Impact of Optimized Professional Development and Metacognitive Reading Strategies on EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension

This study explores the efficacy of a professional development program to equip teachers with the skills necessary to implement metacognitive strategies to improve reading comprehension among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students who struggle with vocabulary and syntax. The Researchers utilized purposive sampling to select 54 female students from Riyadh who were divided into an experimental group of 33 and a control group of 21. Metacognitive strategy instruction was provided to the experimental group, while the control group received traditional reading instruction with no metacognitive training. Both groups were assessed on their reading comprehension before and after the intervention. The results revealed that students taught metacognitive skills caught up with their more successful classmates regarding reading comprehension. These findings provide valuable insights into the capacity of metacognitive reading strategies to close the comprehension gap among underachieving EFL learners in the Arab context. Based on the findings, the research recommends incorporating these methods into English classes as an effective way to improve student's reading comprehension and overall performance in the classroom.