Abstract :
This article reports on an investigation into the relationship of test-takersʹ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to the EFL (English as a foreign language) reading test performance. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data analyses. The 384 students enrolled in a fundamental English course at a Thai university took an 85-item, multiple-choice reading comprehension achievement test, followed by a cognitive–metacognitive questionnaire on how they thought while completing the test. Eight of these students (4 highly successful and 4 unsuccessful) were selected for retrospective interviews. The results suggested that (1) the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies had a positive relationship to the reading test performance; and (2) highly successful test-takers reported significantly higher metacognitive strategy use than the moderately successful ones who in turn reported higher use of these strategies than the unsuccessful testtakers. Discussion of the findings and implications for further research are articulated.
