Enhancing vocabulary development and reading comprehension through metacognitive strategies

This article presents a study of the teacher trainees in an English department who have received instruction in metacognitive awareness for reading comprehension. Metacognition or `thinking about thinking' involves the awareness and regulation of thinking processes. Metacognitive strategies are those strategies which require students to think about their own thinking as they engage in academic tasks. Within this study, students have been taught metacognitive strategies for reading in a five week program they have joined voluntarily. The students have used reading logs to reflect on their own thinking processes as they have been engaged in reading tasks. The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of systematic direct instruction of multiple metacognitive strategies designed to assist students in comprehending text. Specifically, the reading comprehension and vocabulary achievement of 130 third year university students has been investigated to determine whether instruction incorporating metacognitive strategies has led to an increase in the reading comprehension of expository texts. In addition, the investigation is also designed to determine the impact of the metacognitive strategies on vocabulary.