VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE ENGLISH READING SELF-EFFICACY AND ITS RELATION TO METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES AMONG VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By TRAN THANH NGA Supervised by Assoc. LUU TRONG TUAN HO CHI MINH CITY, FEBRUARY 2023 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The accomplishment of this thesis would have been impossible without the guidance, support, encouragement, and dedication of several people to whom I would like to extend my sincere gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my valued supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Lưu Trọng Tuấn, for helping me in my most stressful period when things had to start all over again.
His wholehearted guidance and advice not only added immense value throughout my process of completing this thesis but also helped me improve myself a lot in some other aspects of my life such as learning strategies and project management. He consistently challenged me to be the best version of myself, both in my academic and personal endeavors. I am also deeply thankful to Dr. Phó Phương Dung and Dr.
Lê Thị Thanh Thu for their valuable advice, help, and encouragement. I am also really indebted to Mr. Lê Thanh Hà, who gave me the opportunity to pursue my educational goals. I owe thanks to Ms.
Lê Nguyễn Thanh Thuý, the Deans, administrative staff, lecturers, and learners at the research site for helping me with the data collection. My heartfelt thanks also go to many other teachers, friends, and colleagues for their valuable help and mental support. Finally but most importantly, my special thanks to my beloved father and mother for teaching me the value of education, their support and caring during one of the most difficult times in my life. To my dear sister, who always stood by my side, brought me support, and shared my burden to overcome stressful periods, providing me with a sympathetic and listening ear.
I would not be where I am today without the love and support of all of these people. ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis entitled “ENGLISH READING SELF-EFFICACY AND ITS RELATION TO METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES AMONG VIETNAMESE EFL LEARNERS” is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. Ho Chi Minh City, February 2023.
Trần Thanh Nga iii RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, Trần Thanh Nga, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the theses. Ho Chi Minh City, February 2023. Trần Thanh Nga iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. iii RETENTION OF USE. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. v LIST OF TABLES.
x LIST OF FIGURES. Background to the study. Aim of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Organization of thesis chapters. Reading self-efficacy. 8 Reading types and their impacts on reading comprehension.
9 Defining “self-efficacy”. 9 Dimensions and sources of efficacy expectations. Reading self-efficacy. 11 Defining “reading self-efficacy”.
11 Roles of reading self-efficacy. 12 A selected measure of reading self-efficacy for the present study. Dimensions of reading self-efficacy. 13 v Reading skill self-efficacy.
13 Reading test self-efficacy. 14 Reading self-efficacy for regulation. 14 General reading self-efficacy. Metacognitive reading strategies.
Language learning strategies. 16 Defining “language learning strategies”. 16 Benefits of language learning strategies. 16 Classifying language learning strategies.
17 Defining “metacognitive strategies”. 18 Distinction between metacognitive strategies and metacognitive knowledge. 19 Classifying metacognitive strategies. Metacognitive reading strategies.
21 Defining “metacognitive reading strategies”. 21 A selected measure of metacognitive reading strategies for the present study. Types of metacognitive reading strategies. 23 Advance organizer strategies (Planning strategies).
23 Selective attention strategies (Planning strategies). Relationship between reading self-efficacy and metacognitive reading strategies. Social cognitive theory. Empirical evidence for the relationship between reading self-efficacy and metacognitive reading strategies.
Sampling and sampling procedures. 43 Content validity of the questionnaire. 43 Reliability of the questionnaire. Data collection procedure.
Data analysis scheme for the main study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Reliability of the questionnaire. Testing the convergence of questionnaire items.
Exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis. Reading self-efficacy. 75 Differences in reading self-efficacy with regard to genders.
76 Differences in reading self-efficacy with regard to fields of study. Metacognitive reading strategies. 80 Differences in metacognitive reading strategies with regard to genders. 81 Differences in metacognitive reading strategies with regard to fields of study.
Summary of findings. Implications for EFL learners. Implications for EFL teachers. Implications for other stakeholders.
Recommendations for further studies. 108 APPENDIX 1: READING SELF-EFFICACY MEASURE ADAPTED BY JIANG (2021) FROM PIERCEY (2013). 109 APPENDIX 2: REVISION OF THE TRANSLATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS. 112 APPENDIX 3: RELIABILITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE (PILOTING) 114 APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT ENGLISH READING SELF- EFFICACY AND USE OF METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES (ENGLISH VERSION).
118 APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT ENGLISH READING SELF- EFFICACY AND USE OF METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES (VIETNAMESE VERSION). 123 APPENDIX 6: RELIABILITY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE (THE MAIN STUDY – THE FIRST ROUND). 128 APPENDIX 7: RELIABILITY OF READING SKILL SELF-EFFICACY, GENERAL READING SELF-EFFICACY, AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION STRATEGIES (THE MAIN STUDY – THE SECOND ROUND). 132 APPENDIX 8: RELIABILITY OF GENERAL READING SELF-EFFICACY (THE MAIN STUDY – THE THIRD ROUND).
134 APPENDIX 9: DATA DISTRIBUTION. 135 APPENDIX 10: SPSS OUTPUT OF ONE-WAY ANOVA TEST ON READING SELF-EFICACY WITH REGARD TO GENDERS. 137 APPENDIX 11: SPSS OUTPUT OF ONE-WAY ANOVA TEST ON READING SELF-EFICACY WITH REGARD TO FIELDS OF STUDY. 138 APPENDIX 12: SPSS OUTPUT OF POST-HOC TESTS ON READING SELF-EFFICACY WITH REGARD TO FACULTIES.
139 APPENDIX 13: SPSS OUTPUT OF ONE-WAY ANOVA TEST ON METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES WITH REGARD TO GENDERS. 142 viii APPENDIX 14: SPSS OUTPUT OF ONE-WAY ANOVA TEST ON METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES WITH REGARD TO FIELDS OF STUDY. 143 APPENDIX 15: SPSS OUTPUT OF POST-HOC TEST ON METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES WITH REGARD TO FACULTIES. 144 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 2.
Initially proposed types of metacognitive strategies by O’Malley and Chamot (1990). Modified types of metacognitive strategies by O’Malley and Chamot (1990). Review of previous studies. Descriptive statistics of the participants in piloting.
Summary of questionnaire items. Distribution of genders with regard to faculties. Distribution of genders with regard to fields of study. Correlations between dimensions of reading self-efficacy and types of metacognitive reading strategies.
KMO and Bartlett's test of reading self-efficacy. Total variance explained of reading self-efficacy. Rotated component matrixa of reading self-efficacy. KMO and Bartlett's test of metacognitive reading strategies.
Total variance explained of metacognitive reading strategies. Rotated component matrixa of metacognitive reading strategies. Composite reliability, average variance extracted, and correlation matrix. Results of the relationships between dimensions of reading self- efficacy and metacognitive reading strategies.
Descriptives of reading self-efficacy. Descriptives of reading self-efficacy with regard to genders. ANOVA result of reading self-efficacy with regard to genders. Descriptives of reading self-efficacy with regard to fields of study.
ANOVA result of reading self-efficacy with regard to fields of study. Descriptives of reading self-efficacy with regard to faculties. Descriptives of metacognitive reading strategies. Descriptives of metacognitive reading strategies with regard to genders.
ANOVA result of metacognitive reading strategies with regard to genders. Descriptives of metacognitive reading strategies with regard to fields of study. ANOVA result of metacognitive reading strategies with regard to faculties. Descriptives of metacognitive reading strategies with regard to faculties.
84 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. The triangular relationship between the factors in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986). The structure of a causal model based on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2000). Conceptual framework of the present study.
Convergence of questionnaire items. CB-SEM results between dimensions of reading self-efficacy and types of metacognitive reading strategies. 66 xii ABSTRACT The last three decades have witnessed a great number of studies on the employment of metacognitive strategies in language learning. The benefits that these strategies can bring to EFL learners are undeniable.
However, research has confirmed that these strategies have not been exploited to their full potential, especially in the domain of reading. Hence, it is necessary to investigate factors that can boost the use of metacognitive reading strategies. Reading self-efficacy is such a potential factor. This study was dedicated to investigating relationships between all dimensions of reading self-efficacy, i., reading skill self-efficacy, reading test self-efficacy, reading self-efficacy for regulation, general reading self- efficacy, and all types of metacognitive reading strategies, i., advance organizer strategies, selective attention strategies, monitoring strategies, and evaluating strategies.
A quantitative research design was followed. Data were collected from Vietnamese EFL second-year tertiary students through a questionnaire survey. Results showed some positively significant associations between the variables. Specifically, reading self-efficacy for regulation positively predicted the use of all types of metacognitive reading strategies.
General reading self-efficacy showed its role in positively predicting the use of advance organizer strategies and evaluating strategies. Possible explanations for findings were discussed in light of the social cognitive theory by Bandura (1986). Other results indicated mean differences in reading self-efficacy and metacognitive reading strategies among learners with regard to their genders and fields of study. Male students reported higher English reading self-efficacy and more frequent use of metacognitive reading strategies compared to their female counterparts.
Those who were pursuing majors in science were more self-efficacious and favorable to use the strategies than those who majored in social fields. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications were drawn to raise the awareness of the importance of reading self-efficacy in encouraging the use of metacognitive reading strategies among EFL stakeholders. Keywords: reading self-efficacy, metacognitive reading strategies, EFL learners, genders, fields of study. INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the background to English reading self-efficacy and metacognitive reading strategies from which the study’s research aim and question were stated.
It also explains the significance and scope of the study. Eventually, the organization of chapters is presented. Background to the study Humanity is on its way towards a learning society in which the crucial role of reading in improving human knowledge is undeniable (Mar et al. Besides, in the explosion of technology, especially in the phase of the fourth industrial revolution, learners’ reading ability is likely to be pivotal as they will need it to deal with the massive flow of information and to fuel their imaginations to create their future (Nguyen, 2021).
Indeed, research around the world has confirmed that the more learners read, the more success they achieve in their academic endeavors (Fatiloro et al., 2017; Le et al., 2019; Owusu-Acheaw & Larson, 2014). When it comes to language learning, reading was considered a basic and an essential skill that has to be mastered by all learners (Lee et al. The importance of learners’ awareness of the centrality of skilled reading for academic success has been raised (Grabe & Stoller, 2020; Iftanti, 2015; Nguyen, 2009). The benefits of reading are obvious; however, getting learners to read is one of the biggest challenges of teaching, especially at tertiary level (Hatteberg & Steffy, 2013).