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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600
2nd International Conference on Higher Education Advances, HEAd16, 21-23 June 2016,
Valncia, Spain
Abstract
This article reports on a small-scale intervention that examined the effective implementation of metacognitive strategies to
reading comprehension, in the frame of a metacognitive pedagogical model, at the Eurasian National University with the 2nd year
students who was tught Englsh s foreign language, during 15 weeks. We divided them into two groups s control nd
experimental according to FCE pre-testing so the levels of reading comprehension of both groups were equal. Our research
included 3 stages: a) preparation; b) active work; c) analysis. As a result we worked out the practical teachers manual GUIDE
on using metacognitive strategies in teaching reading comprehension with some assignments and tasks to the short texts that can
be useful both for teachers and for the students who are on the way of improving English language learning and teaching.
Therefore we conclude that metacognition means thinking about thinking and it is a relatively new field that is concerned with a
learners awareness of her/his own knowledge, cultural ideas and thoughts. Frm the results f ths stud we summed up that the
prtcpnts acquired metcgntve reading strteges and ther perceptns reveled mprtnt mplctns but the
develpment f redng cmprehensn thrugh shrt stres. Hence, the proposed Guide shuld be tken nt ccunt t d bth
techers nd students n the lnguge cqustn prcess.
2016
2016TheTheAuthors. Published
Authors. by Elsevier
Published Ltd. Ltd.
by Elsevier This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of HEAd16.
of HEAd16
*
Corresponding author. Tel. +77015011899
E-mail address: rozazhusupova@rambler.ru
1877-0428 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of HEAd16
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.091
594 Roza Zhussupova and Meruyert Kazbekova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600
1. Introduction
Rding is dfnd s n ntrtiv cgntv press in whh rdrs ntrt with txt nd uthr's
prspctvs related to dms (2007), Wgnr & Tnnnbum (2007), ldrsn & Urquhrt (2004), Bkr &
Brwn (2004), Grb (2009). Raders awreness, mnitring and rgulting of these strategies while reading are
called as metacognitive according to Flavell (1976) metacognition is a childs knowledge about and control over his
or her own thinking process and learning activities such as: reading. Moreover, the concept of metacognition
includes thinking about the thinking process, self-awareness, understanding, and memory techniques and learning
characteristics as noted Flvll (1979). In 2008 Cllns & Smth highlighted metacognitive strategies that helped
students to focus their attention in an understanding of the content and to make connection between past knowledge
and new information. The aim of metacognitive strategies is to teach students how to set objectives and how to be
effective and independent was emphasized by Bkr (2002). In 2009 Bkr & Bll deepened that metacognitive
strategies are related to how we think and learn including three skill techniques: planning, monitoring and
evaluation. In the beginning of reading assignment students must be informed on how to use their planning,
monitoring and evaluation skills. It is of great importance to improve the questioning skills of students in the process
of teaching metacognitive strategies. Studies on metacognition and reading comprehension reveal the strong relation
between the uses of strategies, awareness and reading comprehension as Brwn (1980), Prs & k (1986).
The urgency of the small-scale intervention consists in the new approach to the problem teaching reading
comprehension through using metacognitive strategies. The scientific novelty of the research is that this kind of
strategies are not yet used in Kazakhstan where English is taught as a foreign language. So th purps s to fnd th
ws ut f existent prblms n tchng rdng cmprhnsn b suggstng model f metacognitive strategies.
Moreover to achieve the purpose we set the following bjectves: t define th ssnc f mtcgntn; t
dtrmn th m nd ntur f tchng rdng cmprhnsn; t mprv th rdng sklls by using short
stories; t wrk ut mdl f tchng rdng cmprhnsn; t mplmnt th mdl f mtcgntv strtgs
and t cmpr th rsults; and to work out GUIDE on using metacognitive strategies in teaching reading
comprehension.
Ths reserch s cnducted nt t cnfrm r dscnfrm erler fndngs, but rther t cntrbute t prcess f
cntnuus revsn nd enrchment f understndng. S the fllwng stud ws nt med t demlsh ther
reserchers vews n ths prblem but t prvde Kzkhstn eductnl sstem wth detled dt but lcl
stutn n techng nd lernng f fregn lnguge. Much f wht s knwn but the w students perceve
Roza Zhussupova and Meruyert Kazbekova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600 595
redng cmprehensn, lern Englsh nd mprve thnkng sklls thrugh metcgntve strteges s bsed n
techers nd reserchers ntutns. nd the stud ws develped nd desgned t nvestgte Kzkhstn
students tttudes nd lernng redng cmprehensn stres n EFL clssrm. t the sme tme, cnducted
reserch dspls benefts nd drwbcks f shrt stres durng lernng nd techng f the trget lnguge. We
ls pln t explre the cmplex ssctns mng cntexts f nstructn, student chrcterstcs nd techer
chrcterstcs nd hw the supprt r fl t supprt, s sstem, students redng cmprehensn gns.
The stud tk plce at the Eurasian National University in three groups of students of speciality Foreign
language: two foreign languages. The ttl number f students prtcpted n the stud ws 60 nd we tught them
Basic Englsh Curse. Prtcpnts were the 2nd year students wth ntermedte level f Englsh lnguge
cqustn. We dvded each group nt tw subgrups nd B s cntrl grup () nd expermental grup (B)
b FCE redng test so the levels f the grup members n bth grups were the sme. Totally our experimental
learning lasted from September till December 2014. We gave lessons per 3 hours in a week. As a matter of fact the
group used materials according to Curricula. The manual was very complicated; the teaching material - texts, songs,
speech in general were authentic and written in modern language. The structure of the exercise book was well-
planned, easy in usage and to understand. The exercise system was chosen according to the standards and includes
such variants of tasks as pre-, while- and post stages. Generally speaking, the book was constructed in proper way.
Students had educated enough to understand our speech and communicate with each other. To tell the truth the
learners were very active and alive-alert participants at the lessons of the English language. All the students had
good and excellent marks, they could catch the idea and information from the first time and used it their speech. The
atmosphere of the class was propitious and helped to acquire good results in English learning process.
3.2. Cllectn Dt
In rder t be ble t cmpre btned dt b usng dfferent reserch methds of ths stud we used dfferent
nstruments lke:
1. Pre-nvestgtn test: n rder t dvde the clss nt tw grups.
2. mplementtn tsks: t mpl the mdl f mtcgntv strtgs.
3. Pst-nvestgtn test: t check the effectiveness of mprvement n redng cmprehensn deepl
Our methdlg t cllect dt ws verstle. t the ver begnnng f our expermentl wrk the students were
sked t wrte the First Certificate English Reading Test. The purpse f ths exm ws t determne the levels of
students in redng cmprehensn. These questns were selected t lern but the prtcpnts knwledge f
Englsh languge. We ls ntended t get glmpse f wht the hd experenced erler whch culd hve shped
ther lnguge lernng perceptns, behvrs, nd tttudes. The exm ncluded 4 (fur) prts f redng pssges
tht hve structured s multple chce test. The tme durtn f the exm ws 1 hur 15 mnutes. The test ws used
t dentf the students cmprehensn skll n Englsh lnguge. Ths exm ws gven t students befre the plt
stud n cse t dvde students nt tw grups s ech grup hd t cntn the students wth the smlr level s
the ther grup. Special attention of ths exm was t cler up the levels f the students redng cmprehensn
becuse the students hd dfferent levels. So after gvng shrt ntrductn t our study students were asked t
wrte the exam nd then we decided t state students comprehension levels according to their answers.
As an evaluation we used ten-mark system that widely spread in foreign language teaching:
x Low (1 -2 points) x Sufficient (7-8 points)
x Satisfactory (3-4 points) x Excellent (9-10 points)
x Average (5-6 points)
The results f redng cmprehensn of both groups in pre-nvestgtn test are shown below correspondingly
in Tble 1 nd Tble 2:
Tble 1. The result f FCE redng test in Cntrl grup while ssessing redng cmprehensn.
596 Roza Zhussupova and Meruyert Kazbekova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600
Tble 2. The result f FCE redng test in Expermental grup while ssessing redng cmprehensn.
According to the Table 1 and Table 2 we had divided the students into two groups which were the same in
number of students, knowledge, gender, race, and with the identical comprehension levels. For instance, in both
groups there are about 10% of excellent students, sufficient 17% and 16%, average 20% and 21%, satisfactory
both 53%. So Control and Experimental groups were equally in number of students with excellent, sufficient,
average and satisfactory comprehension levels. Pre-nvestgtn test helped us t dentf ne f the resns f ther
dfference n level f Englsh that further t helped us s teachers t use pprprte methds nd pprches n
techng redng cmprehensn. Thus the students of both groups were identical but they were different in teaching
approach that was varied. The first group was Control with traditional system of teaching English as reading stories
and answering the questions. The second was training with Experimental teaching model of using our proposed
Guide on using Metacognitive Reading Strategies.
Generalizing theoretical basis of metacognition we suggested to work out the teachers manual GUIDE on using
metacognitive strategies in teaching reading comprehension focused on the mdl f mtcgntv strtgs
including the following strategies (Figure 1):
x promoting self-questioning
x thinking aloud while performing a task,
x making graphic representations.
The advantages of the tutorial are both in the theoretical study of the important issues of the metacognitive
studies and the intention of the authors to lay down the subject-matter in reading short stories.
Here is proposed the necessary programmed materials: the theoretical information, illustrations (schemes,
models), glossary on the theme, and list of the main and additional literature, exercises, assignments, control and
resulting frames (tests, programmed tests and answers), references to the internet-sources
Roza Zhussupova and Meruyert Kazbekova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600 597
ntcpte des nd wrds n the text ndcting appropriate plces t puse. We asked them to stp nd thnk lud
but wht the uthr mght be sng or suggested.
Prt 2: Learn students to trace the strteg n the same text.
We cntnued redng the shrt str and sked students t thnk critically but the tpc s they had red. fter
we had fnshed, we sked students t wrte n ther reder-respnse jurnals, expressng des r emotions tht the
hd but wht the uthr ws trng t s. fter students fnshed, we proposed them t shre ther respnses nd
t dscuss wh these des were mprtnt t them s the red.
Prt 3: Learn students t ppl the strteg t nther text.
The gl f the lessn was to give students an opportunity t be ble t ppl wht the hve lerned t future
redngs. We predicted: Wht re we gng t d s we red the next str?, Thnk but wht we re redng s
tht we cn shre wth ur des wth yur frends n the clss. We listened to the students crefull s they red
lud r cnducted nther shred redng sessn. Moreover we asked them t recrd t lest ne mjr de n
ther jurnls nd then shre ther respnses n smll grup r wth prtner. f students hd questns but the
text, we encurged ther students t suggest nswers.
Then the hd been dng ordinary ctvtes lke clze test, true/flse tsks, fll n the gps tsks, nd etc. relted
to the texts n ther curse bks n redng prts f ech unt according to the syllabus. Ths knd f ctvtes were
appropriate fr the 2nd year students because tkng nto cnsderation tht the were nt only n the w f lernng
lnguge, the were mostly n the prcess f mprvng Englsh s fregn lnguge. Fr ths purpse we
implemented n pprch t tech redng cmprehensn. s we ll knw tht redng s the mst effectve w n
lnguge cqustn. The prpsed pprch s mdule f metcgntve strteges tht helps students t
understnd the text deeper nd mprves ther thnkng sklls.
During their experimental teaching we observed students in both groups and after this lesson we tested students.
Accrdng t their answers we cme up t the following results of the Control grup (Tble 3).
The Table 3 shows that there were only 26% of students had got excellent metacognitive comprehension, 35% -
sufficient, average 21% and satisfactory 16% in the Control group. It illustrated that most students used
metacognitive strategies unconsciously or even did not use them. In fact this number of students was very few and
these students may had acquired low metacognitive comprehension.
As we had implemented the teachers manual GUIDE on using metacognitive strategies in teaching reading
comprehension focused on the mdl f mtcgntv strtgs with the Experimental group we could see their
results (Table 4).
The Table 4 shows the results of the Experimental group were higher. There were 44% of students had got
excellent metacognitive comprehension, 40% - sufficient, average 10% and satisfactory 6% demonstrating that
most students used metacognitive strategies consciously and they acquired low metacognitive comprehension.
According to the analysis of results in the Tables 3 and 4 we conclude that metacognitive reading strategies cant be
developed itself without training. Students may improve their superficial reading comprehension that means, they
may relate words, phrases and sentences written in the text, but deeper understanding of the text needs a helping
hand of a teacher who can lead the students to the big thinking while implementing teaching metacognitive
strategies in language acquisition. Now we pointed out that production of metacognitive reading strategy capitalized
on the creative talents of students and consequently they took a great pride in the finished product and in seeing their
efforts projected on a screen in front of their peers while engaging the entire class. In addition, student collaboration
of reading production or peer editing of narrative text revealed moments of engagement, leadership, and students
taking control. Furthermore, metacognitive reading strategies provided a meaningful vehicle for assessment.
We cntnued gvng shrt stres fr hme redng nd skng the smlr questns tht led students t thnk
wder nd deeper. All lessn pln were rgnzed t wrk wth one text. Bth grups red the sme stres durng
the nvestgtn but metcgntve strteges were used nl n the Expermental grup. More importantly, it should
t fnd nterestng nd sutble fr students level shrt stres nd thse re wrld lterture s well, fr nstnce,
The lst lef b Henr, The sht b lexnder Pushkn, The mn wth the scr b Wllm Smerset, etc.
s result f mprvement f students metcgntve cmprehensn we were gvng the lst shrt str tht we
used n our stud. The str was The mbtus Guest b Nthnel Hwthrne. The lnguge f the str was
pprprte fr the ntermedte level cntning 4 (fur) pges. Ths str ws ls gven s hmeredng.
Students shwed ther wllng t red the shrt str wth exctement. When the tme cme t dscussn we strted
t sk questns b usng metcgntve strteges and we observed that students were red t nswer any questns
b raising a hnd actively and motivating. n cmprison wth the frst text we sw n mprvement n redng
cmprehensn, nd msterng metcgntve strteges f students n the Expermental grup.
The lst tsk ws gven t bth grups t fnd ut the effectveness f metcgntve strteges whle the ther
grup - Cntrl grup hdnt used the prpsed strteges, just redng ll shrt stres thrugh ut. Besides Control
group read all the short stories that the experimental one but they did these tasks in a traditional way in order to
check their reading comprehension. At the end of the practical implementation we tried to analyse the results of both
groups in comparison to identify their differences in experimental teaching. Group A is the Control group and Group
B Experimental one. In fact we see that the first group stays at the same level, 52%, but the second group increases
its metacognitive reading comprehension skills up to 84% (Figure 2).
Figure 2 depcts the evdence f resnble mprvement f ntermedte level students n redng
cmprehensn. Redng strteges dscussed fter the pre-test gve the pprtunt t mprve the results n pst-
test. Grup B s 52% tht shows students metcgntve cmprehensn s pr, while Experimental group
results 84%, more higher. The cnducted experment s suppsed t help the students t mprve redng sklls as
600 Roza Zhussupova and Meruyert Kazbekova / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 228 (2016) 593 600
gret help t mprve ther thnkng sklls. Redng lessn b usng metcgntve strteges thrugh shrt stres
mde the students lern the redng cmprehensn strteges nd evaluate critically durng the redng.
Therefre, the bjectve f ths small-scale intervention ws t determne hw lerners perceve the redng
cmprehensn strteges fcusing n the students mprvement f redng cmprehensn thrugh shrt stres,
qulttve reserch desgn approved to be pprprte and helpful. The mn gl f research ws t demnstrte
tht metcgntve strteges hve ther plce n lnguge techng nd tht the shuld be used n techng redng
becuse lernng lnguge s nt nl mastering grmmr, vcbulr, and beng ble t red nd cmmuncte n
the foreign lnguge but ls mprve t cmprehend the reading pssge deeper nd understnd the wrtng stle f
dfferent wrters. In practical approbation we worked out the teachers manual GUIDE on using metacognitive
strategies in teaching reading comprehension that integrates metacognitive reading strategy instruction into any
English classroom and provides evidence that effective metacognitive reading strategies manual can improve for
adolescent students English reading achievements. Overall, our implemention the teachers manual GUIDE on
using metacognitive strategies in teaching reading comprehension focusing on the mdl f mtcgntv
strtgs is a beneficial and valuable mechanism for improving the four-skill areas of English language
competency. Having been through the practical process, we strongly believe that the metacognitive strategies
approved as a perfect technique of foreign language learning and teaching with intermediate-level learners
additionally it is also engaging, motivating, and creative.
n cnclusn, the results f ths stud hve shwn tht, n spte f sme drwbcks, the prtcpnts perceved the
use f metcgntve strteges. Ther perceptns reveled mprtnt mplctns but the develpment f redng
cmprehensn thrugh shrt stres. Therefre, these results shuld be tken nt ccunt t d bth techers nd
students n the lnguge cqustn prcess.
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