An investigation into the correlation between cognitive strategies and students reading comprehension at vinh long college of technical education m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE
__________________________

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CORRELATION BETWEEN
COGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION AT VINH LONG COLLEGE OF TECHNICAL
EDUCATION

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirement of
the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
LINH MY HUYNH – TESOL 2008
Supervised by
Assoc. Prof. Dr. TUNG THANH NGUYEN

HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2012


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CORRELATION BETWEEN
COGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ READING
COMPREHENSION AT VINH LONG COLLEGE OF TECHNICAL
EDUCATION

in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued

by the Higher Degree Committee. This thesis has not been submitted for the award
of any degree or diploma in any other institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 31st, 2012

LINH MY HUYNH

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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, LINH MY HUYNH, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2012

LINH MY HUYNH

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tung Thanh Nguyen for his precious guidance during my
research. His intellect and critical advice lead me to the scientific world. Without
his enthusiasm and patience in reading and giving valuable comments on various
drafts, I would have never been able to complete this thesis.
I thank the administrators of Vinh Long College of Technical Education who have
created favorable conditions for me to pursue the Master’s program and finish my
thesis. I also need to thank all my students of two classes ĐĐT-09 and TH-09 at
this college who assisted me in the data collection. Their cooperation was
meaningful to me.
Also, I am in debt to my close friends for their sincere concern and willing help
during the time I were away from home to study. My heartfelt thanks are also sent
to my classmates in the TESOL 2008 class for their friendship, suggestions and
mental support throughout my research.
Last but not least, my special thanks go to my family, my aunt, and my boyfriend
anh Tuan Anh who always stood side by side to encourage me to complete the
thesis and to share my difficulties. Their support brought me the most motivation
during the time of my thesis writing.

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ABSTRACT

Currently, using cognitive strategies in reading comprehension becomes a
trend in learning and teaching this skill. Research has shown that it brings the
learners efficient reading. Thus the present study investigates the correlation
between these strategies and students’ reading comprehension at Vinh Long
College of Technical Education.

This study mainly adapted Oxford’ s (1990) classification of cognitive

strategies and 50-item Strategy Inventory Language Learning (SILL) of version
7.0 to form a theoretical framework for the investigation.

Research was conducted on 85 students from two classes ĐĐT-09 and TH09 and 35 of them were chosen to take part in the study. These students were
divided into successful and unsuccessful students in English reading. They were
asked to fill in the questionnaire and answer the interview questions for data
collection of the study.

The findings of the study showed that successful students used more
cognitive strategies in reading than unsuccessful students, and there was a strong
positive correlation between these strategies and their reading comprehension.
These findings were a persuasive base for students’ use of these strategies in
improving their reading in English.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
Statement of authorship .................................................................................................. i
Retention and use of the thesis ...................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. …iii
Abstract ................................................................................................................... ….iv
Table of contents ...................................................................................................... ….v
List of tables …………………………………………………………………..…..viii
List of figures …………………………………………………………………..……..ix
List of charts ………………………………………………………………………….x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 1
1.1 Background to the study ................................................................................ 1
1.2 Rationale ....................................................................................................... 2

1.3 The purpose of the study ............................................................................... 4
1.4 Research questions ........................................................................................ 4
1.5 Significance................................................................................................... 4
1.6 Limitations of the study ................................................................................. 5
1.7 Delimitations of the study.............................................................................. 5
1.8 Organization of the study .............................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2: COGNITIVE STRATEGIES: A THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Definitions of cognitive strategies ................................................................. 7
2.2 Classifications of cognitive strategies ............................................................ 9
2.3 The use of cognitive strategies in reading .................................................... 14
2.3.1 How to use cognitive strategies in reading ........................................ 14
2.3.2 Why to use cognitive strategies in reading ........................................ 16
2.3.3 When to use cognitive strategies in reading ...................................... 18
2.4 The use of cognitive strategies by good readers and poor readers ................ 20
2.5 The relationship between students’ use of cognitive strategies and their
reading comprehension ............................................................................. 23
2.6 Summary .................................................................................................... 26
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................... 27
3.1 Setting ......................................................................................................... 27
3.2 Participants ................................................................................................. 27
3.3 Research design ........................................................................................... 29
3.4 Instruments.................................................................................................. 29
3.4.1 The test............................................................................................ 30
3.4.2 The questionnaire ............................................................................. 31
3.4.2.1 Structure of the questionnaire ............................................. 32
3.4.2.2 Construction of the questionnaire........................................ 33

3.4.3 The retrospective interview .............................................................. 36
3.5 Data collection procedures .......................................................................... 38
3.5.1 Procedure for conducting the test...................................................... 38
3.5.2 Procedure for conducting the questionnaire ..................................... 38
3.5.3 Procedure for conducting the interview ............................................ 39
3.6 Analytical framework .................................................................................. 39
3.7 Summary ..................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ........................................ 42
4.1 Results from the test .................................................................................... 42
4.2 Results from the questionnaire .................................................................... 43
4.2.1 The use of practicing strategies......................................................... 44
4.2.2 The use of receiving and sending messages strategies....................... 44
4.2.3 The use of analyzing and reasoning strategies................................... 45
4.2.4 The use of creating a structure for input and output strategies........... 47
4.2.5 Summary .......................................................................................... 48
4.3 Results from the interview .......................................................................... 49
4.3.1 Successful students’ use of cognitive strategies in the reading test .... 49
4.3.2 Unsuccessful students’ use of cognitive strategies in the reading
test ............................................................................................................................ 53
4.3.3 Reasons for rare use of cognitive strategies by unsuccessful
students

………………………….........................55

4.3.4 Summary .......................................................................................... 59
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4.4 Correlation between students’ cognitive strategy use and their reading
comprehension .......................................................................................... 60

4.4.1 To successful students ..................................................................... 60
4.4.2 To unsuccessful students ................................................................. 62
4.5 Discussion of the findings ........................................................................... 64
4.5.1 Cognitive strategy use of successful and unsuccessful students
in reading comprehension ............................................................... 64
4.5.2 Correlation between cognitive strategies and students’ reading
comprehension ............................................................................... 67
4.6 Chapter summary ........................................................................................ 68
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................... 69
5.1. Conclusions ................................................................................................ 69
5.2. Recommendations ..................................................................................... 70
5.2.2 For teachers ...................................................................................... 71
5.2.3 For students ...................................................................................... 72
5.3 Suggestions for further research ................................................................. 72
5.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 73
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 75
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 81
Appendix 1 Proficiency reading test .......................................................................... 81
Appendix 2 Answer key ............................................................................................ 87
Appendix 3 Questionnaire ........................................................................................ 88
Appendix 4 Interview questions ................................................................................ 92
Appendix 5 Interview responses ............................................................................... 94

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Summary of cognitive strategies ............................................................14
Table 3.1 Demographic data of the subjects ............................................................. 28

Table 3.2 Key to understanding students’ averages ................................................... 32
Table 3.3 Original items adopted from SILL ............................................................. 33
Table 3.4 Items adapted from SILL ........................................................................... 34
Table 3.5 Items added to the questionnaire ............................................................... 35
Table 3.6 Distribution of items on the questionnaire................................................. 36
Table 3.7 Checklist of cognitive strategies ............................................................37
Table 4.1 Average frequency of students’ use of cognitive strategies ....................... 43
Table 4.2 The means and standard derivations of practicing strategies ...................... 44
Table 4.3 The means and standard derivations of receiving and sending message
strategies……………………………………………………………....45
Table 4.4 The means and standard derivations of analyzing and reasoning
strategies……………………………………………………………….46
Table 4.5 The means and standard derivations of creating a structure for input and
output strategies………………………………………………………48
Table 4.6 Students’ use of cognitive strategies in the reading test .............................. 50
Table 4.7 Reasons for not using cognitive strategies by unsuccessful students .......... 56
Table 4.8 Correlations of the marks and the mean scores of cognitive strategy use
by successful students in reading …………………………..…………………..61
Table 4.9 Correlations of the marks and the mean scores of cognitive strategy use
by unsuccessful students in reading………………………………………………63

viii


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Scatterplot of successful students’ marks................................................. .61
Figure 4.2 Scatterplot of unsuccessful students’ marks ............................................ .62

ix

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 The reading test scores of all participants…………………………………..42

x


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
As a matter of fact, Vietnamese people have witnessed a giant need of
learning and using English during recent decades. Around 90% of foreign
language learners studying English is a fascinating statistic, though it has not been
fully documented yet (as cited in Do, 2006). In reality, English opens the door to
the world. It is used, to some extent, in every aspect such as economy, culture,
politics, society, and education in Vietnam nowadays. One more important thing is
that it is required in employment and educational opportunities. According to
Nunan (2003, as cited in Phan, 2005), in Vietnam almost all of the jobs require a
certificate in English, and even work promotion now starts considering English
proficiency as a criterion.
Certainly, any skill plays a vital role in learning a foreign language, and
reading is really beneficial to any learner. First and foremost, he or she can manage
well in a modern life from reading traffic signs to traveling and integrating into
other cultures, especially accessing the Internet. Then, in the time of globalization,
reading in English as a foreign language is very necessary for everyone to widen
his or her knowledge, to get information, or to enjoy life. People today have a need
to read authentic books and magazines for pleasure, entertainment or even
curiosity. In addition, reading skill is highly used in academic education.
According to Harmer (1991), students can attain a higher level of language in

receptive skills than in productive skills since actually they can read English often
for scientific or academic purposes without speaking it well. Besides, in learning a
foreign language, this skill is necessary for the learner to acquire vocabulary and
grammar and supports other skills such as listening, speaking and writing.
In addition to the above benefits, reading skill is rather necessary for
students at Vinh Long College of Technical Education (VLCTE) for some other

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reasons. Firstly, for practical requirements, we are supposed to train skilled
workers and educated workers who can comprehend English materials which are
necessary for their job. Secondly, since they are technical students, they have a
need to make references from many English books, newspapers, magazines, and
the Internet. Generally, they have to efficiently deal with several kinds of text, both
authentic and academic. Thus when facing with a large amount of information
from such sources, according to Beyer (1995), students need to be critical readers
who can interpret written texts through analyzing and evaluating key concepts and
ideas, reasons and justifications, supporting examples, parallel experiences,
implications, and consequences presented by the writer.
Although all teachers of English intend to enhance students’ reading
comprehension, there has not been any remarkable change in the routine of
teaching reading skill at VLCTE. Mostly, students are provided with vocabulary
first. Then they do all the tasks in the book such as answering the questions,
choosing the correct answer(s), marking the True/ False statements, and
completing the sentences. Hardly were they taught such strategies as skimming,
scanning, guessing, inferencing, and so on explicitly. As a result, they are so
dubious in using these strategies, and cannot attain a required capacity in reading
in English.
1.2 Rationale

Through her teaching experience at VLCTE, the researcher finds that most
of her students do not read as effectively as they are expected to. Mostly, they are
very eager to learn reading because of its usefulness for their major and future job.
Yet, they usually express the difficulties they encounter as follows: “I am tired of
reading a long text.”, “There are too many new words.”, “Even I know the
meaning of every word, I do not know what the whole text means.”, “I never get
high marks in reading although I have tried a lot.”, “I am really afraid of reading
specialized materials.”, “It is hard for me to make references from English books
because it takes a lot of time.” and “Ooh, I cannot read English materials

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effectively, teacher.” These are what she normally receives from her students when
she asked them about their confidence in reading comprehension.
From what these students confide in the researcher, there are some
problems identified. Firstly, they have to face many new words which prevent
them from the stream of reading. Secondly, there are differences in the transfer
from English to their native language. Last but not least, they are not familiar with
reading long and advanced texts, and they are not well aware of several strategies
which can facilitate their reading in a foreign language. Theoretically, there has
been found that in the field of language learning strategies, there are groups of
strategies that may positively affect reading skill. Among them, cognitive
strategies are seen to have considerable effects on students’ reading
comprehension.
Actually, the effectiveness of cognitive strategies has been proven through
research. As one of the dedicated authors in this field, Oxford (1990) affirmed:
“Cognitive strategies are typically found to be the most popular strategies with
language learners” (p. 43). Recently, the use of cognitive strategies has become a
new trend in teaching and learning English, especially in reading skill. For

example, there has been research on their effects on learners’ reading
comprehension (Hamdan, Ghafar, Sihes, & Atan, 2010; Padrón & Waxman, 1988;
Phakiti, 2006; Zhi-hong, 2007). Furthermore, in the study of awareness of reading
strategy use and reading comprehension among good and poor readers by
Anastasiou and Griva (2009), it has been found that good readers employ cognitive
strategies much more frequently, almost twice, than poor readers. Moreover, Nga
(2009) offered that among six teachers being interviewed, four of them believed in
using cognitive strategies as a good method to teach students reading skills.
Relying on what stated above, and from the fact that there had not been any
research into the application of these strategies on reading in her local context, the
researcher decided to make a study in this field. Initially, she would explore the
role of cognitive strategies in reading in English. This task was carried out with the

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hope to pave the way for the use of these strategies in teaching and learning
reading skill to improve students’ reading in English as a foreign language at
VLCTE.
1.3 The purpose of the study
To encourage the use of cognitive strategies in teaching and learning
reading skill in the local context, this study aims to investigate the important role
of these strategies in reading in English. This aim entails the following two
objectives: to discover the extent in the use of these strategies by successful and
unsuccessful students when they read a text, and to find out the correlation
between them and students’ reading comprehension at VLCTE.
1.4 Research questions
With the above purpose, this study focuses on making clear the following
questions:
1. Do successful students use more cognitive strategies in reading than

unsuccessful students? To what extent do they use these strategies?
2. What is the correlation between students’ use of cognitive strategies and
their reading comprehension?
1.5 Significance
This thesis is an effort to study the correlation between cognitive strategies
and students’ reading ability in practical classrooms. Therefore, if the study can
confirm a highly positive correlation between these two variables, then first and
foremost, it would be a persuasive base for teachers and students at VLCTE to pay
more attention to the application of these strategies in teaching and learning
reading skill. Hopefully, it can contribute to the objective of improving students’
reading ability in this local context. Besides, a review of definitions, classifications
and use of cognitive strategies is useful for all those who care about these

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strategies and their application in teaching and learning reading. Therefore, this
study is hopeful to make a small contribution to the improvement of the method of
teaching this skill.
1.6 Limitations of the study
This study only investigates the correlation between technical education
students’ use of cognitive strategies and their reading comprehension in some
practical classrooms at VLCTE. Therefore, the results may not be properly applied
for students of many other majors, or in other schools, colleges or universities.
1.7 Delimitations of the study
Within this study, the researcher only tries to find out the correlation
between technical students’ use of cognitive strategies and their reading ability.
She does not intend to teach them these strategies in a practical classroom. Nor
does she evaluate the effects of her teaching on students’ reading comprehension.
1.8 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the topic
of the study including its background, aims, research questions, significance,
limitations, delimitations, and organization. Chapter 2 aims at building a
theoretical framework for the study by focusing on five parts. The first deals with
definitions of cognitive strategies in reading. The second classifies cognitive
strategies in reading. The third discusses their use in reading. The fourth is about
the use of cognitive strategies by good readers and poor readers. The last shows
the relationship between cognitive strategies and readers’ proficiency. Chapter 3 is
about the methodology proceeded in the study. It consists of the setting,
participants, instruments, data collection procedure, and analytical framework.
Chapter 4 presents the data analysis and interpretation for three types of data –
the test, the questionnaire and the interview – and raises discussion as well.

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Chapter 5 is the conclusion based on the findings of the study. It also offers
recommendations for teachers and students and suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2
COGNITIVE STRATEGIES: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter reviews the theoretical background of the study. It first
presents definitions of cognitive strategies. Then, it provides the classifications of
these strategies which have a close tie to reading skill. In addition, the use of such
strategies in reading including issues of how, why, and when to use is figured out.
Next, it shows an overview of the use of several cognitive strategies by both good
readers and poor readers. Finally, it indicates the relation between these strategies

and readers’ proficiency.
2.1 Definitions of cognitive strategies
Research into language learning strategies leads to some careful definitions
of cognitive strategies. There is a fact that each researcher defines them within the
context of his or her study, and although there are several definitions of these
strategies, all of the researchers do not vary a lot in the content.
Generally, cognitive strategies are known as direct strategies, information
processing and problem-solving. According to Brown and Palinscar (1982) and
O’Malley, Russo and Chamot (1983), they are “the steps or operations used in
learning or problem-solving that require direct analysis, transformation, or
synthesis of learning materials” (as cited in Rubin, 1987, p. 23). Meanwhile,
Wenden (1987a) directed human information processing theories to language
learning, so she viewed these strategies as “the techniques actually used to
manipulate the incoming information and, later, to retrieved what has been stored”
(p. 6). Later, O’ Malley and Chamot (1990) noticed the characteristic of
manipulating the language; they wrote: “cognitive processing as a set of behaviors
that involve mental manipulations or transformations of materials or tasks servers
to enhance comprehension, acquisition, or retention” (p. 229).
Then, in her turn, Oxford (1990) looked at these strategies more concretely
in all four skills. In her opinion, they are varied a lot, ranging from repeating to
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analyzing expressions to summarizing, and they are unified by a common function
which is “manipulation or transformation of the target language by the learner” (p.
43). In addition, she clarified “Cognitive strategies, such as summarizing or
reasoning deductively, enable learners to understand and produce new language by
many different means” (p. 37).
Later on, like Oxford, researchers tended to study cognitive strategies in
concrete aspects of language learning. For example, when looking at reading and

cognition, Anderson (2000) remarked the role of problem solving as follows:
“There are those who hold that many aspects of reading represent problem-solving,
and that problem-solving strategies are useful for the resolution of many
difficulties in reading, for example the deduction of the meaning of unknown
words” (p. 21). Furthermore, at the simplest level, Dole, Nokes and Drits (2009)
defined “a strategy is a routine or procedure for accomplishing a goal”, and they
supposed that cognitive strategies, therefore, are “mental routines or procedures for
accomplishing cognitive goals like solving a problem, studying for a test, or
understanding what is being read” (p. 350). It is not all, as Grabe (2009) reminded:
Cognitive strategies have commonly been described as strategies that a
reader is trained to use, such as guessing from context, noting discourse
organization, recognizing a transition phrase, skipping a word, identifying a
known word part, forming a question about an author or identifying a main
idea. (p. 223)
To sum up, among language learning strategies, cognitive strategies are
distinguished in three most prominent aspects. Firstly, they are direct strategies in
dealing with specific language tasks. Secondly, they are used to manipulate
incoming information, so they can help learners understand and produce the
language by several means. And finally they are also characterized as problem
solving strategies. Therefore, they are considered to have much effect on the
reading skill.

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2.2 Classifications of cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies have been classified in different criteria without any
radical changes. As a pioneer in this field, Rubin (1981, as cited in Rubin, 1987)
identified cognitive learning strategies as consisting of six general strategies that
directly affect language learning: clarification/ verification, guessing/ inductive

inferencing, deductive reasoning, practice, memorization, and monitoring.
1. Clarification indicates strategies students use to clarify their
understanding of the new language. They have a demand to confirm rules they
learn and to check whether their production of words, phrases or sentences is
consistent with the target language. Verification refers to the information that
students store for further use.
2. Guessing/ inductive inferencing refers to strategies which use previous
linguistic or conceptual knowledge to derive explicit hypotheses about the
linguistic form and meaning. Thus learners can infer meaning by what they know
about their own or a second language.
3. Deductive reasoning relates to problem-solving strategy in which
learners use general rules to approach the new language. There is a difference
between inductive and deductive reasoning. That is in inductive reasoning, the
learner is looking for a specific meaning or specific rule whereas in deductive
reasoning the learner is looking for and using general rules.
4. Practice refers to the strategies which focus on the storage and retrieval
of language. They involve repetition, rehearsal, experimentation, application of
rules, imitation, and attention to detail.
5. Memorization focuses on the storage and retrieval process to which the
goal is organization. Therefore, some mnemonic strategies known here are using
one item to recall a number of others (called key words) and using some sorts of
mechanical means, like taking notes, to store the information.

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6. Monitoring refers to strategies in which the learner observes receiving
and interpreting of messages by the addressee.
Later, the research ‘The Learning Strategies of ESL Students’ by Chamot
(1992) provided a list of learning strategies reported by students. It was adopted to

describe and classify them into the metacognitive, cognitive, and social-affective
scheme. The following are cognitive strategies mentioned.
- Repetition: Imitating a language model, including overt practice and silent
rehearsal.
- Resourcing: Using target language reference materials.
- Translation: Using the first language as a base for understanding and/ or
producing the second language.
- Grouping: Reordering or reclassifying and perhaps labeling the material
to be learned based on common attributes.
- Note-taking: Writing down the main idea, important points, outlines, or
summary of information presented orally or in writing.
- Deduction: Consciously applying rules to produce or understand the
second language.
- Recombination: Constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language
sequence by combining known elements in a new way.
- Imagery: Relating new information to visual concepts in memory via
familiar easily retrievable visualizations, phrases or locations.
- Auditory representation: Retention of the sound or similar sound for a
word, phrase or longer language sequence.
- Key word: Remembering a new word in the second language by
identifying a familiar word in the first language that sounds like or otherwise
resembles the new word, and generating easily recalled images of some
relationship between the new words.
- Contextualization: Placing a word or phrase in a meaningful language
sequence.
- Elaboration: Relating new information to other concepts in memory.
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- Transfer: Using previously acquired linguistic and/ or conceptual

knowledge to facilitate a new language learning task.
- Inferencing: Using available information to guess meanings of new items,
predict outcomes or fill in missing information.
Last but not least in this literature review is the classification of cognitive
strategies applied to the four language skills by Oxford (1990). There are four sets
of strategies: practicing, receiving and sending messages, analyzing and reasoning,
and creating structure for input and output. The following part which has been
adapted from Oxford only extracts the strategies applied in reading skill which are
homogeneous and suitable to this research (1990, pp. 70-90).
A. Practicing
1. Repeating: This strategy might mean reading a passage more than once
to understand it more completely. A useful technique is to read a passage several
times, and each time for different purposes like to get the general drift or main
ideas, to predict, to read for detail, to write down questions, and so on.
2. Recognizing and using formulas and patterns: There are many useful
patterns existing in every language. Patterns have at least one slot that can be filled
with an alternative word, and formulas are unanalyzed expressions. They can be
taught as whole chunks early in the language learning process. Recognizing and
using routine formulas and patterns does enhance the learner’ comprehension and
production. Furthermore, these routines will help build self-confidence, increase
understanding, and enhance fluency.
B. Receiving and Sending Message
1. Getting the idea quickly: It helps learners home in on exactly what they
need or want to understand, and allows them to disregard the rest or use it as
background information only. Two techniques constituting this strategy are
skimming and scanning. Skimming involves searching for the main ideas the

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speaker wants to get across, while scanning means searching for specific details of
interest to the learner. Questions to preview, charts to complete, lists to write,
diagrams to fill out, and other mechanisms provide clues about what kind of
general points or specific details the learner needs to pick up in a reading passage.
2. Using resources for receiving and sending messages: This strategy
involves using resources to find out the meaning of what is heard or read in the
new language. To better understand what is heard or read, printed resources such
as dictionaries, word lists, grammar books, and phrase books may be valuable.
Encyclopedia, travel guides, magazines, and general books on culture and history
can provide useful background information so that learners can better understand
the spoken or written language.
C. Analyzing and Reasoning
1. Reasoning deductively: This strategy involves deriving hypotheses about
the meaning by means of general rules the learner already knows. Reasoning
deductively is a common and very useful type of logical thinking.
2. Analyzing expressions: To understand something spoken in the new
language, it is often helpful to break down a new word, phrase, sentence, or even
paragraph into its component parts. This strategy is known as analyzing
expressions. It is especially useful for reading because readers have time to go
back and analyze complicated expressions.
3. Translating: Translating can be a helpful strategy early in language
learning, as long as it is used with care. Though it is a frequent occurrence among
beginners, word-for-word (verbatim) translation can become a crutch or provide
the wrong interpretation of target language material. Furthermore, translating can
sometimes slow learners down considerably, forcing them to go back and forth
constantly between languages.

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4. Transferring means directly applying previous knowledge to facilitate
new knowledge in the target language. However, sometimes there is just no
equivalent from one language to the other.
D. Creating Structure for Input and Output
1. Taking notes: The focus of taking notes should be on understanding, not
writing. There are many ways to take notes such as raw notes, a “shopping list”, a
semantic map, a T-formation, a tree diagram or a flow chart by means of arrows,
diamonds, circles, and so forth.
2. Summarizing: Another strategy that helps learners structure new input
and show they understand is summarizing – that is making a condensed, shorter
version of the original passage.
3. Highlighting: This strategy emphasizes the major points in a dramatic
way, through color, underlining, capital letters, initial capitals, big writing, bold
writing, stars, boxes, circles, and so on.
In short, the classification of cognitive strategies by Oxford (1990) is
comprehensive and apparent to the reading skill. However, the criterion of
analyzing and reasoning does not mention inferencing strategy which was noticed
by both Rubin (1981) and Chamot (1992) as mentioned above. Besides,
contextualization and elaboration strategies in the classification described by
Chamot are also useful for reading comprehension. Therefore, this current study
would

consider

adding

these

three

strategies

of

inductive

inference,

contextualization and elaboration in the part of analyzing and reasoning by Oxford,
and based itself on this combination as a framework for investigating as follow.

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Table 2.1 Summary of cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies

A. Practicing: repeating and recognizing and using

in reading

formulas and patterns
B. Receiving and

sending messages: skimming,

scanning, and using resources for receiving and sending
messages
C. Analyzing and reasoning: reasoning deductively,
translating, transferring, inferencing, contextualizing,

and elaborating
D. Creating a structure for input and output: note-taking,
summarizing, and highlighting
2.3 The use of cognitive strategies in reading
2.3.1 How to use cognitive strategies in reading
Knowledge of how to use the strategies is very necessary to any student.
According to Anderson (1999), “a cognitive understanding of what should be done
is not enough to guarantee success while reading. The reader must also understand
how to apply the use of a given strategy” (p. 71). So, this author affirmed the
suggested idea that “teaching readers how to use strategies is a prime consideration
in the reading classroom” (p. 70).
First and foremost, there is a fact that explicit strategy instruction is
suggested by many researchers. “Students will be able to learn and apply strategies
more effectively with new tasks if they verbalize and describe their efforts to apply
strategies with learning activities” (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994, p. 11).
Furthermore, explicit learning involves conscious attention to specific skills or
knowledge, thus registering in long-term memory. As a result, “strategic reading
depends heavily on the initial explicit learning of strategies to establish themselves
and then gradually become skilled routines” (Grabe, 2009, p. 61).

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