The Effects of the Replication of an Experimental Reading and Thinking Strategies Curriculum on the Reading Comprehension and Metacognitive Skills of Third Grade Students

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of improving the reading comprehension of third grade students through the direct instruction of metacognitive strategies by teaching an experimental curriculum of Reading and Thinking Strategies (Paris, 1989). Awareness of strategy use was also addressed. Thirty third-grade students from a rural setting made up the control and experimental groups. The experimental group received twenty weeks of metacognitive strategy instruction taught twice a week. Cloze tests and strategy awareness tests were administered as pre and posttests to determine reading comprehension improvement. Results indicated that students instructed in metacognitive strategies improved their reading comprehension.