Investigating Metacognitive Reading Strategies in Academic Reading Among Japanese Female University Students

Abstract

This paper investigated the relationship between metacognitive reading strategies at pre-, during-, and post-reading stages among two English groups: Higher-level and Lower-level. Eighty-four participants were first-year Japanese female university students enrolled in a study abroad program. A twenty-seven-item questionnaire was conducted in the Intensive Reading Class to investigate the frequency of use at each stage. The result found that Higher-level students tend to use the strategies significantly at the post-reading stage. A factor analysis was performed identifying two factors at the post-reading stage: Reflection on Reading Materials (Factor 1) and Reflection on Reading Process (Factor 2). An independent samples t-test was performed to compare these factor scores between the two groups. There was a significant difference in Factor 1. This suggests that Higher-level students tend to reflect more on the content of the reading topics. This indicates the importance of the reflection at the post-reading stage.