The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Training on Critical Reading Ability.

322 Pages·2017·10.17 MB·English

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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School
1985
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Jacqueline Means Parson
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Parson, Jacqueline Means, "The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy Training on Critical Reading Ability."
(1985). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 4067.
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Parson, Jacqueline Means
THE EFFECT OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY TRAINING ON CRITICAL
READING ABILITY
The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical Col. Ed.D,
University
Microfilms
International
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106
THE EFFECT OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY TRAINING
ON
CRITICAL READING ABILITY
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
in'
The Interdepartmental Program of Education
by
Jacqueline M. Parson
B. A., Louisiana State University, 1965.
M.Ed., Louisiana State University, 1980
May, 1985
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my major
professor, Dr. Don Richgels, and to all the other members
of my committee, Dr. Ray Buss, Dr. Martha Collins,
Dr. Lea Me Gee, and Dr. Jane Williams who gave so
unselfishly and willingly of their time, advice, and
expertise. Each one made a valuable and unique
contribution to this research. I feel very fortunate to
have had the opportunity to work closely with each one of
them.
I would also like to thank Al, Danielle, and Michelle
for their love, understanding, and support.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapters Page
1. INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESES 1
Importance of the Study 3
Critical Reading and the Comprehension Process 4
Importance of Critical Reading Ability 7
Current State of Critical Reading Ability 8
Problems with Existing Research 11
Purposes of the Study 13
Hypotheses and Terminology 13
Limitations of the Study 19
Summary 21
2. REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 23
Definition 23
A Historical Perspective 29
Tests of Critical Reading/Thinking Skills 35
Textbooks 39
Contributing Factors for Critical Development 44
Classroom Environment 44
The Role of the Teacher 4 6
The Role of Questioning 51
Attitude 58
Metacognition 61
Text, Topic, Task and Individual Variables 69
Attempts to Teach Critical Reading/Thinking 81
Traditional Methods 81
Metacognitive Methods 90
Summary and Educational Implications 108
3. METHODS AND PROCEDURES 112
Subjects 112
Materials 114
Critical Reading Tests 114
General Comprehension Tests 117
Strategy Evaluation Tests 118
Attitude Survey Instrument 12 0
Training Materials 121
Procedures 124
Training Procedures 124
iii
Experimental Group 1 127
Strategy Training 127
Corrective Feedback Training 128
Strategy Application 13 0
Experimental Group 2 131
Strategy Training 132
Strategy Practice 133
Control Group 134
Experimental Design 13 5
Analysis of Results 137
Summary 138
4. FINDINGS AND RESULTS 141
Critical Reading Tests 142
Comprehension Tests 14 4
Strategy Evaluation Tests 14 9
Attitude Survey 154
Summary 154
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 158
Effectiveness of the Study 159
Interactive Differences 160
Time-of-Test Differences 161
Implications for Future Research 162
Value of the Study 171
Summary of the Study 172
Chapter Summary 173
REFERENCES 175
APPENDICES 197
Appendix A Pilot Study 198
Appendix B Critical Reading Tests 2 05
Appendix C General Comprehension Tests 231
Appendix D Strategy Evaluation Tests 2 43
Appendix E Strategy Rating Materials 248
Appendix F Attitude Survey 2 60
Appendix G Strategy Training Materials 2 63
Appendix H Training Passages 286
Appendix I Strategy Training Worksheet 3 04
Appendix J Newspaper Articles 3 06
VITA 311
i v
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Page
Figure 1 The Randomized pretest-posttest control
group design 13J?'
Table 1 Critical Reading Test Means (and
Standard Deviations) by Time-of-test
and Treatment 143
Table 2 Critical Reading Analysis of Variance
Table I n ­
Table 3 comprehension Test Means (and Standard
Deviations) by Time-of-test and Treatment 147
Table 4 Comprehension Test Analysis of Variance
Table 148
Table 5 Strategy Evaluation Test Means (and
Standard Deviations) by Time-of-test
and Treatment 152
Table 6 Strategy Evaluation Analysis of Variance
Table 153
Table 7 Attitude Survey Test Mean Scores by Item
and Treatment 155
v
ABSTRACT
The ability to read materially critically is
recognized as a goal of educators. The purpose of
this study was to investigate the influence of training
metacognitive strategies on critical reading
ability. Critical reading was defined as the ability to
judge or evaluate written materials and to compare them
against some norm or standard. Metacognitive strategies
encourage a conscious awareness of and/or control over
one's own mental processes. A review of literature
indicated that past researchers had considered critical
reading as a distinct skill area, but more recently,
educators have begun to recognize it as a part of the
overall comprehension process. Little evidence could be
found in the literature of an effective method for
increasing critical reading ability. It was the
hypothesis of this study that training strategies which
have been shown to increase overall comprehension could be
specifically adapted to increase critical reading
ability. Strategies selected for instruction included:
questioning, summarizing, predicting, and speculating
about the author's tone or purpose. This three-week study
was conducted using 50 low reading ability college
students as subjects. One experimental group was
instructed through the use of a Metacognitive Strategies
Training Package specifically designed to increase
critical reading ability. These subjects were taught how
to use selected strategies and then given the opportunity
to practice using these strategies in a group situation
using metacognitive techniques. A second experimental
group was instructed with the same strategies through the
use of written materials; no metacognitive element was
included in this instruction. A third group served as a
control group. Critical reading ability, general
comprehension ability, appropriate use of instructed
strategies, and changes in attitude were evaluated.
Results were analyzed using a mixed analysis of variance
procedure. Although subjects appeared to become more
adept at using instructed strategies to critically analyze
text material, limited statistically significant effects
of instructional procedures */ere found. Possible reasons
for non-significant results include: lack of appropriate
testing instruments, lack of transference from oral tasks
involved in instructional procedures to written
requirements of testing instruments, poor attitude of
students, and short time span of study.
vii