A Study On The Differences Of Meta-cognitive Strategies In English Reading Between High Level Learners And Low Level Learners Of Senior High School

Meta-cognition is the cognition and the self management of cognitive process.Meta-cognitive strategies refer to the cognitive activities which can plan,manage,monitor,and evaluate cognitive behaviors.The object of these activities is not a specific problem but other cognitive activities.It is generally believed that Meta-cognitive strategies refer to four main learning strategies including planning,management,monitoring and evaluation.Reading is a unique cognitive process.Meta-cognitive strategy plays an extremely important role in the process.However,in the practice of high school English reading,students’ reading level is uneven,and many students with low reading level seldom use meta-cognitive strategies,which leads to the low level of reading comprehension.Mainly using quantitative research questionnaire and qualitative research method of think-aloud,this paper focuses on the differences of meta-cognitive strategies used by senior high school students and puts forward some suggestions to improve the reading proficiency of students with low level according to the results of the study.The research mainly solves the following three questions:1.In the process of reading,whether high school students are involved in the use of meta-cognitive strategies? 2.What is the relationship between English reading proficiency and meta-cognitive strategies? 3.What are the differences between students with high reading level and students with low reading level when using meta-cognitive strategies(the meta-cognitive strategies that they use and the frequency)?Firstly,based on investigating 100 students in Xuanhan high school,Sichuan province,the author conducted a questionnaire survey and collected the preliminary data and made the measurement and analysis of the data.Secondly,the author also chose some students(named the high and low reading level students)to conduct a think-aloud research,to further explore the level of reading and reading strategies used by students with different levels.The results are as the follows:(1)In the process of English reading,students have different degrees when using meta-cognitive strategies,while the degree of meta-cognitive strategy’ usage is generally low.The total strategy and four sub-strategies also belong to the low degree,and the difference of evaluation strategy is the most obvious.Among them,the monitoring strategy is highest(2.97),but the planning strategy and the evaluation strategy belong to the low degree(2.27、2.49 respectively).(2)Meta-cognitive strategies are positively related to the level of English reading.That is to say,readers with high level of meta-cognitive strategy have higher results and vice versa.So it is necessary for senior high school students to have the awareness of meta-cognitive strategy and train these strategies.(3)Through the think-aloud research,on the whole,both high and low levels involve the meta-cognitive strategies,but the former is higher than the latter.Among them,the difference of the evaluation strategy is the most obvious,but for both of them,the use level is not high,which reminds us to strengthen the teaching.