This article reports on an investigation into the relationship of
test-takers’ 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 test-takers. Discussion of the findings and implications for
further research are articulated.
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