The Role of Perceived Teacher's Support and Motivational Orientation in Prediction of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies in Learning English

This study aims to determine the role of perceived teacher support and motivational orientation in predicting metacognitive awareness of reading strategies in learning the English language. The sample included 425 male and female students, studying in the elementary schools in the city of Birjand, eastern Iran, in the 2014-2015 academic year. Three different types of questionnaires were distributed among these students. The questionnaires were, respectively, about the students’ perception of teacher support (Zaki, 2007), motivational orientation for English learning (Sheikholeslami, 2005), and metacognitive awareness of the study methods (Mokhtari & Richard, 2002). Multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the obtained data. It was found that there was a direct and significant correlation between teacher support variable, and intrinsic motivation, overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies, and metacognitive awareness. Additionally, there was an inverse and significant correlation with the non-motivation variable. Furthermore, no significant correlation was observed between the teacher support variable and the extrinsic motivation variable. A direct and significant relationship was, however, spotted between intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation, overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies,and metacognitive awareness; and an inverse and significant relationship was noticed between the intrinsic motivation and non-motivation variables. Moreover, there existed a direct and significant relationship between extrinsic motivation, and overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies, metacognitive awareness and it had an inverse and significant relationship with non-motivation variable. The findings demonstrated that the components of perceived teacher support and motivational orientation (extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and nonmotivation) provide the possibility of predicting metacognitive awareness of students.