RETHINKING CROSS-LINGUISTIC TRANSFER OF METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY AMONG MOROCCAN UNIVERSITY ESP STUDENTS

Mouchrif Hassan, Mokhtari Najat, Benzehaf Bouchaib

Abstract


The explicit instruction of Metacognitive Reading Strategies (MRSs) has emerged as a significant trend in educational cognitive psychology research. The scarcity of studies focusing on MRS instruction for enhancing reading comprehension among university-level English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students in Morocco prompted the current investigation. This study aimed to investigate the impact of MRSs on reading comprehension among Moroccan university ESP students and to examine the potential transfer of MRSs from L2 (French) to L3 (English) following an MRS-based intervention program. A total of 105 ESP students from a school specializing in management and artificial intelligence were recruited and divided into three groups: treatment group one (n=40), treatment group two (n=35), and a control group (n=30). The study employed a quasi-experimental design, utilizing pre-tests and post-tests, including reading comprehension tests in both L2 and L3 and the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory-Revised (MARSI-R) by Mokhtari et al. (2018). The ANOVA analysis demonstrated that the MRS program significantly enhanced the reading comprehension performance of ESP students (p<0.001). Notably, students with higher levels of English proficiency outperformed those with lower proficiency. Furthermore, the marked improvement in L3 reading comprehension scores (p<0.001) suggested the transfer of MRSs from L2 French to L3 English. Interestingly, the MARSI-R results indicated that language proficiency did not significantly affect strategy awareness, as both experimental groups (A1 & B1+) showed substantial improvements in their awareness of various MRSs. The study concludes with potential implications and recommendations for incorporating MRS instruction in the Moroccan ESP context.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


metacognitive reading strategies, explicit strategy instruction, ESP reading comprehension, strategy transfer, Moroccan ESP learners

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aghaie, R., & Zhang, L. J. (2012). Effects of explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies on Iranian EFL students’ reading performance and strategy transfer. Instructional Science, 40, 1063-1081. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11251-011-9202-5

Ahangari, S., & Mohseni, F. (2016). The effect of awareness raising through metacognitive strategy-based instruction on ESP learners’ reading comprehension. Journal of English Language Pedagogy and Practice, 9(18), 65-77. Retrieved from https://journals.iau.ir/article_526520.html

Ajideh, P., Zohrabi, M., & Pouralvar, K. (2018). The effect of explicit instruction of metacognitive reading strategies on ESP reading comprehension in academic settings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(4), 77-86. Retrieved from https://journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJALEL/article/view/4453

Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/The_CALLA_Handbook.html?id=pQHVAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Cummins, J. (1991). Interdependence of first-and second-language proficiency in bilingual children. Language processing in bilingual children/Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1991-98324-004

Dhieb-Henia, N. (2003). Evaluating the effectiveness of metacognitive strategy training for reading research articles in an ESP context. English for Specific purposes, 22(4), 387-417. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(03)00017-6

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry. American psychologist, 34(10), 906. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.906

Flavell, J. H. (1994). Cognitive development: Past, present, and future. In R. D. Parke, P. A. Ornstein, J. J. Rieser, & C. Zahn-Waxler (Eds.), A century of developmental psychology (pp. 569–587). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10155-020

Flavell, J. H. (2013). 1 Structures, Stages, and Sequences in Cognitive Development. In The concept of development (pp. 1-28). Psychology Press. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203781050-1/1-structures-stages-sequences-cognitive-development-john-flavell

Hosseini, S. A. H., & Amirkhani, Z. (2024). The Impact of Explicit Strategy Instruction on ESP Medical University Students’ Reading Proficiency. International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, 11(6), 325-338. Retrieved from https://ijmmu.com/index.php/ijmmu/article/view/5926

Huynh, H. T. (2024). Teaching Metacognitive Strategies in Reading through CALLA to Non-English Major Students in a Vietnamese University. Vietnam Journal of Education, 18-28. https://doi.org/10.52296/vje.2024.282

Jou, Y. J. (2015). Investigation of Technological University Students' Use of Metacognitive Reading Strategies in First and Second Languages. English Language Teaching, 8(1), 180-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n1p180

Khoshsima, H., & Samani, E. A. (2015). The most frequent metacognitive strategies used in reading comprehension among ESP learners. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 6(1), 180-188. Retrieved from https://journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/alls/article/view/1274

Mokhtari, K., & Reichard, C. A. (2002). Assessing students' metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Journal of educational psychology, 94(2), 249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.2.249

Mokhtari, K., & Sheorey, R. (2002). Measuring ESL students' awareness of reading strategies. Journal of developmental education, 25(3), 2-11. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kouider-Mokhtari/publication/285641803_Measuring_ESL_students%27_awareness_of_reading_strategies/links/5666234608ae418a786f3da5/Measuring-ESL-students-awareness-of-reading-strategies.pdf

Mokhtari, K., Dimitrov, D. M., & Reichard, C. A. (2018). Revising the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and Testing for Factorial Invariance. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(2), 219-246. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1183996.pdf

Pae, T. I. (2019). A simultaneous analysis of relations between L1 and L2 skills in reading and writing. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(1), 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.216

Razkane, H., & Diouny, S. (2024). Cognitive retroactive transfer of metacognitive reading strategies from English (L3) into French (L2) among trilingual learners. International Journal of Multilingualism, 21(2), 1092-1115. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2144325

Seiradakis, E. V., & Spantidakis, I. (2018). Online course design and materials development for teaching reading of research articles to EFL undergraduate students at a Greek technical university. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 285-296. Retrieved from https://espeap.junis.ni.ac.rs/index.php/espeap/article/view/698

Stebner, F., Schuster, C., Weber, X. L., Greiff, S., Leutner, D., & Wirth, J. (2022). Transfer of metacognitive skills in self-regulated learning: Effects on strategy application and content knowledge acquisition. Metacognition and Learning, 17(3), 715-744. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11409-022-09322-x

Talebi, S. H. (2012). Reading in L2 (English) and L1 (Persian): An Investigation into Reverse Transfer of Reading Strategies. English language teaching, 5(3), 217-229. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n3p217

Terzić, B. B. (2015). Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies among ESP students regarding their prior education. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 3(2), 257-268. Retrieved from https://espeap.junis.ni.ac.rs/index.php/espeap/article/view/246

Thongwichit, N., & Buripakdi, A. (2021). A Glimpse of Metacognitive Reading Strategy Instruction through Modeling Technique in ESP Class at the Tertiary Level. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 14(1), 118-145. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1284477.pdf




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v9i6.5865

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2015 - 2026. European Journal of English Language Teaching (ISSN 2501-7136) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing GroupAll rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).