Feb 8, 2008 3:00 PM CST

Neuhaus Education Center’s Metacognitive Strategies Study Reported in The Reading Teacher

Results from a five-week study showing reading comprehension and vocabulary gains made by third-grade students taught using Neuhaus Education Center’s metacognitive strategies were reported in the September 2007 issue of the International Reading Association’s journal, The Reading Teacher.

Entitled "Instruction of Metacognitive Strategies Enhances Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Achievement of Third-Grade Students", the article was authored by the Center’s Regina Boulware-Gooden, Ph.D., and Suzanne Carreker, M.S., CALT-QI, along with academic language therapist Ann Thornhill and Dr. R. Malatesha Joshi, Ph.D., from Texas A&M University.

Based on a study of 119 third-grade students from two demographically and academically similar urban schools, the article reports that students who used the metacognitive strategies improved statistically significantly over the students who did not use the same strategies. The treatment group showed a 20% gain in reading comprehension and a 40% gain in vocabulary.

Also notable, the gains for those students who used metacognitive strategies still held on a follow-up vocabulary testing three months after the study.

“The comprehension strategies the students used taught them to ‘think about their thinking.’ As they read the passages for each lesson, they were actively engaged. They were aware of what they knew before they read; they asked themselves questions as they read; and they summarized what they had learned from reading the passages. In terms of vocabulary, they were not just memorizing definitions but were connecting new words to words and ideas they already knew,” stated Mrs. Carreker.

The multiple metacognitive strategies appear to have actively engaged the students in the reading process. This led to a greater understanding of new words and increased their reading comprehension.

IRA members can read the full article here.

The article is also available at readingrockets.org.

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