The Metacognitive Reading Strategies Employed by Jordanian English as a Foreign Language Students at Al-Balqa Applied University

Abstract

This paper reports a study that investigated the general use of met- cognitive reading strategies by Al-Balqa Applied University EFL students. The Survey of Reading Strategies Questionnaire (SORS) ( Mokhtari and Sheory, 2002) was administered to the 86 male and female participants during the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics to reveal the frequency and type of strategies utilized by the sample participants. The results obtained illustrated that Al-Balqa Applied University EFL learners are high users of the three types of meta-cognitive reading strategies (M = 3.6023, S.D. = 1.3189), and the most frequently used strategies were problem solving (M = 3.8081, S.D. = 1.0610), followed by support strategies (M = 3.5393. S.D. = 1.2301), and then global strategies (M = 3.5169, S.D. =1.5392). It is recommended that further studies of this kind should be conducted to achieve a deeper understanding of Jordanian EFL learners’ strategy use. Further studies dealing with how the gender and major of the students affect their use of these strategies are also of great importance. Studies like these can assist teachers and curricula planners deal more successfully with the future needs of the educational sector in Jordan.

Keywords: Metacognitive, Reading Strategies, Support Strategies, Global Strategies, Problem Solving Strategies, English as a Foreign Language (EFL).