Improving EFL Students' Self-regulation in Reading English Using a Cognitive Tool

Abstract

Problem Statement: One of the techniques which recently have attracted attention of researchers is concept mapping. Although, there are a number of researches investigating the influence of concept mapping technique on different skills e.g. reading, writing and etc, there are quite few studies on the effect of concept maps on motivational factors which are influential in students' success in reading such as self-regulation.
Purpose of Study: This paper strives to investigate if concept mapping as a cognitive tool could contribute to improving self-regulation of students in a reading course.
Methods: To fulfill the aim of the study, sixty university students from one of the universities in Iran were randomly assigned to two groups: one experimental (concept mapping) and the other control (conventional method).
Findings and Results: Results revealed that there was a significant difference between the two groups with students in the experimental group outperforming those in the control group on self-regulation in reading.

Conclusion and Recommendations: The findings of the present study clearly demonstrated that the use of concept mapping strategy in teaching reading comprehension benefited Iranian EFL students who are at the intermediate level of language proficiency. The findings of the study have implications for teaching reading nationally and globally.

Keywords

• self-regulation, concept mapping, reading

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