The impact of using self-regulation programme on Iraqi EFL secondary school student’ reading comprehension

Abstract EN

Education aims to enable students not only to acquire knowledge but also to become capable and enthusiastic continual learners.

Self-regulation learning is an effective form of learning through which the students set goals and make plans before starting to learn; monitor and regulate their cognition, motivation and behaviour during the learning process; and reflect on their learning.

Therefore, the current study investigates the impact of applying a self-regulation programme on students' reading comprehension.

To achieve this aim, the following hypothesis is stipulated: there is no statistically significant difference between the achievement mean scores of the students who are taught reading comprehension using self-regulation programme and those who are taught reading comprehension using the prescribed method.

The sample of this study was 60 male students chosen from 5th grade secondary school students.

This sample was distributed as follows: 1) 30 students for the control group, and 2) 30 students for the experimental group.

The two groups were statistically equalized in a number of variables such as age, parents' level of education, achievement scores in English in the mid-term, and achievement scores on the pretest.

The experiment was conducted in Diyala Governorate at Hisham Al-Hiyali Preparatory School for Boys.

It lasted for two months in the academic year 2015-2016.

The instrument of the present study involved two tests: a pretest which is used to equalize the control group and experimental group and a posttest for the purpose of comparing the achievement of the two groups at the end of the study.

In order to ascertain their face and content validity, the instruments were exposed to a jury of experts who validated the tests and suggested some modifications.

The reliability of the posttest was computed by applying Kuder Richardson formula 20 for the objective items (0.75) and Alpha Cronbach for subjective ones (0.71).

The discriminatory power and difficulty level of the instruments items were also calculated.

The result of the posttest indicates that the achievement of the experimental group who were exposed to the self-regulation programme is higher than that of the control group who were exposed to the prescribed method.

In other words, the self-regulation programme is more beneficial than the prescribed method to improve students' reading comprehension.

As a result it can be concluded that using self-regulation programme is an effective technique for teaching reading comprehension for Iraqi secondary school students, because it encourages the spirit of cooperation among students, gives them the opportunity to participate actively in the learning process and promotes students' control of their own learning.

Self-regulation programme helps teachers to teach reading comprehension more effectively as an important skill using self-regulation strategies as effective factors in developing reading comprehension and general achievement.

In conclusion of this study, some recommendations and suggestions for further research are presented in the light of the results at the end of the study