Relationships among metacognitive skills, listening, and academic reading in English as a foreign language

This study examined relationships among metacognitive skills, including inference, summarizing skills, fluency and memory, listening, and academic reading in English as a foreign language (FL). As a secondary analysis of the field test of the Pearson Test of English Academic, a total of 585 nonnative speakers' academic language and reading skills were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. One-factor and four-factor models were tested using 12 observed variables and four latent constructs for structural equation modeling to establish a model of reading in English as an FL. The model of reading was tenable for nonnative speakers' skills in English for academic purposes. Consistent with previous findings, listening skills were found to be important for reading skills. Other metacognitive skills, such as inference, summarizing, and fluency and memory, were also robust predictors of efficient academic reading. Of the given variables, the most dominant variable in FL reading for academic purposes was fluency and memory.