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Questioning the Metacognitive Reading Strategies in an English-Medium Instruction (EMI) Setting

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English as the Medium of Instruction in Turkish Higher Education

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 40))

Abstract

English-medium instruction (EMI) has already been an inseparable component of numerous tertiary education systems across the globe. As a receptive skill, reading is considered to be the main input source in EMI contexts. Given the gap between departmental studies and intensive English programs, the complexity of reading texts in EMI courses can place a burden on university students, especially for those who cannot employ effective reading strategies. Therefore, this mixed method study aims to investigate the metacognitive reading strategies used by students at a technical university in Turkey where EMI is implemented in engineering departments. To triangulate the quantitative data retrieved from a scale called Metacognitive Reading Strategies Questionnaire (MRSQ), a focus group interview session was conducted with six participants. For data analysis, NVivo 12 Pro and Amazon AWS Transcribe were used. The quantitative results showed that the participants tended to use analytic strategies (determining the meaning of critical words, visualizing descriptions and drawing on self-knowledge) more than pragmatic ones (re-reading for better comprehension and making notes to help them remember). However, the qualitative results revealed that the interviewed participants favored pragmatic strategies: they made notes, underlined critical information, translated and used margins for notetaking. In addition, the participants highlighted the importance of guidance by their EMI instructors as regards the use of strategies. The pedagogical implications of this study encourage the implementation of both analytic and pragmatic reading strategies in EMI settings and highlight the importance of PD (Professional Development) activities to train subject teachers in implementing strategies in their courses.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bursa Technical University, Bursa, Turkey

    Mustafa Çoban

  2. Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey

    Salim Razı

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  1. Mustafa Çoban
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  2. Salim Razı
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Correspondence to Mustafa Çoban .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. English Language Teaching, Faculty of Education, Çukurova University, Saricam, Adana, Turkey

    Yasemin Kirkgöz

  2. English Language Teaching, Faculty of Education, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey

    Ali Karakaş

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Çoban, M., Razı, S. (2022). Questioning the Metacognitive Reading Strategies in an English-Medium Instruction (EMI) Setting. In: Kirkgöz, Y., Karakaş, A. (eds) English as the Medium of Instruction in Turkish Higher Education. Multilingual Education, vol 40. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88597-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88597-7_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88597-7

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