awej 5 no.4 full issue 2014

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.3, 2014Metacognitive and Cognitive Strategy Use and PerformanceAssiritask contained constructed-response items that called for the provision of short, open-endedanswers to information questions. Each of the four tasks had five items on the test.Data collectionAt the time of the test, it was brought to students’ attention that they should complete thequestionnaire―attached to the test―once they are finished with the test. To motivate students tocomplete the questionnaire, they were told that they would be rewarded two extra points in theirtotal grades for the subject. Students were allowed forty minutes to complete the test. Strategydata were collected immediately after the test to ensure the elicitation of data specific to the test.The researcher, the instructor of the subject, was available all the time to guide students throughthese procedures and answer any questions.Data analysisTo prepare data for analysis, composites for strategy scales and subscales were produced byadding up scores on relevant strategy items on the questionnaire and dividing the totals by thetotal number of relevant strategy items. This method controls for error effects that are due to aparticipant’s random selection of responses (Schmidt & Hunter, 1999). Each of the task types onthe reading test was scored out of five; and so, the total score on the test added up to 20. Thescores were used to symbolize the overall test performance as well as individual performances onthe four task types.Table 2. Descriptive statistics of strategy and performance variablesN Minimum Maximum Mean SD Skewness KurtosisMetStrs 98 2.14 5.00 3.60 0.65 -0.38 -0.11PlanStrs 98 2.00 5.00 3.81 0.75 -0.53 -0.26MonStrs 98 1.40 5.00 3.24 0.91 -0.23 -0.68EvaStrs 98 2.00 5.00 3.77 0.76 -0.37 -0.77CogStrs 98 2.18 4.68 3.72 0.59 -0.45 -0.33ComStrs 98 1.25 5.00 3.91 0.84 -1.04 0.94MemStrs 98 2.00 4.75 3.47 0.71 -0.15 -0.57RetStrs 98 2.20 5.00 3.79 0.69 -0.11 -0.92Total Score 98 6.00 19.00 13.55 3.09 -0.56 -0.28TF 98 0.00 5.00 3.65 1.14 -1.03 0.95MC 95 1.00 5.00 3.73 0.95 -0.56 -0.20FV 98 0.00 5.00 4.05 1.50 -1.32 0.54CR 98 0.00 5.00 2.23 1.18 0.22 -0.31Valid N (listwise) 95Note. MetStrs=metacognitive strategies; PlanStrs=planning strategies; MonStrs=monitoringstrategies; EvaStrs=evaluation strategies; CogStrs=cognitive strategies; ComStrs=comprehensionstrategies; MemStrs=memory strategies; RetStrs=retrieval strategies; Total Score=the total score;TF=true/false; MC=multiple-choice; FV=fill-in vocabulary; CR=constructed responseTable 2 shows descriptive statistics of metacognitive and cognitive strategy subscales,and performances on the reading test and its four tasks. Since the values of skewness are withinArab World English JournalISSN: 2229-9327www.awej.org191