The Impact of Metadiscourse on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension: A Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

Examining the effect of Metadiscourse on promoting reading comprehension has been given little attention in comparison with the abundant treatment of metadiscourse in academic writing and discourse analysis. This paper highlights the impact of metadiscourse usage on advancing the reading comprehension of the participants who did not undergo any interventional experiment and had no intentional treatment to raising their awareness of metadiscourse. The study has administered two instrumental tools for data collection. First, two reading comprehension tests were given to a number of volunteering students (no=146) within a three-week period of interval. Second, the volunteers were asked about their feedback and reflection on the nature of the two reading comprehension texts directly after sitting the second test. A mixed-methods approach has been conducted for data collection and analysis. Quantitatively, reading comprehension test scores were measured statistically. Qualitatively, major themes and sub-themes have been inferred and thematically analyzed and discussed. Findings emphasized that the proper presence of metadiscourse in texts has positively resulted in both higher scoring in reading comprehension tests and positive feedback on their text readability. In conclusion, interactive metadiscourse, in particular, should be recognized, emphasized, and given time and space, especially in EFL curriculums, for teaching and learning objectives.