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ABSTRACT
The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate what metacognitive reading strategies students use
in expository texts; (2) to discover how they use the strategies in actual reading tasks; and (3) to explore what
similarities and differences exist between the actual use of strategies among high reading proficiency students
(HRPSs) and low reading proficiency students (LRPSs). The samples were 84 surveyed students from grade 12
studying at Burirampitthayakhom School purposively selected and divided into two groups: 51 HRPSs and 33
LRPSs. The research instruments for data collection included: (1) MARSIS survey questionnaire, (2) reading
proficiency test, (3) think-aloud protocols of two expository texts, (4) semi-structured interviews, and (5)
observations of reading sections. The statistics for data analysis included, mean, standard deviation, and
independent samples t-test. The significant difference was set at the level of .05. The quantitative results
showed that the Thai EFL surveyed students used all three groups of metacognitive reading strategies at high
levels. More specifically, problem solving reading strategies were reported as the most frequently used
strategies; global reading strategies were the next most used strategies, and support reading strategies the
least often employed. The HRPSs used problem solving reading strategies the most, followed by global reading
strategies and support reading strategies; whereas, the LRPSs employed problem solving reading strategies the
most, followed by support reading strategies and global reading strategies, respectively. The order of use of the
metacognitive reading strategy groups used by the HRPSs and LRPSs was rather similar. However, the t-test
results found that there were statistically significant differences at .05 levels in all of the three subsections
reported to be used by the HRPSs and LRPSs. The qualitative analysis of the results indicated that participating
students at different academic levels were aware of metacognitive reading strategies when engaged in
academic reading. Key reading strategies used by these students included adjusting reading speed and
selecting strategies for different purposes, using prior knowledge, inferring text, marking text, focusing on
typographical features, and summarizing. When encountering challenges in reading comprehension, the
students interviewed said they used context clues, re-read, and depended on supportive resources. |
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