An Action Research On Metacognitive Reading Strategies Of Skillful And Struggling English Learners In Senior High School

Reading is a complex and interactive process in English as a Second or Foreign Language(ESL/EFL),and students usually struggle in constructing meaning and understanding text because they lack the specific strategies necessary for efficient reading.In addition,the New English Curriculum Standard(2003)makes clear requirements for senior high school students' application of learning strategies.However,little attention has been paid to investigating Chinese senior high school students' metacognition in their reading process and reading achievement,and even less attention to struggling learners.Thus,this present action research aims to make a comparison in the application of the metacognitive strategies of skillful and struggling learners and attempts to explore the effectiveness of metacognitive strategy training for struggling learners in the Chinese senior high school context,which focuses on the following questions:1.What is the current situation of using metacognitive strategies by senior high school students in English reading?2.What are the differences in using metacognitive reading strategies between skillful and struggling learners?3.What are the effects of metacognitive reading strategy training for the skillful and struggling learners?The research participants are 57 students of Class 12 Grade Two in the High School Attached to Bohai University,with 11 regarded as skillful learners and 10 as struggling learners.During the research period of 16 weeks,both pre-and post-tests,and pre-and post-questionnaires on metacognitive reading strategies were given to provide data for quantitative analysis with the help of SPSS.A well-designed metacognitive strategy training program was undertaken to instruct the students' metacognitive strategies in their reading process.Apart from these,semi-structured interviews and verbal reports served as data for qualitative analysis.Here are the research results:First,the current situation of using metacognitive strategy is at a medium frequency level.Meanwhile,compared with skillful learners among all the subjects under investigation,the struggling learners have their distinctive patterns of strategy use.Last but not least,skillful learners and struggling learners have increased their awareness of strategy use in varying degrees,and the English reading achievement of struggling learners has improved significantly.In light of the findings,the research provides a clear insight of the effectiveness of metacognitive strategies in the process of reading,and also contributes to consolidating the necessity of metacognitive reading strategy training for the struggling learners.