The effect of learners’ retrospective reflection on direct strategy use in developing their reading proficiency

Abstract

This thesis investigates the effect of learner’s retrospective reflection on strategy use without explicit training in strategy use) in developing their reading comprehension. There is need for such research as there is little evidence in the area of the usefulness of promoting learners’ individual reflection on the reading process and use of strategies to cope with the reading material under conditions of receiving no explicit training in reading strategies. The research is carried out with one group using a pre-post test experiment format. During the experiment, the eleven participants read five reading passages taken from TOEFL preparation course manuals and were required to reflect on the strategies they used to answer the questions on the reading passages in their learning logs. The participants were administered a pre-test before the experiment began and a post-test at the end of the treatment period. The mean scores for both tests are compared using a paired t-test. The results show that there is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores.