers are constructively responsive readers, who are able to use strategies more effectively and flexibly than inefficient readers. The finding of the study establishes a direct relationship between the awareness of reading strategy use and reading proficiency.
It can be concluded that there is a positive correlation between the awareness of reading strategy use and reading comprehension and researchers who conducted studies above agreed that the awareness of reading strategy is a contributor to ESL students’ reading comprehension. They indicated that students at a higher awareness of reading strategy use can be easier to understand what strategies to use and thus they can be more able to control and adjust their reading comprehension than students at low awareness of reading strategy use. The awareness of reading strategy use, indeed, plays very important role in reading comprehension. This therefore encourages the researcher to investigate the awareness of reading strategy use among students in FSD at HANU. The following section discusses about the previous studies on the awareness of reading strategy use.