Text Structure Awareness As A Metacognitive Strategy In The Comprehension Of Science Texts: The Case Of Bokoji Preparatory School Grade 11 Natural Science Stream Students

Abstract

Despite the fact that there are a significant number of research findings in the area of ESL/EFL strategic reading, metacognitive reading strategies are reported to be the least researched. Moreover, most of the existing metacognition studies themselves focused on ESL context, where English is used as an official language and/or as a medium of instruction, or where individuals can easily pick up the language due to their proximity to fluent speakers of the language. However, a number of factors, such as the nature of L1 and the socio-cultural context of the learner are known to affect her/his use of metacognitive strategies. Additionally, the study of text structure as a metacognitive strategy has been mainly confined to literary and narrative texts, more specifically to native speakers’ reading comprehension and in higher education context. On top of this, there is no consensus among researchers on the significance of metacognitive instruction on students reading comprehension performance as well as recall of information from a learnt material. Above all, the reading comprehension performance of Ethiopian preparatory schools has also been reported to be continuously deteriorating. Hence, this experimental design research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of text structure awareness as a metacognitive strategy in the comprehension of science texts. To this end, two independent samples randomized experimental study was designed. Three instruments of data collection, namely, reading comprehension tests, metacognitive text structure awareness reading strategy questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were developed. The analysis of independent samples t-test indicated that students in the experimental group, who received metacognitive strategy awareness instruction, achieved significantly higher scores in posttest reading comprehension and knowledge retention tests than those in the control group. Additionally, a paired sample test was conducted on the participants in the experimental group and it showed a significant improvement in the group’s posttest reading comprehension scores. Furthermore, a metacognitive text structure awareness reading strategy questionnaire that was administered to the students in the experimental group after the experimental intervention showed that text structure awareness level of significantly improved. The finding from the qualitative analysis of the interview also backed up the finding of the quantitative data. The current research recommends further experimentally controlled studies to investigate the online use of metacognitive strategies and real effect of these strategies on different texts, more particularly descriptive texts among EFL learners of Ethiopia. Additionally, English and science teachers at preparatory level need to collaborate on metacognitive text structure awareness instruction and material preparation to improve the academic performance of science students.