Metacognitive Awarenessof Reading Strategies Useamong Undergraduatesof Different Nationalitiesin Learning English Language

This study investigated metacognitive awareness of reading strategies employed by international undergraduates. It aims to investigate the frequency of different categories of metacognitive reading strategies employed by the respondents when reading academic texts in English. It also examines the hypothesis whether there is any difference between respondents’ nationalities and their metacognitive reading strategies employed. The sample of the study were thirty international engineering undergraduates from three countries, Yemen, Indonesia and Palestine. The instruments used in the study was a questionnaire which comprised thirty items developed from MARSI (Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory). Results showed that the respondents employed more supporting strategies than global and problem-solving metacognitive reading strategies. Yemenis were found to employ more metacognitive reading strategies than Palestinians and Indonesians. However, there was a little or nearly no significant difference between learners’ nationalities and their metacognitive awareness of reading strategies employed. All respondents showed positive attitudes towards employing metacognitive reading strategies when learning English. Henceforth, every ESL learner should attempt to employ more metacognitive reading strategies in ESL learning as they can be employed regardless the nationalities.