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All Journal ELTALL: English Language Teaching, Applied Linguistic and Literature English Language Education Reviews
Nyika, Nicholus
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Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

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Beyond Strategy: Exploring Cultural Familiarity, Metacognition, and Learner Autonomy in Reading Comprehension: Kunene, Mfanukhona Wonderboy; Nyika, Nicholus
ELE Reviews: English Language Education Reviews Vol. 5 No. 2 (2025): November
Publisher : Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Mas Said Surakarta

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.22515/elereviews.v5i2.12753

Abstract

Literature on reading strategies ignores the critical role of cultural familiarity in the strategic selection and metacognition control of learners. This phenomenological study explores the rationale for implementing reading strategies and for metacognitive control among learners in culturally familiar and unfamiliar texts. The paper argues that cultural context shapes the reasons for using or abandoning a specific strategy, a process controlled by learners’ autonomy. The findings show that learners commonly use Global strategies to attain efficiency with known texts. However, they use Problem-Solving strategies when texts become culturally irrelevant, indicating a strong strategic bifurcation. The Reading Comprehension Pathway (RCP) Model embodies this strategic process and reconceptualises comprehension as a dynamic pathway under cultural control. The RCP Model provides a general framework for developing culturally responsive English Language Teaching (ELT) pedagogy.
Reading Strategy Patterns in Secondary School Learners: Gender and Cultural Familiarity in Multicultural Texts Kunene, Mfanukhona Wonderboy; Nyika, Nicholus
ELTALL: English Language Teaching, Applied Linguistic and Literature Vol. 6 No. 2 (2025)
Publisher : UIN Kiai Ageng Muhammad Besari Ponorogo

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.21154/eltall.v6i2.12058

Abstract

Understanding how learners use reading strategies across culturally familiar and unfamiliar texts is vital for effective literacy instruction, yet gender-related patterns in this context remain underexplored. This study examined gender differences in reading strategy use among 200 senior secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in Manzini, Eswatini. Using a within-subjects quasi-experimental design, participants (114 female, 86 male) read two narrative–descriptive passages differing in cultural familiarity in a counterbalanced order, two weeks apart, and completed the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS). The passages were matched for length and readability, and the SORS demonstrated excellent internal consistency (αoverall = .94; subscales α = .92–.88). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, Welch’s t-tests, Pearson correlations, and effect-size estimates (Cohen’s d). Results showed that girls reported significantly higher use of global and total strategies than boys (Global: t(≈198) = −2.56, p = .011, d = .31; Total: t(≈198) = −2.29, p = .023, d = .32), while no significant gender differences appeared for support or problem-solving strategies. Text familiarity did not significantly affect strategy use (paired tests p > .24), and inter-strategy correlations were minimal (average r ≈ −0.001 to −0.005), indicating largely independent deployment. The findings reveal subtle gendered tendencies and a limited effect of cultural familiarity, underscoring that learners’ strategy orchestration cannot be assumed. Implications call for culturally responsive and gender-sensitive literacy instruction that explicitly scaffolds metacognitive awareness and strategy integration in ESL classrooms.
Co-Authors Kunene, Mfanukhona Wonderboy