Assignment Description:
The assignment is a 3 to 5 page paper to research and explain the relationship between metacognition and reading comprehension. Identify three research-based instructional strategies that enhance content comprehension. Research why inferencing is such an important process in comprehension. From the research, how do teachers help students to learn how to infer? Based on the research, how important is critical reading in your content area and why is writing and comprehension considered to be two sides of the same process. Does writing impact a student's comprehension ability? Please use a minimum of five sources and cite them at the end of your paper. In this paper, you may include your critical opinions about the information you research.
3-5 pages, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times-Roman with citations at the end.
3-5 pages, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times-Roman with citations at the end.
Meta-Cognition & Reading Comprehension*
During elementary school, teachers do their best to teach children how to read. As a young child a child is first learn from looking at pictures and translating them into reality. As a child grows up, they begin to look at words in a collective manner and tie those sentences to reality. There are two ways in which a teacher, parent(s) or others can teach someone how to read. These two ways are through meta-cognition and reading comprehension. Meta-cognition is a persons’ knowledge concerning their own cognitive processes or anything related to them. Meta-cognition is tied to self-regulation, memory –monitoring, consciousness/awareness and auto consciousness/self-awareness (Schraw, Sperling; 1994). Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding one has of what they are reading. Proficient reading depends on one’s own ability to quickly recognize and understand words when reading (Wood, 2008). The relationship between these two factors is incredibly important to one’s success at reading. With good reading comprehension and meta-cognition, one could expect successful reading.
In a child’s early years, teachers set out specified tasks in order to enhance the student’s meta-cognition and reading comprehension. Meta-cognition gives an individual the ability to think about their thoughts, engage in self-reflection, and to introspect (Begley, 2007). One’s meta-cognition could help them detect what is going to happen in a story. This helps the child increase the rate of reading (Shanker, Ekwall; pg. 187-202). It is important for a teacher to recognize when a child is having difficulty in recognizing words at a consistent pace. If someone is struggling with this, it is important to infer early so that extra effort can be used to help the success of the learner.
The relationship between meta-cognition and reading comprehension is important in one’s success with reading. Recent reading research gives educators powerful links between meta-cognition and effective reading instruction. Because of this, more educators are modeling the use of reading comprehension strategies and offering students more assistance in learning effective reading skills (Barr, Blachowicz, Sadow; pg. 146-152). I believe that the relationship between meta-cognition and reading comprehension strongly affects a students’ comprehension ability.
A popular way of increasing a student’s ability to comprehend what they are reading is by generating predictions about the text that the student is reading. It is important for elementary school teachers to frequently encourage practicing making predictions about the story they are reading or series of pictures they are looking at (Liang, Galda; 2009). This strategy is proven to help students become more successful at understanding what they are reading (Liang, Galda; 2009). There are many activities that can help an individual with their reading comprehension and meta-cognition. Predicting and responding, responding and practicing visualization, and visualizing using all reading exercises are just a few of the strategies used to infer.
When predicting and responding, a teacher would want to start by choosing a story to read and spreading it out over several days. On the first day, the teacher would introduce to the student that they are going to read a specified story of the teachers’ choice. The teacher would then explain to the students what the story is about, not giving many specific details, but generally covering the premise of the story. The students are then able to ask questions about the story increasing their desire to learn more about the story. The goal is for the students to relate with the story. For example, if a teacher is telling a story about a boy that is moving to a new town, the teacher would then want to ask the students to raise their hands if they have ever moved to a new town. This increases their interest in what the story is about by giving them something familiar to relate to (Liang, Galda; 2009). After this activity with the students, the teacher may want to students to raise their hands and predict what is going to happen in the story based on what they have already heard about it. Allowing the students to talk to each other about their ideas will help expand their minds, benefitting their meta-cognition. Over the next several days, the teacher should read with the students and allow them to read on their own, then completing similar tasks as day one of the exercise. Once the story is complete, allow each student to write what they thought about the story and expand on what they wish would/wouldn’t have happened within the story. The teacher needs to allow the student to explore other possibilities and by doing this, he/she increases the students comprehension of the story (Liang, Galda; 2009).
For older students, visualizing longer, more in depth stories or novels is often helpful. This also can increase a student’s comprehension of the story by allowing them to place themselves in the story. Visualizing is an important and highly effective strategy for improving student understanding of both expository and narrative text (Liang, Galda; 2009). The student can visualize on the content and then demonstrate relationships on their ideas. Though this seems like a basic task, there are often students who have great difficulty visualizing characters, settings or events. These students should practice by writing their own short stories. This will help them expand their mind and create their own characters, settings and events within their own idea. This will exercise their imagination increasing their comprehension of reading material (Liang, Galda; 2009).
To help a student continue building their meta-cognition and reading comprehension skills, it is important to help the student continue to visualize using all their prior learned skills. Taking a student “back to basics” is helpful when a student gets into a reading ‘rut’. Opening their imagination will help relax their mind, allowing them to remember that by visualizing what might happen, or by visualizing themselves in the story, they can increase their curiosity and interest in the text they are trying to read. Simply talking to a student about the text could help increase their comprehension. Willingness to read the story is imperative to successful comprehension (Liang, Galda; 2009).
Based on the research that I have done for this topic, I would have to say that reading comprehension and metacognition are closely tied together. I believe the reason why it is believed to be two-sides of the same process, is because together they enhance a students ability to read. Neither meta-cognition nor reading comprehension can negatively affect reading ability in my opinion. Using meta-cognition and reading comprehension together is sure to impact a student’s comprehension ability. Diagnosing a reading problem early is essential to successful reading for the student’s future (Shanker, Ekwall; pg. 187-202). Critical reading is also important during reading tasks. It is important that the student understands what they are reading and what the writer is trying to translate.
In a child’s early years, teachers set out specified tasks in order to enhance the student’s meta-cognition and reading comprehension. Meta-cognition gives an individual the ability to think about their thoughts, engage in self-reflection, and to introspect (Begley, 2007). One’s meta-cognition could help them detect what is going to happen in a story. This helps the child increase the rate of reading (Shanker, Ekwall; pg. 187-202). It is important for a teacher to recognize when a child is having difficulty in recognizing words at a consistent pace. If someone is struggling with this, it is important to infer early so that extra effort can be used to help the success of the learner.
The relationship between meta-cognition and reading comprehension is important in one’s success with reading. Recent reading research gives educators powerful links between meta-cognition and effective reading instruction. Because of this, more educators are modeling the use of reading comprehension strategies and offering students more assistance in learning effective reading skills (Barr, Blachowicz, Sadow; pg. 146-152). I believe that the relationship between meta-cognition and reading comprehension strongly affects a students’ comprehension ability.
A popular way of increasing a student’s ability to comprehend what they are reading is by generating predictions about the text that the student is reading. It is important for elementary school teachers to frequently encourage practicing making predictions about the story they are reading or series of pictures they are looking at (Liang, Galda; 2009). This strategy is proven to help students become more successful at understanding what they are reading (Liang, Galda; 2009). There are many activities that can help an individual with their reading comprehension and meta-cognition. Predicting and responding, responding and practicing visualization, and visualizing using all reading exercises are just a few of the strategies used to infer.
When predicting and responding, a teacher would want to start by choosing a story to read and spreading it out over several days. On the first day, the teacher would introduce to the student that they are going to read a specified story of the teachers’ choice. The teacher would then explain to the students what the story is about, not giving many specific details, but generally covering the premise of the story. The students are then able to ask questions about the story increasing their desire to learn more about the story. The goal is for the students to relate with the story. For example, if a teacher is telling a story about a boy that is moving to a new town, the teacher would then want to ask the students to raise their hands if they have ever moved to a new town. This increases their interest in what the story is about by giving them something familiar to relate to (Liang, Galda; 2009). After this activity with the students, the teacher may want to students to raise their hands and predict what is going to happen in the story based on what they have already heard about it. Allowing the students to talk to each other about their ideas will help expand their minds, benefitting their meta-cognition. Over the next several days, the teacher should read with the students and allow them to read on their own, then completing similar tasks as day one of the exercise. Once the story is complete, allow each student to write what they thought about the story and expand on what they wish would/wouldn’t have happened within the story. The teacher needs to allow the student to explore other possibilities and by doing this, he/she increases the students comprehension of the story (Liang, Galda; 2009).
For older students, visualizing longer, more in depth stories or novels is often helpful. This also can increase a student’s comprehension of the story by allowing them to place themselves in the story. Visualizing is an important and highly effective strategy for improving student understanding of both expository and narrative text (Liang, Galda; 2009). The student can visualize on the content and then demonstrate relationships on their ideas. Though this seems like a basic task, there are often students who have great difficulty visualizing characters, settings or events. These students should practice by writing their own short stories. This will help them expand their mind and create their own characters, settings and events within their own idea. This will exercise their imagination increasing their comprehension of reading material (Liang, Galda; 2009).
To help a student continue building their meta-cognition and reading comprehension skills, it is important to help the student continue to visualize using all their prior learned skills. Taking a student “back to basics” is helpful when a student gets into a reading ‘rut’. Opening their imagination will help relax their mind, allowing them to remember that by visualizing what might happen, or by visualizing themselves in the story, they can increase their curiosity and interest in the text they are trying to read. Simply talking to a student about the text could help increase their comprehension. Willingness to read the story is imperative to successful comprehension (Liang, Galda; 2009).
Based on the research that I have done for this topic, I would have to say that reading comprehension and metacognition are closely tied together. I believe the reason why it is believed to be two-sides of the same process, is because together they enhance a students ability to read. Neither meta-cognition nor reading comprehension can negatively affect reading ability in my opinion. Using meta-cognition and reading comprehension together is sure to impact a student’s comprehension ability. Diagnosing a reading problem early is essential to successful reading for the student’s future (Shanker, Ekwall; pg. 187-202). Critical reading is also important during reading tasks. It is important that the student understands what they are reading and what the writer is trying to translate.
Works Cited
Barr, Rebecca; Blachowicz, Camille L.Z.; Wogman-Sadow, Marilyn. (1995). Reading Diagnosis for Teachers: and instructional approach(Ed. III). White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers.
Begley, Sharon. (April 23rd, 2007). Know Theyself: Man, rat or bot (Metacognition). News Week. P. 51.
Eva-Wood, Amy L.. (2008). Does Feeling Come First? How poetry can help readers broaden their understanding of metacognition, readers’ emotional responses can enhance their metacognitive experiences and inform their literary analysis. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 51(7). Pp. 564(13).
Liang, Lauren Aimontte & Galda, Lee. (2009). Responding and Comprehending: Reading with delight and understanding. The Reading Teacher. 63(4). Pp. 330-333. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.4.9
Schraw, Gregory & Dennison, Rayne Sperling. (1994). Assessing Metacognitive Awareness. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 19. Pp. 460-475.
Shanker, James L. & Ekwall, Eldon E. (1998). Locating and Correcting Reading Difficulties (Ed. 7). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Begley, Sharon. (April 23rd, 2007). Know Theyself: Man, rat or bot (Metacognition). News Week. P. 51.
Eva-Wood, Amy L.. (2008). Does Feeling Come First? How poetry can help readers broaden their understanding of metacognition, readers’ emotional responses can enhance their metacognitive experiences and inform their literary analysis. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 51(7). Pp. 564(13).
Liang, Lauren Aimontte & Galda, Lee. (2009). Responding and Comprehending: Reading with delight and understanding. The Reading Teacher. 63(4). Pp. 330-333. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.4.9
Schraw, Gregory & Dennison, Rayne Sperling. (1994). Assessing Metacognitive Awareness. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 19. Pp. 460-475.
Shanker, James L. & Ekwall, Eldon E. (1998). Locating and Correcting Reading Difficulties (Ed. 7). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.
**Written works by: Jackie Hirsch
Created: 4.9.2010
Uploaded: 8.14.2010
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