The effect of metacognitive think-aloud strategy on reading comprehension of kindergarten students.

Abstract

Comprehension is the key to reading success. Best practices for teaching children to read conventionally begins in the Emergent Stage of literacy. In this study, five Kindergarten students participated in read-aloud lessons using high-quality children's literature. The researcher taught students to use the metacognitive think-aloud strategy to increase story comprehension. Students then employed the strategy during read-aloud lessons in order to increase their comprehension. Treatment versus non-treatment sessions provided data to see the effectiveness of the metacognitive strategy on reading comprehension. Findings show that the metacognitive Think-Aloud strategy increases reading comprehension of Kindergarten students. The participants were identified as above average, average and below average in literacy skills, but there was an increase in overall comprehension assessment scores by all participants, showing that the participants internalized the strategy and were able to use it independently to increase their comprehension.