The 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that Filipino students ranked last among 79 countries in reading proficiency, with approximately 80% failing to meet minimum proficiency levels. This study focuses on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies as a potential factor contributing to this low performance. Metacognitive strategies are crucial for second language learners, helping them compensate for language deficiencies. Using a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old Filipino students from the PISA 2018 database (N=6591), this research explores the association between students' awareness of 11 different reading strategies and their reading proficiency in English, the language of instruction but not the primary language spoken at home for most students (94%). The study addresses two key questions: (1) Which strategies are perceived as most useful by Filipino students? and (2) How do these perceptions relate to overall reading proficiency and its three cognitive subscales (locating information, understanding, and evaluating/reflecting)? Previous research in the Philippines on reading strategies has involved small sample sizes and inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between strategy use and reading performance, highlighting the need for a nationally representative study.

Extensive research demonstrates the importance of reading strategies, particularly metacognitive strategies, in second language reading comprehension. Metacognitive strategies involve learners' awareness of their reading processes and the self-regulated techniques they employ to monitor comprehension. Studies consistently show that proficient readers utilize more metacognitive strategies than less proficient readers, especially in second language contexts. The PISA 2018 framework itself emphasizes the role of metacognitive strategies in reading proficiency, categorizing cognitive processes into locating information, understanding, and evaluating/reflecting. The PISA assessment included 11 items measuring students' perceived usefulness of different reading strategies across two scenarios: understanding/memorizing text and summarizing text. Existing research on Filipino students' reading strategies is limited, with prior studies showing inconsistencies between self-reported strategy use and actual strategy application in reading tasks. This study leverages the PISA 2018 data to address these gaps and investigate the relationship between metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and reading proficiency in a large, nationally representative sample.

Data from the Philippine sample of the PISA 2018 database were used, comprising a nationally representative sample of 7233 15-year-old students. After addressing missing data, the final analytical sample included 6591 students (53.86% girls). Reading proficiency was measured using the first plausible value from ten provided in the PISA dataset for overall reading proficiency and its three cognitive subscales. Metacognitive reading strategies were assessed using 11 items in the student questionnaire, where students rated the usefulness of each strategy on a 6-point scale. Control variables included sex, the economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS) index, and the number of books at home. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze differences in perceived usefulness across the 11 strategies. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the perceived usefulness of each strategy and overall reading proficiency, as well as the three cognitive subscales of reading proficiency, while controlling for sex, ESCS, and the number of books at home.

The repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant differences in the perceived usefulness of the 11 reading strategies (F(10, 6649) = 56463.08, p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.90). The three most useful strategies, according to students, were: (1) reading through, underlining important sentences, and writing them in their own words; (2) underlining important parts of the text; and (3) checking that important facts were reflected in the summary. However, hierarchical regression analysis showed that these top-rated strategies were not the strongest predictors of overall reading proficiency. Strategies such as summarizing text in one's own words and carefully checking for important facts in the summary were more strongly associated with higher reading proficiency. Conversely, strategies like copying sentences accurately and reading aloud to another person were negatively associated with proficiency. Additional analyses revealed similar patterns across the three cognitive subscales, though with some minor differences. The perceived usefulness of some strategies was associated with basic cognitive processing (locating information, understanding) but not with higher-level processes (evaluating and reflecting).

The findings highlight a potential disconnect between Filipino students' perceptions of useful reading strategies and the strategies that actually correlate with higher reading proficiency. This suggests a need for improved instruction on metacognitive reading strategies, focusing on which strategies are most effective and how to apply them. The results also raise questions about the effectiveness of current reading instruction in the Philippines. A comparison of the Philippine high school reading curriculum with the PISA framework suggests that while task management skills (including reading strategies) are included, they might be taught in isolation from text processing skills. Furthermore, the curriculum might not fully align with the PISA framework, potentially affecting students' understanding of reading proficiency and the value of different strategies. The study acknowledges a potential threshold effect: metacognitive strategies might not significantly impact reading performance until a certain proficiency level is reached. The low overall reading proficiency among the Filipino students suggests a need to address foundational reading skills before focusing heavily on metacognitive strategies.

This study contributes to the limited research on reading strategies among Filipino students, providing valuable insights from a nationally representative sample. The findings highlight a mismatch between perceived and actual usefulness of certain strategies, suggesting a need for improved reading instruction focusing on metacognitive awareness and effective strategy application. Future research should investigate teaching practices related to reading strategies and how students engage with them in the classroom. Further investigation into the threshold effect of reading proficiency on metacognitive strategy effectiveness is also warranted. Finally, exploring the interplay between first and second language reading skills is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of Filipino students' reading development.

This study focused primarily on metacognitive strategies as predictors of reading proficiency, including only a few control variables. This limited scope prevented exploration of the relative importance of metacognitive strategies in conjunction with other cognitive, non-cognitive, family background, classroom, and school-level factors. The analysis was also limited to the strategies assessed in the PISA 2018 dataset, potentially overlooking other relevant strategies for Filipino English readers. Future research with a broader scope is recommended to address these limitations.