A closer look at the relationship of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use to EFL reading achievement test performance

This article reports on an investigation into the relationship of test-takers’ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to the EFL (English as a foreign language) reading test performance. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The 384 students enrolled in a fundamental English course at a Thai university took an 85-item, multiple-choice reading comprehension achievement test, followed by a cognitive-metacognitive questionnaire on how they thought while completing the test. Eight of these students (4 highly successful and 4 unsuccessful)were selected for retrospective interviews. The results suggested that (1) the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies had a positive relationship to the reading test performance; and (2) highly successful test-takers reported significantly higher metacognitive strategy use than the moderately successful ones who in turn reported higher use of these strategies than the unsuccessful test-takers. Discussion of the findings and implications for further research are articulated.