Role of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies in L2 Reading Comprehension Ability

Abstract

The present research is an attempt to investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and reading comprehension ability. The study has implications in the context of developing L2 reading comprehension ability. The data were collected from 40 ESL learners studying in BA (Hons) program at the department of English, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. MARSI (Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory) was used as one of the data collection tools with slight modifications. The other instrument used to collect data was a reading comprehension test. The data were analysed through quantitative means by using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Pearson Product-moment Correlational test was applied to measure the relationship between the variables. The results revealed that a highly significant positive correlation exists between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and reading comprehension ability of the ESL learners.