The Effect of Metacognition and Reading Strategies Awareness on Reading Comprehension

This study aims to explore the influence of metacognitive awareness and reading strategy awareness on the reading comprehension skills of senior high school students. A quantitative approach with a correlational method was used to explain the magnitude of the influence of the independent variables (metacognitive awareness and reading strategy awareness) and the dependent variable (reading comprehension skills). The students were 154 from six State Senior High Schools in Gunungsitoli City, North Sumatra. A questionnaire was used to obtain metacognitive and reading strategy awareness data. Meanwhile, data on reading comprehension skills were obtained using a test instrument. The data were analyzed using inferential statistics, namely multiple linear regression based on SPSS for Windows version 26. The research findings show (1) metacognitive awareness does not have a positive and significant effect on students' reading comprehension skills, (2) reading strategy awareness contributes positively and significantly to students' reading comprehension skills, and (3) metacognitive awareness and reading strategy awareness simultaneously contribute positively and significantly to students' reading comprehension skills. Based on these findings, reading comprehension ability can be explained by the variables of metacognitive awareness and reading strategy awareness by 24.70%. At the same time, the remaining 75.30% is explained by other variables. The findings of this study help learn reading comprehension in high schools. In other words, teachers must foster awareness of metacognitive and reading strategies among students. Further research can be conducted using other research designs and methods.