An overview of metacognitive strategies in reading comprehension skill

Abstract

A universal agreement among scholars is that reading is one of the most difficult skills to develop a high level of proficiency for foreign language learners. A vast amount of research within the field of foreign language has indicated that reading comp- rehension is an interactive, constructive, meaning-making process, also entails the use of certain skills, and specific components. In that sense, the concept of metacognition is a valuable and a critical tool in reading comprehension skill. Because, both experimental and descriptive studies claimed that metacognitive strategies play an outstanding role in enhancing comprehension in reading. Therefore, the use of metacognitive strategies in the reading process has been considerably supported as a remarkable aid for its positive effects of employing in reading process. With the ever-growing significance of metacognitive strategies, this review study mainly aims to indicate the necessity of teaching metacognitive strategies to the students and shed light on metacognitive strategy use in reading skill in English as a foreign language (EFL). Namely, this paper attempts to explore the necessities of using metacognitive strategies and their functions through the reading comprehension literature. Furthermore, the views of prominent scholars about the use of metacognitive strategies and the raising of metacognitive awareness in reading comprehension skill are elobarated from different perspectives. To this end, the current study is framed around to provide a deep and clear understanding about close relationship between reading and reading comprehension process, and then certain different definitions and the functions of metacognitive strategies in reading are presented. Afterwards, diverse taxonomies of metacognitive strategies in literature are explored. Additionally, the relation between metacognitive strategies and reading comprehension in EFL classrooms is deeply explained. Finally, alternative effective metacognitive reading strategies and strategy-based models are represented to promote the employment of metacognitive stategies among EFL readers.