The Influences of Metacognitive Awareness on Reading Comprehension in Iranian English Undergraduate students in Kerman, Iran

Reading is a very complex process, and readers need to actively engage the text to understand the intended message of the author. Readers, by employing the appropriate reading strategies, can understand texts more efficiently and not waste too much time and energy to comprehend the given text. The aim of this research is to examine the role of metacognitive awareness on reading comprehension among students in English undergraduate studies at Azad University of Kerman, a province in Iran. Data were collected by questionnaire from 81 Iranian EFL undergraduate students of English. The results of Pearson Correlation analyses showed a significant moderate positive relationship between metacognitive awareness and reading comprehension (r= - 0.416, p<.01) where students who asserted using effective reading strategies also appeared to achieve higher reading abilities. Results confirm that being aware of reading metacognitive strategy considerably affects reading comprehension. The findings suggest that the students who are aware of a range of efficient reading strategies can significantly enhance their reading ability. The final conclusions of the paper include a discussion about pedagogical implications of the results.