Abstract:

This study examined the potential proactive transfer of metacognitive reading strategies (MRS) from L2 French to L3 English and investigated the role of language proficiency in this transfer. A total of 105 ESP students from a school of Management and Artificial Intelligence were divided into two experimental groups and a control group. Both experimental groups received MRS instruction in French, with one group (n=40) at A1 English proficiency and the other (n=35) at B1+ English proficiency, while the control group (n=30) received no MRS instruction. Participants' reading comprehension and MRS awareness were assessed through pre-test and post-test tests and the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI-R) developed by Mokhtari et al. (2018). The results of the current study revealed two main significant findings. Firstly, the proactive transfer of MRS across languages is feasible. This is evidenced by the students' improved performance on the English reading comprehension test after receiving MRS instruction in French. However, the proactive transfer of MRS is contingent upon language proficiency, as illustrated by the results of the first experimental group. Secondly, the study demonstrated that explicit teaching of MRS effectively raises and develops MRS awareness. Unlike the transfer of MRS use, which is influenced by language proficiency, MRS awareness appears to be independent of language proficiency. Students with varying levels of English proficiency were able to transfer their MRS awareness following the intervention, suggesting that while "MRS-use" proactive transfer is largely proficiency-dependent, "MRS-awareness" proactive transfer is not. This implies that ESP tertiary students may be aware of MRS, yet struggle to apply them when processing academic texts in their L3 English. These findings emphasize the value of explicit MRS instruction in enhancing reading comprehension and metacognitive awareness, regardless of proficiency level, thereby contributing to effective strategy teaching in multilingual contexts.

Keywords:

Metacognitive reading strategies, proactive transfer, language proficiency, reading comprehension, strategy awareness, Moroccan ESP context.