Metacomprehension Awareness of Primary School Plurilinguals

Abstract

Summary This qualitative-quantitative study examines the level of metacomprehension awareness in international primary school students before, while, and after reading narrative texts. The first part of the study brings a short overview of theoretical background and previous research pertaining to metacognition and metacognitive strategies, reading comprehension, and plurilingualism in the context of formal education. The second part describes the participants, along with their diverse personal experiences regarding language and education. Two tests and a brief questionnaire were used for collecting the majority of information. A semi-structured interview was conducted to inquire about the participants’ attitudes towards reading narrative texts and the languages to which they give preference while reading such texts. The findings reveal that, at the age of ten, plurilingual students demonstrate a certain amount of metacomprehension awareness while reading narrative texts in English. No major differences were found between two language-specific groups defined by the students’ mother tongues, but certain differences occurred between boys and girls. Established reading language and language preferences for reading narrative texts seem to play an important role in effective reading comprehension, whereas age seems to be a more critical factor in the development of metacomprehension awareness of plurilingual 10-year-olds.