A Dissertation entitled Saudi Middle School Teachers‟ Pedagogical Beliefs about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies for Improving Students‟ Reading Comprehension by Mohammed Abdullah Alshehri Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Literacy Education _________________________________________ Dr. Marcella Kehus, Committee Chair _________________________________________ Dr. Leigh Chiarelott, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr. Dale Snauwaert, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr.
Hassan HassabElnaby, Committee Member _________________________________________ Dr. Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, Dean College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo August 2018 Copyright 2018, Mohammed Abdullah Alshehri This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. An Abstract of Saudi Middle School Teachers‟ Pedagogical Beliefs about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies for Improving Students‟ Reading Comprehension by Mohammed Abdullah Alshehri Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Literacy Education The University of Toledo August 2018 The purpose of this study was to investigate the Saudi middle school reading teachers‟ pedagogical beliefs about using metacognitive reading strategies to improve students‟ reading comprehension skills.
More specifically, the research was aimed at studying the adoption of using the use of metacognitive strategies by reading teachers to enable their students to be able to understand and comprehend better. The participants were 296 middle school reading teachers (152 males and 144 females). The teachers were divided into four groups of the questionnaire which they were discussed based on the research questions. The four groups of the questionnaire were the first group teachers believed in and used metacognitive reading strategies, the second group teachers believed in, but they did not use these strategies, the third group teachers did not believe in but they used these strategies, and the fourth group teachers did not believe in and they did not use these strategies.
Data collection was done using questionnaires. After analyzing the teachers‟ responses, it was reported that the majority of the reading teachers believed that the use of the metacognitive reading strategies in their reading class would improve the students‟ iii reading comprehension. Thus, it was found that 74% of the teachers in this study believed in the metacognitive reading strategies, while 26% did not. Of the 74% that believed in these strategies, only 60.1% were able to implement it in their classes, and this was evident that the largest portion of teachers used the metacognitive strategies irrespective of whether they believed in them or not.4% who did not believe in but used these strategies.
In the study, only 19.6% of the reading teachers that did not believe in and did not use these methods in their classes, in addition to 13.9% who believed in using metacognitive reading strategies, but did not use them. However, through the recommendations, the objectives of this study can possibly be gained, which included helping the middle school teachers in Saudi Arabia gain the most efficient knowledge and skills in implementing metacognitive reading strategies in their reading class when teaching My immortal language textbook. Keywords: Metacognition, My Immortal Language Textbook, Metacognitive Reading Strategies, Middle School Reading Teachers, Reading, Reading Comprehension. iv This work is dedicated to my precious, loving, and supportive father, Abdullah, who instilled in me the thirst for knowledge and gave his all as I began the education journey.
To me, you are the beautiful father in the world because you are my father, you pay everything for me; your prayer, your thinking, money and so on, you are my hero since you are my dad. My dad means my life. I dedicate this work to the memory of my beloved mother, Hamdah, who died before starting the alienation journey to the United States. You are in my memory every moment, every prayer, and every time.
I never forget your prayers for me since my first day in this life. I really missed you, mom, how I wished you are with me today to see my beautiful day and you celebrate with me on this day but the death was faster. I will spend my prayers for you and be believing that I will meet you at the highest level of the paradise. My tears fall down without my control for your absence.
To my best friend and cousin, Khaled, I never forget your prayers for me and my family, your smile, your white heart, and your loving for me and my family. You were the honest one I met him and I believe I will sit with you in the paradise. To my family, especially to all my brothers and sisters: Salehah, Ali, Hizam, Ahmad, Norah, Sultan, Hamdan, and Hanan, and their families for understanding when I had to be a recluse in order to get my work done. For their prayers, love, and supports that they accorded me without ceasing.
I am sorry for missing the weddings and happy moments they had during my study journey. I love all of you. I also dedicate this work to my lovely wife, Norah, for standing beside me throughout my study and writing my dissertation. You have been my inspiration and motivation for continuing to improve my knowledge and move my career forward.
You are my rock, and I dedicate this dissertation to you. I also thank my wonderful children: Dalia, Deena, and Abdullah for always making me smile and for understanding on those free time and weekend mornings when I was writing this dissertation instead of playing games. I hope that one day they can read this research and understand why I spent so much time in my office and in front of my computer. To my uncles, cousins, and relatives; who prayed and contacted me during these difficult years.
Thank you so much from my deepest heart. To the people who encouraged me during those times when the stress became too much to bear. To those that believed in me and shared their positivity with me, reminding me how fulfilling the end would be. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Almighty God for giving me the strength, patience, endurance and wisdom to able to complete my dissertation.
I would also like to acknowledge my academic advisor Dr. Marcella Kehus who steered me in the right direction. Thank you for your patience and reading my papers, sometimes more than once, and helping me to see what worked and did not; I am truly grateful. I am forever grateful to you for your honest acumens during my years of study and the entire dissertation process and I count myself lucky for having you during this process.
My sincere thanks go to the members of my dissertation committee; Dr. Leigh Chiarelott, Dr. Dale Snauwaert, and Dr. Hassan HassabElnaby, who is the Dean College of Business College.
All of your encouragement, insightful comments and the difficult questions posed during this period made it possible for me to get my research done. I would also like to appreciate all of your friendships during this time; it kept me afloat knowing I was not alone. Thank you again to all of you. Finally, I would like to pass my huge gratitude to my family and friends for honoring my need for space and time to work on my dissertation and for your encouragement and support during this period; there are no words to express my joy.
This accomplishment was made possible by your support. Thank you very much. vii Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements vii Table of Contents viii List of Tables xiii List of Figures xv List of Definitions xvi I. My Immortal Language Textbook „Loghati Al-Khalida‟ for the Middle School in Saudi Arabia 3 B.
Purpose of the Study 6 D. Significance of the Study 8 E. The Metacognition Theory: An Overview 12 G. Organization of the Study 13 I.
Theoretical Framework of Metacognition 17 B. Secondary Theory: Schema Theory 21 C. Metacognition and Reading Comprehension 23 D. The Reality of Reading Comprehension in Saudi Schools 29 viii F.
Metacognitive Reading Strategies 33 G. The Relation between Metacognitive Reading Strategies and Reading Comprehension 42 H. Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies by Teachers 48 I. The Impact of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies on Improving Students‟ Comprehension 56 J.
Participants and Sampling Procedure 63 a. Questionnaire translation to the Arabic language 70 b. The pilot study 71 c. Validity of the questionnaire 72 d.
Reliability of the questionnaire 74 F. Quantitative Data Collection 77 G. Quantitative Data Analysis 78 H. Data Analysis Results 80 ix A.
Participants‟ Demographic Information 81 a. Gender and experience 81 b. Gender and qualification 83 c. Gender and number of training courses 84 d.
Teachers‟ qualification and their belief 85 B. Research Question Number One 87 a. The first group questionnaire „teachers believed and used metacognitive reading strategies‟ 87 b. The third group questionnaire „teachers did not believe, but they used these strategies‟ 97 C.
Research Question Number Two 105 a. The first group questionnaire „teachers believed and used metacognitive reading strategies‟ 106 b. The second group questionnaire „teachers believed, but did not use metacognitive reading strategies‟ 106 D. Research Question Number Three 114 a.
The fourth group „teachers did not believe and did not use these strategies‟ 114 E. Finding, Discussion, and Conclusions 123 A. Participants‟ Demographic Information 123 B. Discussion of the (Research Question 1) 125 x a.
The first group questionnaire “teachers believed in and used metacognitive reading strategies. The third group questionnaire “teachers did not believe in, but they used these strategies. Findings and recommendations for the first and third groups. Discussion to the (Research Question 2) 133 a.
The second group questionnaire “teachers believed in, but did not use metacognitive reading strategies. Findings and recommendations to the second group. Discussion to the (Research Question 3) 136 The fourth group “teachers did not believe in and did not use these strategies. Findings and recommendations to the fourth group.
Delimitations and Limitations of the Study 146 References 148 Appendices 166 A. Approval from the General Administration of Public Education in Riyadh 166 B. The Study‟s Questionnaire - English Version 167 C. The Study‟s Questionnaire - Arabic Version 173 D.
The Questionnaires‟ Reliability 179 xi E. Adult Research Subject-Information Sheet 181 F. Adult Research Subject - Information Sheet – Arabic Sheet 183 G. IRB Approval 185 xii List of Tables Table 1.
Number of Reading Teachers, Middle Schools and Middle Students in Riyadh. Internal Consistency Reliability Coefficients in Cronbach‟s Alpha. The Relationship between Gender and Experience. The Relationship between Gender and Qualification.
The Number of Training Courses you have already Received in Relation to Teaching Reading and Gender. Type of Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by Teachers. Type of Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by Teachers. Teachers‟ Beliefs and Methods of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies with Students.
Teachers‟ Beliefs and Methods of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies with Students. Teachers‟ Experiences about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Experiences about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Perceptions about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies.
Teachers‟ Perceptions about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Beliefs about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Beliefs about Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Perceptions for Impacting the Metacognitive Reading Strategies on Students‟ Comprehension.
Teachers‟ Perceptions for Impacting the Metacognitive Reading Strategies on Students‟ Comprehension. Teachers‟ Experiences of Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Experiences of Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Perceptions of Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies.
Teachers‟ Perceptions of Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Beliefs and Understanding the Importance of Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Beliefs and Understanding the Importance of Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Experiences of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies and its Obstacles Teachers‟ Faced.
Teachers‟ Experiences of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies and its Obstacles Teachers‟ Faced. Teachers‟ Perceptions of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Perceptions of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Beliefs of Effectiveness about Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies.
Teachers‟ Beliefs of Effectiveness about Using the Metacognitive Reading Strategies. Teachers‟ Perceptions of Using Metacognitive Reading Strategies.