Effects of metacognitive strategies on reading comprehension

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of improving the reading comprehension of sixth‐grade social studies students through the use of metacognitive strategies. The control and experimental groups for this field based study consisted of 152 white and Hispanic, lower‐middle‐class students from an elementary school in rural, southeastern Arizona. Teachers were trained in the instruction of five metacognitive strategies which they implemented in their classrooms for 12 weeks. Cloze and error detection tests were designed and administered as pre and posttests to determine improvement in reading comprehension of the control and experimental groups. The results indicate students who are instructed in the use of metacognitive strategies increase their reading comprehension more than students who do not receive such instruction. The findings also suggest support for training classroom teachers to provide instruction in metacognitive skills.