Assessing Matriculation College Students’ Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies (MARS) in Biology

This study examines the relationship between student’s perceived use of Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies (MARS) in reading Biology books and corresponding Biology achievement. This study also identified the effective reading strategies that affect students’ Biology achievement in a particular semester. This study selected 318 Biology students by random sampling which comprised 97 (30%) male and 221 (70%) female students who were studying in one of the Matriculation Colleges in Kedah state, Malaysia. This study use Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) constructed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002). Findings of this study show that there is a positive weak relationship between perceived use of MARS and their Biology performance in Matriculation Programme. This study also show that Global Reading Strategies and Problem-Solving Strategies are predictors but Support Reading Strategies is not a predictor of Biology achievement. In investigating the effects of strategies, Global Reading is the best contributor followed by Problem-Solving Strategies to predict Biology achievement. It is suggested that teachers learn how to practice reading strategy instruction in the classroom. Students themselves should learn MARS and apply them in their reading and focus more on Global Reading Strategies.