Research Summary

Abstract:

This overview article synthesizes the existing body of research on metacognitive agency in reading strategies within Moroccan higher education, drawing exclusively on 18 selected articles. Metacognitive agency, defined as the learner's capacity to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own reading comprehension processes, has emerged as a critical determinant of academic success in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. The reviewed studies collectively reveal a dynamic trajectory: while Moroccan EFL university learners demonstrate insufficient awareness and use of metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs) at the outset of their academic journeys, explicit strategy-based instruction yields substantial improvements in strategy application, reading comprehension outcomes, and cross-linguistic transfer. This synthesis examines the theoretical foundations of metacognition, the empirical evidence from quasi-experimental and correlational studies, the role of text genre, the transferability of strategies across languages, and the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in fostering metacognitive regulation. The findings underscore the necessity of embedding explicit metacognitive strategy instruction into the Moroccan higher education curriculum to cultivate autonomous, self-regulated readers.