Reading Strategies or Comprehension Monitoring Strategies?

Abstract

In order to probe the relationship between reading strategies and comprehension monitoring strategies and how they function to help readers in comprehension process, the present study utilizes think-aloud and retrospective verbal reports to examine 20 EFL readers' performances in reading texts. The results reveal that the engagement of reading strategies is a cognitive action by which readers solve their problems resulting from the insufficiency of language knowledge in understanding textual information (within the text), while the employment of comprehension monitoring strategies is an intentional and remedial action by which readers integrate, monitor, and control their own reading processes (beyond the text). Both of the strategies may aid readers in achieving reading success from failures. The utilization of strategies positively functions only when the readers use them under specific occasions in reading a particular text. Otherwise, the readers may still fail to comprehend the texts even though they apply some reading strategies. A reading strategy may turn into a comprehension monitoring strategy as soon as it is engaged to aid readers to evaluate their own reading comprehension. Owing to the different functions of reading and comprehension monitoring strategies, this study suggests reading teachers familiarize their EFL students with knowledge and strategies of comprehension monitoring in critical reading.