The Impact of Metacognitive Strategy ( MCS ) in Reading Arabic Text Among SMK Agama Students in Seremban

Although the study of Arabic text reading is growing in Arab and other countries, it is still not as commonplace in Malaysia. Thus, this study focused on the use of Arabic metacognitive strategy (MCS) which was used by form 4 students at SMK Agama in Seremban. Apart from that, this article aimed to investigate the effects of MCS use of Arabic text in comprehension and Arabic vocabulary. Based on stratified sampling, 60 respondents were taken from SMKA in Seremban to undergo this study. This group was divided into two groups, with 30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. This study is a quantitative research and is a numericalbased research method that used the ANCOVA test. In this study, training was provided between pre-test and post-test. Eventually, after quasi-experimental studies were done, the finding showed that there is a significant difference in the Arabic comprehension and Arabic vocabulary post-test between the experimental group and control group. The experimental group indicated higher levels than the control group. This study contributes to the field of Arabic education from the perspective of the comprehension and vocabulary in MCS reading Arabic text.


INTRODUCTION
Reading is an important language skill and must be mastered by students especially in exploring the field of knowledge more widely (Yahya Othman 2005).To comprehend the text while reading, the strategy will be useful if the reader combines the reading skill with vocabulary and comprehension learning (Asmaa, Noorizah & Zaini 2015) as well as metacognitive strategy (MCS) (Yahya Othman & Dayang Raini Pakar 2013) because MCS gives a very good impression on the students' understanding in reading.MCS in reading according to Yahya Othman and Dayang Raini Pakar (2013) is the action of reading which involves the process of thinking in comprehending text using metacognitive strategy.Metacognition plays a critical role in successful learning.It is important to study metacognitive activity and development to determine how students can learn better ways to apply their cognitive resources through metacognitive control.Metacognitive reading strategies are interesting not only for what they indicate about the ways readers arrange their interaction with the text for comprehension, but also for how the use of strategies is related to effective reading, the way to remember while reading or the way to recall after reading (Schwartz & Perfect 2002).
An important factor that needs to be emphasized in metacognitive reading strategy is awareness, which facilitates not only reading comprehension, but also eases the language learning itself.This strategy helps students to focus on their assigned texts and assists in organizing what knowledge they already possess.Thus, students can determine what to look for and comprehend the texts better (Mokharti & Reichard 2002).According to Ghazali Yusri, Nik Mohd Rahimi & Parilah M. Shah (2010), some students have no confidence and have feelings of inferiority while speaking Arabic when compared with their friends probably because of the vocabulary obstacle in reading.Basically, knowledge of vocabulary for students gives them advantages to speaking Arabic easily during conversation (Nadwah Daud & Nadhilah Abdul Pisal 2014).

LITERATURE REVIEW
In this current age of knowledge, most people know how to read but for academic work and for effective learning, we need the critical reading strategy.This structure has been established with work carried out by; Chayada Danuwong (2006), Adil Bentahar (2012), Yahya Othman and Dayang Raini Pakar (2013, Mohsen Mahdavi and Majid Mehrabi (2014), Nur Aisyah Mohamad and Zamri Mahamod (2014) and Yen-Hui Wang (2015).At this point, a similarity from the MCS perspective chosen by Chayada ( 2006) investigated four metacognitive strategies e.g.planning strategies, monitoring strategies, evaluating strategies and solving problem strategies.
Based on Adil Bentahar's thesis (2012); "Can ESL teachers teach reading metacognitive strategies?"He used Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI), which was developed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002).Adil's study aimed to evaluate three metacognitive strategies i.e. planning, monitoring, and evaluating after teaching them.
After several years, Mohsen Mahdavi and Majid Mehrabi (2014) came out with the types of reading strategies employed by Iranian EFL university students in an input-poor environment as well as their frequency of use.They investigated problem-solving strategy, global strategy and support strategy.Meanwhile, a study done by Nur Aisyah Mohamad and Zamri Mahamod (2014) investigated monitoring, evaluating and regulation in the context of learning the Malay language.
Yen-Hui Wang (2015) came out with the study entitled "Metacognition in reading: EFL learners' metacognitive awareness of reading strategy use".This study was about 17 strategies including; translating, rereading, analysing lexical clues, analysing syntactical/grammatical structures, taking notes, skipping parts that are difficult to understand first, predicting from the title, marking a certain part of the text, recognizing text structure, inferring, drawing on prior experience/knowledge, predicting text content, summarising, paraphrasing, making the tentative interpretation, looking backward for keywords/topics/related information and finally, rhetorical questions.Chayada (2006), Adil Bentahar (2012), Nur Aisyah and Zamri (2014) and Yen-Hui Wang (2015) agreed that MCS can increase the ability of students in learning the language.Based on the studies above, there were studies that had been done for other languages but none had been done with the Arabic language, either in Arabic comprehension or Arabic vocabulary.Indeed this study is quite similar compared to those other studies as it focuses on planning strategy, monitoring strategy and evaluating strategy only it is done with the Arabic language.However, this study also investigates through the perspective of comprehension and vocabulary in depth.

PROBLEMS STATEMENTS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Students may sometimes choose the wrong or unsuitable strategy when reading Arabic text, thus they are unable to build sentences, use the right vocabulary in meaningful ways and answer the question correctly after reading the text (Rosni Samah et al. 2009).Since the right strategy is a crucial link to effective reading, text comprehension should be emphasised by using the strategy before, during and after reading.Without the right strategy before, during and after reading, many adolescent students can get left behind their grade reading level compared to their peers (Caitlin Dakin 2013).According to Chayada Danuwong (2006) if readers are not explicitly taught metacognitive strategies, which involves awareness of their own cognitive and affective processes, they will have a hard time comprehending the text accurately.
As for Harison Mohd Sidek (2008), the training or experience that is decoded when monitoring students' own mental processes while reading is recommended.From the observation that has been done, students' failure in vocabulary was really noticeable when cognitive resources during the comprehension process continues to be corrupted while they attempted to comprehend the text.
In addition, for students who fail to understand the content of the subject, they are perhaps facing a lack of vocabulary in the reading strategy.Studies conducted by Sahlan Surat (2012) Shafee Abdul Hamid (2012) and Saemah (2004) also found that students who fail to understand the content of the subject fail to understand because they had problems in language learning strategy especially in comprehending the text.
If students are facing problems that are related to their strategy in reading, especially in comprehension and vocabulary; this can lead to their limited ability to generalise ideas.Subsequently, not only will the students face poor academic achievement in their studies, but, they might not even be interested in learning anymore and subsequently give up easily and quit attempting to learn in class (Zamri 2012).According to Rosni Samah, Mohd Fauzi et al. (2013), the problems of the students in mastering Arabic are due to the minimum use of the vocabulary and the language in their life.Therefore, based on the problem statements of comprehension and vocabulary, the research questions of this study are the following: 1.To identify the effects of metacognitive strategies use on Arabic text comprehension among students of SMKA in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan such as in the control and experimental group.2. To identify the effects of metacognitive strategies use on Arabic text vocabulary among students of SMKA in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan such as in the control and experimental group.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Brown (1987) introduced the concept of "autopilot state", arguing that expert learners (e.g.readers) monitor their comprehension and retention and evaluate their own progress for the purposes of comprehending text and learning to the extent that these activities become automatic to them and they can proceed as if in "automatic pilot".This concept tries to explain why metacognitive learners (i.e.those who apply metacognitive knowledge and skills in learning situations) sometimes are not conscious of their own strategies and cannot describe their metacognitive knowledge.This model emphasizes the executive processes, remembering vocabulary and stresses the importance of cognitive thinking.Moreover, Brown points to important characteristics of regulation of cognition that has to be taken into account for those interested in the applications of these concepts into instructional research.
There was an issue of a study about language learners who failed to resolve the issue even after they had been trained to master the procedures of necessary solution.Yet, they still failed to answer the question.Regarding the failure of these learners; Flavel (1976) suggested that learners can be trained to respond to the questions when facing the problems.This is because of the process of storage vocabulary and retrieval of information from the mind.He suggested that learners should learn a lot about the 'how', 'where' and 'when' to store information and 'how', 'where' and 'when' to reproduce the information of knowledge.Flavell (1979), highlighted the metacognitive model which emphasizes cognitive monitoring of process conditions called 'Model of Cognitive Monitoring'.Tobias and Everson (1999) had performed a series of empirical studies to investigate this aspect of metacognition and its relationship to comprehend language information from instruction in different domains, focusing on issues such as domain specificity of knowledge monitoring, measurement concerns, and the relationship of knowledge monitoring to academic ability while processing the data and restoring words and vocabulary in the mind.They define knowledge monitoring as the ability to know what you know and knowing what you don't know.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Adapted from Chamot, A. U., Barnhardt, S., El-Dinary, P. B. & Robbins, J. (1999) Cited in Anna Uhl Chamot, Ph.D. Jill Robbins, Ph.D & Aileen Watts. (2005 This study was based on the conceptual framework which was adapted based on a model constructed by Chamot et al. (1999) and readapted by (Chayada 2006).In this study, students need to undergo 4 phases and for every phase will be a training which called MCS Training.This training consists of planning strategy (before reading the text), monitoring strategy (while reading the text) and evaluating strategy (after reading the text).Different exercises will be provided in every phase of this training.This training also consists of an exercise of comprehension and vocabulary for the experimental group in reading Arabic text.Meanwhile, for the control group, every student will be provided with conventional training that consists of being taught comprehension and vocabulary in Arabic text as well.Both groups will be tested at the beginning of every training with pre-test and at the end of every training with post-test.
Based on the conceptual framework above, the students from the experimental group must face four different trainings in reading Arabic text which is called MCS training.The content of MCS Training content is improvised from the CALLA Model (Chamot 2005, Chamot et al. 1999) and this model of MCS Training in phase 1 is done so that the teacher can teach the experimental group about MCS in planning strategy, monitoring strategy and evaluating strategy with clear comprehension and good vocabulary for the benefit of the whole classroom.After the learning session is done, every student from the experimental group is provided with an exercise of comprehension and vocabulary.In phase 2 of this training, the experimental group will be divided into small groups consisting of 4 or 5 people.In this phase, the teacher will not directly teach but instead every student relies on the MCS explanation from the discussion of their group.After the discussion session is done, every student from the small group is provided with an exercise of comprehension and vocabulary.In phase 3; the small group will be divided into a pair of 2. The MCS explanation occurs between the pair.After the MCS explanation session is done, every student will be provided with an exercise of comprehension and vocabulary.In phase 4, the pair will be separated and they will be by themselves.In this phase, every student will be given exercise of comprehension and vocabulary.Every student relies on their individual MCS knowledge of past training.
After all conventional training and experimental training are done, all students from both groups will be provided with post-test.Based on (FIGURE 1) researchers intend to know the output of the MCS such as Comprehension and Vocabulary in Arabic text from both experimental group and control group.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Every study needs to follow the flow of the research methodology.As for this study, researchers follow quantitative research which is a numerical-based research method (Chua 2014) using ANCOVA.This study is a quasi-experimental study that has both a pre-test and post-test.There are benefits in using ANCOVA test because this kind of test is used when a study needs repeated measures, or within subjects.In this kind of study design, one group is exposed to both treatments, whereby the researchers can identify whether or not there is a significant difference in pre-test and post-test for the controlled group and experimental group in the Arabic comprehension and vocabulary test after controlling the covariate (pretest).
PILOT STUDY Before this study is distributed to the actual respondents, it was distributed as a pilot study in which the item of Cronbach's Alpha indicates the reliability of comprehension 0.95 and vocabulary 0.96.The content reliability of the two items is high.Thus, the contents of this item can be distributed to the respondents.
In order to get more accurate findings, this study performed a test to evaluate respondents' strategy in MCS.The advantages of this test is that it allows the researcher to monitor student progression and learning throughout a course or training; it can be helpful in refocusing the information to be presented while providing a point of comparison from beginning to end (Ary et al. 2006).
The method of this study considered pre-test and post-test studies, focusing on the experimental and control group.Before running it, the test was validated by 4 experts.The content of the items was carried out from the pilot studies before being distributed to the respondents in the actual study.

SAMPLE SIZE
The sample consists of 60 respondents whom were from Form Four students of SMKA Sheikh Haji Mohd Said.This sample size was chosen because the even distribution of excellent, moderate and weak SMKA students in Seremban can offer fair and balanced findings of comprehension and vocabulary in Arabic text.The respondents also consist of those who achieved in PT3 A total of 43 respondents (71.7%), 11respondents (18.3%) achieved B and 6 respondents (10%) achieved C.

PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST
Since this study is an experimental study, Chua (2014) suggested the number of samples be lesser for easy control of controlled variables."If the sample number is more than 30 then the normality is ignored" (Pallant 2001, Chua 2006).There is a reason for choosing pre and posttests because they are used to test for significance for MCS tests.The test which is used is (ANCOVA), to control the covariance that exists.The tests in the pre-test and post-test were taken and adapted from the language test which belongs to (Leslie & Caldwell, 2004).The pre-test and post-test are divided into two parts Part A Comprehension and Part B Vocabulary to measure the use of MCS in reading Arabic text from the perspective of comprehension and vocabulary.
After running the two ANCOVAs, test results show that experimental groups and control groups differ significantly in the two test scores which is for the two scores of comprehension and vocabulary, respectively, towards the use of metacognitive strategies.The two results of comprehension and vocabulary are such as the following: To see the pre-test and post-test more clearly, the researchers attached a few box plots to understand the minimum and maximum data values.Based on (FIGURE 2), the experimental group and control group possess the same strategy during pre-test.This is the comparison between experimental group and control group during pre-test of comprehension test session.This indicates that both groups have the same ability when answering Arabic Comprehension Test.(FIGURE 3) indicates the difference between both of the groups.In the beginning however, (FIGURE 2) indicates that these two groups possess the same strategy and the same ability in answering Arabic Comprehension Test.The box-plot of the experimental group appears higher than the control group's due to the exposure of metacognitive strategy.In the meantime, the small circle which indicates 41 is the outlier.1) and (Table 2) results indicate a significant difference in that the mean value of the metacognitive strategy for group 1 Experimental Group, is 48.5 which is 30 respondents overcome the group 2 Controlled Group, 13.8.Levine's Test of Equality of Errors Variances [F (1, 58) = 2.855, p > .05] is thus insignificant.The data of this study complies with the ANCOVA test requirements as suggested by (Chua Yan Piaw 2014).
Refer to the table in "Test of between Subjects Effects" in the first column of "source", and look at the "group" independent variable line, note that the "Sig" column is in line with the "group", researchers can see the value of .000(p <.001) which is less than .05,this means there is a significant difference.This analysis shows that there is a significant difference in the Arabic Comprehension post-test score between the experimental group and the control group of the Arabic Comprehension test.Based on (TABLE 3), after controlling the test scores, statistical analysis indicates that there are significant differences in the Arabic-language comprehension post-test score between experimental groups and control groups, F (1, 57) = 189.21,p = .001,eta squared = .76.The analysis shows that (r = .03)there is a very weak correlation and it is not significant between the pre-test score of Arabic comprehension before the intervention with the post-test Arabic comprehension score.
However, if we look at (TABLE 3), labelled as; "Test of between Subjects Effects".This method allows the researchers to observe in detail about the significant differences between the independent variables i.e. the experimental group and the control group.
Refer to the table in "Test of between Subjects Effects" in the first column of "source", see the "group" independent variable line, and note that the "Sig" column is in line with the "group", researchers can see the value of .000(p <.001) which is less than .05,this means that there is a significant difference.
This analysis shows that there is a significant difference in the Arabic Comprehension post-test score between the experimental group and the control group after the covariate (pretest score) of the Arabic Comprehension test.Based on (FIGURE 4), the box-plot shows the distribution of the data set and the comparison between experimental group and control group.However, the experimental group appears lower than the control group.In the meantime, there are some outliers, for the experimental group 11, 5 and 15 while for the control group, 52.There is a comparison between experimental group and control group during post-test of vocabulary test session based on (FIGURE 5).The result changes where the experimental group appear higher than the control group.This occurs because of the metacognitive strategy in reading that had been used by the respondents.The post-test result of the experimental group (FIGURE 5), is contrasted with the experimental group in the pre-test (FIGURE 4), where the experimental group during post-test appears higher than in the pretest.Based on (TABLE 4) and (TABLE 5), it can be seen that ANCOVA Test was used to compute the Vocabulary Test.The descriptive statistical result indicates a significant difference for the mean value of the metacognitive strategy for group 1 Experimental Group, is 44.4 which has n=30 overcoming the group 2 Controlled Group n=30, 17.4.Levine's Test of Equality of Errors Variances [F (1, 58) = .076,p > .05] is insignificant.The data of this study complies with the ANCOVA test requirements.Looking at Table 6, a one-way ANCOVA analysis is conducted to compare the effectiveness of Metacognitive Strategy in text reading that focuses on Arabic vocabulary between experimental groups and control groups.An independent variable is a group of experiment and control group.Pre-test scores are covaried and measured before all groups receive the intervention or on-going training.The ANCOVA test assumptions have been carried out first to ensure that it does not violate the assumption of normality, linearity, homogeneity of variances and reliable measurement of the covariate.Therefore, after controlling the test scores, statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences in the Arabic-language vocabulary post-test score between experimental group and control group, F (1, 57) = 114.41,p = .001,eta squared = .76.The analysis showed the correlation was considered weak (r = .05)while the correlation indicates insignificant difference between the pre-test score of Arabic vocabulary before the intervention with post-test Arabic comprehension and the score after the intervention.

SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST FOR CONTROLLED GROUP AND EXPERIMENTAL GROUP IN THE ARABIC VOCABULARY TEST
The Arabic comprehension test and Arabic vocabulary test are both quasiexperimental studies that need to be computed using an ANCOVA test.Through this analysis, the effect of the covariate (pre and external variables) on statistical treatment can be controlled.Therefore, bias (biased) on the results or test results can be reduced.
In the Arabic comprehension test, based on) the data obtained (Table 3), the mean score for the experimental group, is 48.61 higher than the control group mean which is 13.68.The mean score is significantly different at 34.93.The "eta squared" (.033) is only by 3.3 percent (.033 x 100) of the variance of the dependent variable (score post) of the Arabic Comprehension Test, which can be explained by the variable covariate (pre-test score) of the Arabic Comprehension Test.This finding answered research question 1.
Meanwhile, based on Table 6 for the Arabic vocabulary test, the mean score for the experimental group is 44.16 higher than the control group mean which is 17.71.The mean score is significantly different at 26.45.The "eta squared" (.667) is just 66.7 percent (.667 x 100) change of the needy variable (score post) Arabic vocabulary test, which can be clarified by the variable covariate (pre-test score) in Arabic vocabulary test.This finding answered research question 2.
These two results corroborate a study done by Chayada (2006), Adil Bentahar (2012), Nur Aisyah and Zamri (2014) and Yen-Hui Wang (2015) which proved that MCS can boost students' ability after reading, training and learn the language.DISCUSSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH Education is essential to economic development.The students who can read and think critically can contribute to their country in developing brilliant and educated citizens.Fundamental educational strategy forms the basis for all future learning.In the context of Arabic learning, this study may be considered among the earliest study of metacognitive strategies in reading Arabic text done in Malaysia.
The purpose of this study is to determine the status of students using MCS at SMK Agama in Seremban in the context of reading Arabic text from the perspective of comprehension and vocabulary.This study is also based on certain variables, such as independent variables comprising the experimental group and control group, as well as dependent variables i.e. understanding test scores and vocabulary test scores and covariant variables i.e. pre-comprehension test scores and pre-test vocabulary scores.
Given the present and previous research, at least two avenues of future research are pertinent.For future research, researchers may try to explore the use of MCS from a wider sample of students regarding how they read Arabic text in the context of comprehension and vocabulary.The target population only focused on the district of Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.This leaves several important questions unanswered.For example, do students of SMK Agama in Negeri Sembilan use MCS in reading Arabic text?To what extent do they use this strategy?These questions still remain unanswered because the study sample needs to be expanded to the level of the state which is Negeri Sembilan.Finally, this study addressed the complete benefits of MCS in reading Arabic text such as; comprehension and vocabulary.On the other hand, this study also needs to proceed to the other stages of MCS in reading Arabic text due to rectifying for the sake of a more knowledgeable person to try a new strategy in gaining vocabulary while reading and comprehending Arabic text.

CONCLUSION
From this discussion, there is a conclusion that can be gained from this study.First, awareness of the importance of metacognitive skills in learning Arabic should be known to every student.The students who succeed in learning Arabic will often make planning before reading the text, monitoring the way in which they are reading the text, evaluate the results of the assignment, as well as evaluating and reviewing the progress of comprehending the text.This factor greatly helps these students get excellent and good results in the exam.Secondly, Arabic teachers need to have a student-centred teaching strategy and approach.This is because then the teachers are able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their students in Arabic learning.Poor students in learning Arabic usually find themselves learning poorly due to weaknesses in planning, identifying problems, characterising real problems that need to be solved and in understanding strategies in identifying vocabulary to form a sentence and comprehend the text well.
This study can help contribute to teachers, educators and academicians who can help students learn the language more easily.The excellent educators include the ones that prepare lessons which are based on MCS for students through their education lesson planner before, during and after language learning.By knowing planning strategies, monitoring strategies and evaluating strategies, educators and teachers can enhance their problem-solving capability in helping troubled students in comprehension and vocabulary.
Educational research for the future research can also address the following variables: Learning: How do the students learn the best of various subjects?Teaching: What are the best teaching practices to foster student achievement?Motivation: What are the best practices for teachers to motivate their students to achieve?Development: How do the students change over time, including their cognitive, social, and emotional skills?Classroom management: What kind of classroom or school practices can make the classroom optimal for student learning?
There are three steps to teaching metacognition; teaching students that their ability to learn is mutable, teaching planning and goal-setting and giving students ample opportunities to practice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessary (Lovett 2008).The value of this study can contribute to the perspective of the teaching method.According to Nur Aisyah Mohamad and Zamri Mahamod (2014), teachers should be aware that each individual student has a different learning style.By knowing the suitable ways of teaching, teachers can help their students improve and learn more easily in reading Arabic text.

FIGURE 3 .
FIGURE 3. Comparison between Experimental Group and Control Group During Post-Test of Comprehension Test Session

FIGURE 4 .
FIGURE 4. Comparison between Experimental Group and Control Group DURING PRE-TEST OF VOCABULARY TEST SESSION

FIGURE 5 .
FIGURE 5. Comparison between Experimental Group and Control Group During Post-Test of Vocabulary Test Session

TABLE 1 .
Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances for Comprehension Test

TABLE 2 :
ANCOVA Test of Experimental Group and Controlled Group for Comprehension Test Test of the Comprehension Test had been done, the ANCOVA Test (Table

TABLE 3 .
Test of Between-Subjects Effects

TABLE 4 .
Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances for Vocabulary Test Tests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups.

TABLE 5 .
ANCOVA Test of Experimental Group and Controlled Group

TABLE 6 .
Test of Between-Subjects Effects for Arabic Vocabulary Test