To examine the comprehension process employed by gifted readers and to identify the various metacognitive strategies they employ, 100 gifted student volunteers in grades 4 through 7 were administered the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), Reading Subtests 11 and 13. The students also completed a questionnaire to determine metacognitive awareness…

Intended to improve critical thinking skills (and thereby the reading and writing skills that depend on critical thinking) through awareness of thinking patterns and activities, this textbook has three parts. Part 1, "Foundations: Thinking about Thinking," examines how our minds work as we try to make sense of the world around us and of…

Recommends teaching students to use text structure clues to determine the organizational patterns of content material and instructing students to use these patterns to predict possible test questions, because many students are not aware of text structure clues and consequently do not apply them to their text reading. (SKC)

Describes the process of mental modeling, a technique for helping poor readers become strategic readers by increasing their metacognitive control. (ARH)

Informed Strategies for Learning (ISL) was designed to increase children's awareness and use of effective reading strategies. This study demonstrated that metacognition can be promoted through direct instruction (ISL) in the classroom. Increased awareness can lead to better use of reading strategies. (DWH)

Describes one strategy designed to help students monitor their comprehension while reading content area materials. (HOD)

Exploring ways to help primary school teachers extend the literacy of their pupils, this paper devises and classroom-tests strategies whereby teachers might develop the abilities of their children to use literacy more effectively as a means of learning. It focuses on the reading and writing of non-fiction text. Outlining four basic insights into…

Presents Reciprocal Question-Answer Relationships (ReQAR), an instructional technique for assisting at-risk readers in independently applying a metacognitive strategy of self-questioning, combining elements from the Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) and Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) techniques. (RS)

Explores the effects of question task conditions on reading comprehension and metacomprehension for proficient readers, disabled readers, and deaf readers. Finds several significant interaction effects for both demonstrated and perceived comprehension performance in selected-response and constructed-response question tasks under both lookback and…

Examines the metacognitive reading strategies of five children, four to six years of age, who were reading fluently prior to grade one. States that fluency was judged on whether the children could conduct meaningful reading with relative smoothness. Suggests that each of the children used a variety of metacognitive reading strategies and showed…

Examines the effect of teaching at-risk first graders paraphrasing and self-verbalization techniques to enhance metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Finds that treatment groups performed at statistically higher levels than the control group. (RS)

Considers patterns of possible relationships between phonological recoding skill and three conceptually distinct aspects of reading. Finds that systematic instruction is more effective than incidental instruction; inclusion of direct instruction in phonological recoding skill yields better results than relying primarily on writing activities; and…

Examines the content of eight basal reading series (published in 1989) to determine how and the extent to which lessons and activities that promote metacomprehension behaviors necessary for independent reading were included. Finds that basal authors made considerable efforts to incorporate activities and lessons that promote or foster strategic…

Offers an instructional model for teaching several metacognitive strategies which have been shown to improve reading comprehension in students with learning and reading disabilities. Techniques cover summarizing expository text, comprehending story structure, self-questioning, and text lookbacks and question-answer relationships. (DB)

Explores the use of teacher-facilitated peer dialogues as a tool for supporting independent word learning strategies of struggling middle school learners. Hopes to create a context in which students would not only grapple with word meanings but also develop a stronger metacognitive awareness of their own efforts. (SG)