Learners’ Perceptions of Strategy Use in EFL Reading Comprehension
Tasnima Aktar, University of York (United Kingdom)
Ilias Ahmed, Jahangirnagar University (Bangladesh)
Abstract
It is now argued that learners’ perceptions of strategy use are important and this is significantly associated with their achievement in EFL reading comprehension. In order to ascertain this association, this study carries out an investigation to substantiate the existing findings and to reveal the correlation between learners’ reported perceptions of strategy use and their reading scores among higher secondary level EFL learners in Bangladesh. Specifically, the study tries to answer five research questions concerning learners’ evaluation of themselves as readers, their evaluation of a reading task in terms of difficulty, their use of comprehension and repair strategies, their use of effective reading strategies, and the relationship between strategy use and EFL reading comprehension. For this investigation, 148 twelfth grade students from urban, suburban and rural colleges of different districts in Bangladesh had been selected. The data were collected via a modified Metacognitive Awareness Strategy Questionnaire (MASQ) and a reading comprehension test, and then were analysed using statistical tools available in SPSS. The results of the study show that the students do not exhibit a good understanding of reading comprehension; they find themselves moderately able to comprehend a reading text. It also shows that learners’ perception of effective reading strategies are positively related to their reading comprehension, and learners’ perception of difficulties in reading is moderately related to their reading comprehension. Based on these findings, it can be recommended that learners need to raise more awareness so as to use different reading strategies more frequently in order to achieve better EFL reading comprehension. Besides, the teachers should facilitate learning through instructing strategies in the classroom, and the course materials should also include strategies and instruction of them. Finally, scope for future study is recommended.