Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary School

Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary School

Abstract
The study was on Instruction and Reading Strategies on metacognitive skills and performance among senior secondary school students in Anambra State. It was carried out to determine the effectiveness of direct explicit instruction and reading strategies in developing metacognitive skills and enhancing performance in English language among senior secondary school students.

Two hundred and Forty-nine students were assessed for the study. A total of 144 students who were identified as having low level of metacognitive skills and performance in English language were used. The data for the study were obtained using three instruments. Seven research hypothses were analysed using ANCOVA and descriptive statistics. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Results from the analysis of data indicated that the seven null hypotheses tested were rejected. The study revealed that direct explicit instruction and reading strategies were efficacious in developing and enhancing metacognitive skills and in turn affects the performance in English language. Further evidence revealed that direct explicit instruction was more effective in improving metacognitive skills and learning of English language. It is also apparent from the study that self- awareness skills, planning skills and monitoring skills were high among participants exposed to explicit instruction.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The importance of English Language acquisition for proficiency in other school subjects cannot be overemphasized. This is because there is hardly any school subject that the instructions are not written in English in Nigeria. This expertise in the English Language is very important and may guarantee success in other subjects. Acquiring sufficient knowledge of English language is important for educational, economical and national development of a nation. In recognition of the importance of English language for enhancing educational attainment as well as for improving communication ability of citizens, the subject has become a core subject in the school curriculum (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2004). For instance, as a prerequisite for university admission, it is compulsory for students to pass the English Language at credit level. This also explains why many parents are determined to see that their wards pass at credit level and above in English language.

However, one of the current educational concerns is that of under achievement in English language in public examinations (Kolawole 1998, Kolawole & Dele, 2002). One of the reasons often ascribed to this poor trend has been poor foundation in reading skills in English Language at the primary and secondary school levels, despite the fact that English Language is one major subject which demands and instills reading culture in students. The comprehension aspect of the language is one that is particularly designed for this purpose, such as ability to read and understand.

Comprehension is an essential aspect of English Language in which students are required to do well before obtaining good grades in the subject as the other aspects of English language such as grammar, structure and composition, are all based on comprehension. However, it has been observed that students, even after given all the necessary pedagogical drills, still encounter some challenges in adequately treating English comprehension passages (Omoegun, 1983).
These challenges include: reading to learn, evaluation of understanding and ability to answer questions correctly. Students, who do not have sufficient working knowledge, are those that usually encounter these challenges. This working knowledge can be achieved through the teacher who teaches students to reflect on how they think, learn, remember, perform academic tasks and the teachers‘ repeatedly emphasizing and demonstrating actions that illustrate how students can be responsible for and can control their own outcomes in their everyday learning. Researchers such as Kuhn, (2000), Hartman, (2001) have suggested some fundamental ways to address this problem of comprehension through the use of metacognition.

Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary School

Metacognition is one‘s knowledge about the factors that affect cognitive activities which consists of both monitoring and regulation. Metacogntion refers to the actual monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes in relation to the cognition object or data on which they bear, usually in service of some concrete goal or objective (Flavell, 1979). Metacognition is any kind of cognitive transaction with the human or non-human environment, where a variety of information processing activities go on (Flavell, 1979). The distinction between cognitive and metacognitive knowledge may be in how the information is used, more

than a fundamental difference in processes. Hacker (1998) also sees metacognition as the knowledge of one‘s own cognitive and affective processes and states as well as the ability to consciously and deliberately monitor and regulate these processes and states.
Researchers such as Brown, Bransford, Ferarra, & Campione, (1983) emphasize different aspects of metacognition which refers to two distinct, but related issues: awareness and knowledge of self as learner, and conscious self-control and self- regulation of cognition. In essence, a metacognitive learner must understand his strengths and weaknesses in learning, and control how he will approach a problem.

People tend to perceive barriers to student learning as lack of intelligence or motivation from teachers, when in reality, the student may lack awareness of the causes of the barriers he is facing. Metacognition involves students‘ awareness and understanding of their learning skills, performance, preferences, barriers and goals. Metacognitive skills include taking conscious control of learning and selecting strategies (self-awareness), monitoring the progress of learning, correcting errors, analyzing the effectiveness of learning strategies (monitoring), and changing learning behaviours and strategies when necessary (planning).

In the context of reading, metacognition is the control executed by readers on their ability to understand a text, which involves what one is thinking about and what one is doing while reading. Reading successfully goes beyond fluency and word recognition but relies heavily upon comprehension of text. Upon encountering a reading task, one needs to first clarify the purposes of reading and understand what the task demands. Based on the information obtained in the first step, student plans for the task, by retrieving the relevant background information, setting up the goals of reading, and selecting proper strategies from his repertoire of reading strategies. In addition, during the process of reading, teachers and students must continuously monitor the ongoing activities to determine whether comprehension is occurring.

A strategically competent reader continuously engages himself in self-questioning to determine whether comprehension and the goals are achieved; if not, he is able to revise the original plan and adopt compensatory actions to achieve comprehension (Xiao, 2005). This suggests that there are basic skills which are innate in the learner that have to be harnessed before comprehension takes place.

Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary School

The metacognitive skills acquired in reading can promote the acquisition of language skills such as listening, speaking and writing. Some secondary school students find it difficult to read and understand despite the fact that reading is indispensable. Some show carefree attitude towards reading. Adewole (2001) asserts that the aim of any reading programme is to lay a strong foundation that can benefit pupils throughout their lives in academic pursuits. Reading successfully goes well beyond fluency and word recognition but relies heavily upon comprehension of text. Since reading is a meaning-making task, any behaviour used to enhance students ‘understanding help in creating more effective reading. Therefore, students ‘metacognitive skills could be enhanced through direct explicit instruction and reading strategies.

One needs direct explicit instruction strategy in order to foster his metacognitive knowledge and skills (Xiao2005). Readers have the capacity to control the process of reading and this largely affects the ability to learn from text (Block, 2002). This control involves thinking about the actual process of reading. Awareness of metacognitive skills (self-awareness, monitoring and planning) can be gleaned through instruction such as the direct explicit instruction. The purpose of direct

instruction is to provide explicit explanations on the notion and construct of metacognition so that students who used to be, most of the time, unaware of their own cognitive activities will become aware of their mental actions when they perform cognitive tasks. The direct explicit instruction strategy of metacognition should be regarded as a strategy that ‗provides learners with knowledge and confidence that enables them to manage their own learning and also empower them to be inquisitive in their pursuits‘ (Paris & Winograd, 1990).

Reading strategies are often categorized as those behaviuors designed to help students before, during, and after they read. Dike (2006) posits that proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and effortlessly. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read. A good reader has a better opportunity for greater achievement because he recognizes the words quickly and effortlessly as a sequence of a textual whole.

Ojo (1993) found that the major causes of students’ poor performance in English and other school subjects is their inability to read effectively, which, in turn, is largely due to their prevailing learning attitude toward reading, inability to apply suitable strategies for reading and the teachers‘ employment of the traditional methods of teaching, which, according to critics, are archaic and, as a result, are no more compliant to the contemporary developmental strategies of reading skills and ability. Mokhtari & Reichard (2002) designed several metacognitive reading strategies for improving comprehension. These include (1) the Global Reading strategies, which include- setting purpose for reading, activating prior knowledge, checking whether the text content fits purpose, predicting what text is about, confirming predictions,

previewing text for content, deciding what to read closely, using context clues, text structures and other textual features to enhance comprehension. (2) Problem- Solving strategies- include reading slowly and carefully, adjusting reading rate, pausing to reflect on reading, rereading, and visualizing information read, reading text out loud, and guessing meaning of unknown word. (3) Support Reading Strategies include- taking notes while reading, paraphrasing text information, revising previously read information, asking self-questions, using reference materials as aids, underlining text information, discussing reading with others, and writing summaries.

The metacognitive processes in reading are of two categories. The first is the knowledge about cognition. This involves knowledge of reading strategies which tend to remain constant irrespective of the situation. The second is the regulation of cognition. This encompasses the purpose of reading, the ease of difficulty of the text and perceived need for particular strategies. How successful a reader is will depend on his abilities, his knowledge and understanding of themselves as readers, their purposes and assessment of the reading task, and their knowledge of when and how to use reading strategies. Metacognitive skills provide overall plan to gain meaning from text.

While it appears that metacognitive skills are difficult to acquire, researches have demonstrated that they can be taught and learnt in a classroom. What this suggests, therefore, is that metacognition can be viewed as an education-based model. As an education-based model, instructional strategies (the explicit instructions and reading strategies) can be used to improve metacognitive skills. This education-based model of metacognition can be incorporated in any classroom environment if the intent is

to improve the academic, and career success of students in English Language. Intervention programmes on metacognition using the explicit instruction and reading strategies can be adapted to improve poor academic performance. Brown, (1983) advocates that the task of educators is to acknowledge, cultivate, explore and enhance the metacognitive capabilities of all learners. Teachers can help their students learn from reading: they can encourage students to take an active role in reading. The goal is to develop active, independent learners.

1.2 Statement of problem

Students‘knowledge and belief regarding their study strategies has been a major source of concern to stakeholders in the education sector. Majority of the students do not have the ability of knowing the limits of their own learning and memory capabilities. They also lack the knowledge of what learning tasks they can realistically accomplish within a given period.

The ability of knowing which learning strategies are effective, planning an approach to a learning task and using effective learning strategies to process and learn new materials seem to be lacking among the students. Worse still, their ability to monitor their own knowledge and the use of effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored information seem to be lacking whereas teachers‘ expectation for students performance are always high.

The curricula at secondary school level seem not to be designed to address this inherent problem in spite of the observed importance of knowing which learning strategies are effective in determining comprehension skills and excellent performance in English Language. The more students know about effective learning strategies, the greater their metacognitive awareness and the higher their academic performance is likely to be. Students who use metacognitive strategies are likely to undergo conceptual change when such change is warranted. Unfortunately many students are unaware of how they can best learn and remember information (Ormrod, 2000).

At the secondary school level students are asked to learn more information and to process it in a sophisticated way, thus the simple learning strategies that pupils develop in primary school seem to become less effective with each passing year. Yet most often, teachers seem to teach academic content, without teaching concomitant strategies to learn them. As a result, students seem to have little knowledge of how they can best study and learn, thereby seem to have difficulty mastering the content that teachers teach. Consequently, students do not learn successfully, hence may not know how to improve the chances of their learning outcomes.

Students can be helped to be successful learners if when teaching specific academic content (reading comprehension), they are made to learn how to develop and use effective learning strategies. There is a gap in research on how to use learning strategies to enhance metacognitive skills and improve performance in English language among secondary school students. It is therefore necessary to use explicit instruction and reading strategies as intervention programmes to address the issue

of improving metacognitive skills (self-awareness, monitoring and planning) in order to improve performance in English language.
However, the precise ways to improve the level of metacognition on academic performance so as to obtain optimal success is far from being achieved; as researchers have not carried out enough study on the effectiveness of explicit instruction and reading strategies on acquisition of metacognitive skills and performance in English Language. Also studies so far have concentrated on the influence of metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies use among English language as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Language learning to the utter neglect of English as Second Language (ESL) students. Basic metacognitive knowledge is seen as a prerequisite for the development of reading, writing and speaking (oral proficiency).

Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary School

1.3 Theoretical framework.

The theoretical framework relevant to this study includes:

Cognitive Information Processing Theory: Miller (2012).
Emergentist Theory of Language Acquisition: Bates and MacWhinney (1987).
Transactional Theory of Reading: Rosenblatt (1978).
Schema Theory of Learning: Anderson (1977).

1.3.1 Cognitive Information Processing Theory (IPT) (Miller, 2012)

Miller (2012) provided two theoretical ideas that are fundamental to cognitive psychology and the information processing framework. The first concept is “chunking” and the capacity of short term memory. Miller (2012) presented the idea that short-term memory could only hold 5-9 chunks of information (seven plus or minus two) where a chunk is any meaningful unit. A chunk could refer to digits, words, chess positions, or people’s faces. The concept of chunking and the limited capacity of short term memory became a basic element of all subsequent theories of memory.

The second concept, that of information processing uses the computer as a model for human learning. Like the computer, the human mind takes in information, performs operations on it to change its form and content, stores and locates and generates responses to it. Thus, processing involves gathering and representing information, or encoding, holding information or retention; and getting at the information when needed, or retrieval. Information processing theorists approach learning primarily through a study of memory

The information processing framework is the model of a mind which functions as an information processor that does many things such as accept information, manipulate and transform it, store it and retrieve it (Miller, 2012). He also addressed the question of the child‘s cognition of cognition, called metacognition and found that children‘s ideas about the workings of their own minds are consistent with their developing knowledge about everything else. IPT focuses heavily on three major memory stores that are involved in cognitive processes; sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. IPT is a cognitive perspective that views learners as active interpreters and manipulators of stimuli and information. Theorists from this view believe that the foundational structure of human thinking is unchanged throughout life (Berk, 2005). However, information-processing research suggests that over time there are cognitive changes in the capacity for thinking; that is, the amount and speed of information processed (Berk, 2005).

There are four fundamental assumptions – or four pillars – of the information processing approach. These pillars underlie and support this approach, as well as many other cognitive models.
Thinking: The process of thinking includes the activities of perception of external stimuli, encoding the same and storing the data so perceived and encoded in one’s mental recesses.

Analysis of stimuli: This is the process by which the encoded stimuli are altered to suit the brain’s cognition and interpretation process to enable decision making. There are four distinct sub-processes that form a favourable alliance to make the brain arrive at a conclusion regarding the encoded stimuli it has received and kept stored. These four sub-processes are encoding, strategization, generalization and automatization. Situational modification: This is the process by which an individual uses his experience, which is nothing other than a collection of stored memories, to handle a similar situation in future. In case of certain differences in both situations, the individual modifies the decisions they took during their previous experience to come up with solutions for the somewhat different problem.

Obstacle evaluation: This step maintains that besides the subject’s individual development level, the nature of the obstacle or problem should also be taken into consideration while evaluating the subject’s intellectual, problem solving and cognitive acumen. Sometimes, unnecessary and misleading information can confuse the subject and he / she may show signs of confusion while dealing with a situation which is similar to one he / she was exposed to before, which he / she was able to handle successfully.

IPT focuses heavily on three major memory stores that are involved in cognitive processes; sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory. The first of these memory stores, sensory memory, is the first store to come into contact with information. Although the capacity of this memory store is virtually unlimited, its power to retain information is extremely limited. The sensory memory store can

retain new information for approximately one to four seconds before it is either stored in working memory or lost (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007). What is most important about the sensory memory store is that it gathers new information and allows the processing system to attach meaning to the material. If the information is consciously focused on and not dismissed as a distraction, it captures the learner‘s attention. According to Information Processing Theorists, the attention phase represents the stage during which learning actually begins to occur in students (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007).

After the attention phase is initiated, if the information is important enough and students recognize it as such, they will develop their individual perception of the stimulus. In relation to the sensory memory store, a student‘s perception of a stimulus is the most important phase, as it directly affects how students consciously understand the information in the next store, working memory (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007).The working memory store, like sensory memory, is limited in capacity and in duration. Accordingly, information can be stored in working memory for between ten and twenty seconds (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007).

In terms of capacity, it is much more difficult to determine how much content can be temporarily stored. Information Processing Theory maintains that an individual‘s ―cognitive load‖ depends upon how much data can be ―chunked‖ (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007). Interestingly however, individual chunks can refer to digits, words, pictures, or even people’s faces (Ali-Hassan, 2005). While the time that information can remain in the working memory is longer than that of the previous store, if a learner does not once again assign perceptual importance and draw linkages to the content, it will likely be lost. Building off one of the major tenets of cognitive psychology, these connections

tend to be made based on the level of association that is made to prior knowledge already stored by an individual. In this way, it is intuitive to believe that as a student grows older and learns more, the working memory will be more efficient and have a greater capacity due to a more accurate perception of the information presented and broader prior knowledge.

The third and final memory store in the IPT model is long-term memory. After meaningful information is ―chunked‖ in appropriate groupings within working memory, the material is encoded into long-term memory through rehearsal. Within long-term memory, there are two broadly accepted types of knowledge that is stored: declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. Declarative knowledge is specific information like facts, definitions, procedures, and rules, while procedural knowledge is the information required to be able to perform a given task (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007). In contrast to the previous stores, long-term memory has a virtually unlimited capacity and duration when it comes to storing and recalling information.

One dominant theory that has gained attraction in recent years that helps to explain the capacity of long-term memory is the Dual Coding Theory, by Paivio (1990). Paivio maintains that there are two ―tracks‖ on which students can encode information in long-term memory, a visual track and a verbal track. The theory explains that because these tracks are separate but additive in capacity, we can take advantage of the structure of long-term memory by stimulating both of these tracks simultaneously to build greater representations for the information and making it easier to recall it over time Paivio, (1990). The final two important characteristics of long-term memory detail how this memory store interacts with the other components of the information processing model. To use encoded information

consciously, it must first be retrieved from the long-term memory store and brought into working memory. Recognition, correctly identifying previously stored information amongst distractions (e.g. multiple choice tests), and recall, reproducing information exactly how it was learned without contextual clues, are two ways of doing this (Hummel, 1997). Between these two, recognition is less beneficial for learners, although it is significantly easier to perform. This is because recall does not provide social clues for the learner which requires them to draw the information from long- term memory without a scaffold.

Finally, to solidify a learner‘s understanding of the content, the strategy of metacognition can be applied. Metacognition is defined as one‘s awareness and control over their cognitive processes, or one‘s ability to ―think‖ about what they know and think (Eggen & Kauchack, 2007). When metacognition is applied, information stored in long-term memory is retrieved and placed back into the attention and perception stages before re-entering the working memory store. In this way, learners can make their knowledge more concrete by consciously thinking about it before encoding it again into long-term memory.

1.3.2 Emergentist theory of language acquisition (Bates & MacWhinney, 1987).
Emergentist theory developed by Bates and MacWhinney(1987), posit that language acquisition is a cognitive process that emerges from the interaction of biological pressures and the environment. According to these theory, neither nature nor nurture alone is sufficient to trigger language learning; both of these influences must work together in order to allow children to acquire a language. The proponents of

this theory argue that general cognitive processes subserve language acquisition and that the end result of these processes is language-specific phenomena, such as word learning and grammar acquisition. A significant amount of emergentist work within linguistics adopts the techniques of CONNECTIONISM, an approach to the study of the mind that seeks to model learning and cognition in terms of networks of (assumedly) neuron-like units. In its more extreme forms, connectionism rejects the existence of the sorts of symbolic representations (including syntactic structure) that have played a central role in explanatory work on human language.

Emergentist approaches to language acquisition can be divided into two types, depending on the dominant strategy that they adopt. On the one hand, there is a very influential and impressive body of research that focuses on the importance of the input (or usage) for understanding how language acquisition works. Ellis (2002, 2006) provides a far-reaching discussion of this approach. On the other hand, a smaller body of research explores the role of the processor–working memory interface in language acquisition, addressing problems of learnability and development that have traditionally been the exclusive domain of universal grammar-based work. O‘Grady (2008) offers an introduction to this approach.

Input-based emergentism

One of the earliest examples of a systematic input-based approach to language learning is the Competition Model put forward by Bates & MacWhinney (1987). This approach, which remains highly influential, offers a theory of how language learners

come to identify and prioritize the various competing cues (word order, animacy, case, agreement, and so on) that are relevant to sentence comprehension. The key variables, MacWhinney suggests, are to be found in the input: how often the cue is present when a particular pattern is being interpreted (cue availability), and how often it points to a particular interpretation (cue reliability). In the case of English, for instance, word order is a highly available and reliable cue for identifying a sentence‘s subject—which almost always occurs preverbally. In contrast, agreement is highly reliable (only subjects trigger agreement), but is often unavailable since there is so little inflection in English. The situation could well be reversed in a free word order language, where agreement (or case) might be both more available and more reliable than word order.

A focus on the input is also characteristic of many other scholars working in an emergentist framework. A recurring intuition is that the frequency with which particular phenomena are encountered plays a key role in shaping the developmental process. One of the strongest advocates of this view is Ellis ( 2002, 2006), who holds that language learning is, in essence, ‗the gathering of information about the relative frequency of form-function mappings‘ (2006)—with provisos concerning perceptibility, attention and interference from other languages.

Processor-based emergentism

The starting point for processor-based emergentism is the view, put forward by Hawkins (2004) and O‘Grady (2005), that key properties of the syntactic phenomena that have long been used as support for universal grammar-based approaches to language are in fact better explained in terms of processing factors. Hawkins

develops this idea for a number of phenomena central to typology, such as Greenbergian universals and cross-linguistic variation in the syntax of filler-gap dependencies. O‘Grady‘s work focuses more directly on the problem of language acquisition. The central thesis of that work is that a simple processor, committed to reducing the burden on working memory, lies at the heart of the human language faculty. Although such a processor makes no use of grammatical principles, its operation plays a key role in explaining the properties of many core syntactic phenomena—binding, control, agreement, island constraints, scope, and so forth.

Emergentist theory of language acquisition is based on the simple thesis that the core properties of language are best understood by reference to the properties of quite general cognitive mechanisms and their interaction with each other. This information serves as the knowledge base for sentence production and comprehension, which hold that sentence processing is the simultaneous satisfaction of the multiple probabilistic constraints afforded by the cues present in each particular sentence. Thus suggest that language acquisition, like other skills is of the same cloth as other cognitive processes.

1.3.3 Transactional theory of Reading (Rosenblatt, 1978)

The transactional theory of reading is based on the principle that meaning is constructed in the transaction between a particular reader and a particular text (Rosenblatt, 1978). Readers bring their prior knowledge and experiences to bear on the reading event, and meaning is constructed during the transaction between reader and text. Both text and reader are vitally important. Reading is seen as the construction of meaning in the internal, cognitive space of the individual reader in transaction with a particular text.

From a transactional perspective, the reader plays a central role in the construction of meaning, drawing upon prior knowledge and experience to attend selectively to specific aspects of a text (Rosenblatt, 1978). Theorists who align with a transactional model reject the notion that meaning resides in the text (Wells, 1986) and instead focus on interpretive communities (Fish, 1980), the gaps that readers ―fill in‖ during the reading event (Iser, 1978), the stances that a reader assumes while reading (Rosenblatt, 1978), and the ways that literature expands the reader‘s understanding of the world (McClure & Zitlow, 1991).

According to Morrow and Gambrell (2000), meaning ―is a two-way process that resides in the transaction that occurs between the reader and text wherein the reader constructs a personal envisionment of meaning that is guided by the text‖. This definition emphasizes the roles of the reader and the text, and views meaning as the result of the cognitive processes of an individual reader in transaction with a particular text. In this perspective, the focus is on a particular reader, transacting with a particular text in a particular context. All three components are included, although the focus seems to be on the transaction between reader and text and not on the context of the reading event, including the social, political, and cultural factors involved in the construction of meaning (Lewis, 2000).

From the transactional perspective, children‘s literature is seen as a ―way of knowing‖ and is used to help children make connections to the world around them, become acquainted with the language of stories, learn about the characteristics of the natural and social world, and discover insights into their own personalities and identities (Short, 1999). It is the lived-through or aesthetic experience of reading literature, and the ways that literature develops identity and understanding, that become the primary focus.

Short (1999) offers an approach to reading instruction, based on the work of Halliday (1980) that aligns with a transactional perspective. In this approach, literature is used as vehicle for learning language, learning through language, and learning about language (Halliday, 1980). Learning experiences that highlight these three opportunities should be made available to students in their transactions with literature: Students need opportunities to learn language by reading extensively, to learn about language by reflecting on their reading strategies and literary knowledge, and to learn through language by using literature inquire about the world and their own lives. (Short, 1999,)

The instructional practices that align with a transactional perspective generally involve whole class or small group discussions and workshops. The focus is on sharing individual interpretations within communities of readers to come to deeper understandings of a particular text. Various frameworks have been created by reading educators to support these interactions around texts, including book clubs (Raphael & McMahon, 1994), literature study groups (Peterson & Eeds, 1990), focus units (Moss, 1984), literary investigations and invested discussions (Serafini, 2001), and lively discussions (Gambrell & Almasi, 1996). During these activities, the teacher supports the on-going dialogue, entering into conversations with students and helping them reach more complex understandings about the text, their world, and their identity. The teacher becomes a member of the discussion group, supporting the conversation, not simply asking comprehension questions and evaluating responses.

Although Rosenblatt (1978) is certainly concerned with the role of literature in a democratic state (Pradl, 1996), addressed the local contexts of the reading event rather than the larger role of social, political, cultural and historical contexts associated with a critical perspective (Lewis, 2000). Metacognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Klein (1991) stated that strategic readers attempt the following while reading: Identifying the purpose of the reading before reading, Identifying the form or type of the text before reading.

Transactional theory of reading tend to focus on the cognitive processes of individual readers as they construct meaning in transaction with a text, readers attempt the following while reading: Identifying the purpose of the reading before reading, Identifying the form or type of the text before reading which involves metacognition process. These theoretical perspectives view the reader as an active constructor of meaning, not as a passive recipient of ready-made ―truths.‖ Determining a text‘s main idea is seen as identifying a sanctioned interpretation by an external authority rather than a truth hidden in the text. In these theoretical perspectives, reading is not a set of decontextualized cognitive skills that can be universally transmitted via commercial reading exercises. Rather, reading is a social practice that is constrained, mediated, and shaped by the social forces inherent in a particular community of readers. Meaning does not just generically arise in neutral contexts; it is grounded in the social, political, cultural, and historical contexts of the reading event. Readers

are individuals in society, unable to escape from the contexts in which they live and read, but capable of rendering unique interpretations as they transact with particular texts at particular times. Moreover, they attempt to form a summary of what was read. Carrying out the previous steps requires the reader to be able to classify sequence, establish whole-part relationships, compare and contrast, determine cause-effect, summarize, hypothesize and predict, infer, and conclude.

1.3.4 Schema theory of Learning. (Anderson, 1997).

Schema theory represents knowledge about concepts; objects and the relationships they have with other objects, situations, events, sequences of events, and actions. Each new experience incorporates more information into one‘s schema. Schema theory is the process, by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text, helps to comprehend that text. People have schemata, or unconscious mental structures, that represent an individual’s generic knowledge about the world.

It is through schemata that old knowledge influences new information (Anderson 1977). The theory emphasizes the nature and purpose of schemata as the fundamental elements of cognitive processing (Douchy & Bouwens, 1990 in Tan 2003). They are prior knowledge linkages, and they influence the amount and proficiency of our learning. Research by schema theorists indicates that abstract concepts are best understood after a foundation of concrete and relevant information has been established (Schallert 1982). The general knowledge provides a framework into which the newly-formed structure can be fitted.

Anderson (1977) pointed out that schema provided a form of representation for complex knowledge and that the construct, for the first time, provided a principled account of how old knowledge might influence the acquisition of new knowledge. Schema theory was immediately applied to understanding the reading process, where it served as an important counterweight to purely bottom-up approaches to reading. The schema-theory approaches to reading emphasize that reading involves both the bottom-up information from the perceived letters coming into the eye and the use of top-down knowledge to construct a meaningful representation of the content of the text. Some characteristics of schemata according to Anderson (1977):
• Schemata are always organized meaningfully, can be added to, and, as an individual gains experience, develop to include more variables and more specificity.
• Each schema is embedded in other schemata and itself contains subschema.

• Schemata change moment by moment as information is received.
• They may also be reorganized when incoming data reveals a need to restructure the concept.
• The mental representations used during perception and comprehension, and which evolve as a result of these processes, combines to form a whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts.
Rumelhart (1977) has described schemata as “building blocks of cognition” which are used in the process of interpreting sensory data, in retrieving information from memory, in organising goals and sub goals, in allocating resources, and in guiding the flow of the processing system. Rumelhart (1977) has also stated that if our schemata are incomplete and do not provide an understanding of the incoming data

from the text we will have problems processing and understanding the text. Individuals have schemata for everything. Long before students come to school, they develop schemata (units of knowledge) about everything they experience. Schemata became theories of reality. These theories not only affect the way information is interpreted, thus affecting comprehension, but also continue to change as new information is received. Rumelhart (1977) also states that all knowledge is organized into units. Within these units of knowledge, a schema is stored information.

A schema (plural schemata) is a hypothetical mental structure for representing generic concepts stored in memory. It‘s a sort of framework, or plan, or script. Schemata are created through experience with people, objects, and events in the world. A schema is a generalized description or a conceptual system for understanding knowledge, how knowledge is represented and how it is used.

The importance of reading comprehension lies on how the reader uses schemata. Researchers agree that some mechanisms activate those schemata relevant to the readers‘ task. Cook (1989) states that ―The mind stimulated by key words or phrases in the text or by the context activates a knowledge schema.‖ Cook implies that we are not necessarily dealing with conscious processes, but rather with automatic cognitive responses given to external stimuli. This view clarifies that schema is activated in one of two ways:
1. New information from the outside world can be cognitively received and related to already known information stored in memory through retrieval or

remembering. In this case, new concepts are assimilated into existing schemata which can be altered or expanded;

2. New information can be represented by new mental structures. In this case, in absence of already existing schemata, new knowledge builds up new schemata.

Corroborating the work of Cook (1989), Plastina (1997), asserts that individuals piece up bits of knowledge together, in an attempt to make sense of them, which follows that the main features of schemata are flexibility and creativity. Schemata are flexible in that they undergo a cyclic process within which changes are brought about actively. Information is stored in memory and provided when needed with the least amount of effort. They are creative in that they can be used to represent all types of experiences and knowledge; they are specific to what is being perceived. Carrell and Floyd (2007) maintain that the teacher must provide the student with appropriate knowledge he is lacking, and must also teach the student how to build bridges between existing knowledge and new knowledge while teaching for comprehension especially for language learners.

Schema theory describes the process by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text, to comprehend that text. All readers have different schemata (background information).A student‘s ability to understand and remember whether through reading or through listening is dependent on the expectations, cultural background, vocabulary and prior knowledge which one brings to the reading task. The richer the student‘s background schema, the more readily new information will be linked with the existing information and comprehended.

This comprehension in turn further enriches and expands the student‘s schema. Rumelhart (1977) focuses in particular on the complex interaction of perceptual syntax, semantic and pragmatic information that occurs in the mind of the skilled reader. The reading process, therefore, involves identification of genre, formal structure and topic, all of which activate schemata and allow readers to comprehend the text (Swales 1990). In this, it is assumed that readers not only possess all the relevant schemata, but also that these schemata actually are activated.

In the process of reading, comprehension of a text entails drawing information from both the text and the internal schemata until sets are reconciled as a single schema or messages which are instructional proposals from schema theory. Relevant knowledge can be activated before reading, which should provide prerequisite knowledge (metacognitive awareness) for teaching higher-order comprehension processes. Schema theory provides a theoretical and empirical basis for instructional practices /effective learning strategies that can be applied in the classroom by teachers.

1.4 Purpose of study
This study is designed to investigate the effectiveness of explicit instruction and reading strategies on metacognitive skills and performance in English Language among senior secondary school III students in Anambra State.
The Aims and Objectives of the study include to:

1. Examine if there is any difference in the post-test scores of English Language performance of participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.
2. Explore whether there is any difference in the post-test scores of self- awareness skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.
3. Establish whether there is any difference in the post-test scores of planning skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control groups.
4. Investigate if there is any difference in the post-test scores of monitoring skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.
5. Explore whether there is any difference in the post-test scores of global strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.
6. Evaluate whether there is any difference in the post-test scores of problem solving strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.
7. Verify if there is any difference in the post-test scores of support strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control groups.

1.5 Research questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:

(1) To what extent will there be any significant difference in the post-test scores in English Language performance of participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and control group?
(2) Is there any significant difference in the post-test scores in self- awareness skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?
(3) Will there be any significant difference in the post-test scores in planning skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?
(4) Does any significant difference exist in the post-test scores in monitoring skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?
(5) Is there any significant difference in the post-test scores in global strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?
(6) To what extent will there be any significant difference in the post-test scores in problem solving strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?
(7) Will there be any significant difference in the post-test scores in support strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group?

1.6 Research hypotheses

1. There is no significant difference in the post-test scores in English Language performance among participants exposed to explicit instruction, reading strategies and the control group.
2. There is no significant difference in the post-test scores in self-awareness skills among the participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group.
3. There is no significant difference in the post test scores in planning skills among the participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group.
4. There is no significant difference in the post test scores in monitoring skills among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group.
5. There is no significant difference in the post-test scores in global strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategy and the control group.
6. There is no significant difference in the post-test scores in problem solving strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group.
7. There is no significant difference in the post-test scores on support strategies among participants exposed to explicit instruction strategy, reading strategies and the control group.

1.7 Scope of study

This study was limited to selected public schools in Anambra State. The study covered public senior secondary school (SS3) students (both male and female).
The emphasis was on the effects of Explicit Instruction and Reading Strategies on Metacognitive Skills and Performance in English Language among Senior Secondary Students in Anambra State. The variables considered were academic performance and metacognitive skills which include monitoring, planning, self-awareness and reading strategies which also include global, support and problem solving strategies.

1.8 Significance of study

This study would be relevant to policy makers and curriculum experts in the education sector, in that it will help to review our present educational policy and curriculum with the aim of introducing metacognitive skills as a core component of teaching reading comprehension in English language to improve learning abilities of students.
The findings of this study would be of immense benefit to the teachers, students and educational researchers to enhance assessment in planning, instruction and conducting classroom research in the educational sector. This study is also aimed to provide information that will enable teachers to be aware of and have control over how students think and how they teach. It is also aimed to help teachers monitor, evaluate and regulate their teaching activities in accordance with specific students‘ goals, and contexts, thus exerting great impacts on their teaching, and the needs of students.

This study is also designed to enable students‘ increase the awareness of their metacognitive skills to improve reading abilities as the information will allow them to evaluate themselves in relation to other readers. It will also help to amend the conception they have about reading and learning from text. Becoming aware of one‘s cognitive processes while reading is an important step towards achieving the type of constructive responsive and thoughtful reading that is emphasized by current models of reading. According to Paris & Winograd (1990) such consciousness raising has twin benefits (a) It transfers responsibility for monitoring learning from teachers to students themselves. (b) It will promote positive self-confidence, and motivation among students. In this manner metacognitive skills provide personal insights into one‘s own thinking and fosters independent living.

The findings from this study may serve as useful tools for teachers, educators and parents in investigating the impact of teaching strategic reading under a variety of conditions including reading for different purposes, such assessments should engage students in more high level of thinking.

The study will be useful to educational guidance because it has suggested some fundamental techniques to diagnose reasons for students‘ failure in English language and identifying ways of remedying the problems through the use of metacognitive skills. The study is useful in the modification of students‘ attitude and interest especially in the area of enhancing language and presentation skills through clearly and systematic ways of expressing and analyzing ideas logically.

1.9 Operational definition of terms

Reading Strategies

Strategy is an activity used to help students increase abilities to achieve a goal. Reading Strategies in this study are purposeful, cognitive actions that students take when they are reading to help them construct and maintain meaning. They are the methods of instruction that enable students to become proficient readers. Strategies were measured using the Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies Inventory.

Explicit direct instruction strategy

Explicit instruction strategies are features and activities which teachers focus their explanations on when they teach students metacognitively. In the study, these features include what the skill is; why the skill is learned; how to use the skill; when and where is to be used. This was measured using the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Metacognition

Metacognition in this study refers to the conscious and periodic self-evaluation of what one thinks and knows and also to think about their own thinking and knowing during reading; whether comprehension is being achieved, selecting and applying different strategies when necessary. Metacognition was measured using the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Cognition

It refers to the process of applying knowledge, and changing preferences. It can be conscious and unconscious. Cognition as used in the study focuses on the study of mental processes such as comprehension, inferences, decision – making, planning, learning, and control during reading.

Reading

The ability to look at and understand the meaning of written or printed words or symbols. It is to go through written or printed words in silence or aloud to others or one‘s self.

Comprehension

This refers to an exercise that enables students to understand a text in a written language. It is the ability to understand what you read. Understanding flows from the words that are read and the mental images created or awakened by the words. Comprehension was measured using the participants‘ scores in English language achievement test.

Metacognitive skills

Metacognitive skills refer to those strategies which require students to think about their own thinking as they engage in academic tasks e.g. reading. They are conscious control processes such as planning, monitoring of the progress of processing, self-awareness, strategy use and regulation of cognition. These skills

were measured using the participants‘ total scores in the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Self-awareness skills

This is control and knowledge of self as a learner. Self-awareness in this study can be defined as any instance of cognitive control that is informed by metacognitive knowledge. Concerning reading specifically, control might involve the choice of which items to read and strategy selection such as choosing what is believed to be an effective way to read certain materials; changing a reading strategy when an earlier choice proves ineffective. It was measured by participants‘ scores in self- awareness skills in the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Monitoring skills

Metacognitive monitoring refers to the learner‘s efforts to monitor his own performance in a learning task and also focus on the progress of the cognitive process in which the person is engaged. Such monitoring can take the form of explicit judgments which are based on cues related to that process. Monitoring was measured using participants‘ scores in monitoring skills in the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Planning skills

Metacognitive planning skills direct the course of individuals‘ thinking which indirectly results in specific cognitive strategy use for specific tasks. Planning helps allocate resources to the current task (via monitoring strategies), determine the order of

steps to be taken to complete the task and set the intensity or the speed at which one should work on the task (evaluating strategies). This was measured using participants‘ scores in planning skills in the State Metacognitive Inventory.

Performance in English language

In this study it is a measure of high or low performance of senior secondary III students in English language, which was measured by participants‘ scores in the English Language achievement test.