The Effect Of Meta-Cognitive Strategies On The Reading Comprehension Among Students Of Grade 11 In Pakistan

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of six meta-cognitive reading strategies namely making connections, predicting, questioning, monitoring, visualizing, and summarizing on the reading comprehension among the students of grade 11 in Pakistan. The experimental study comprised two experimental and two comparison groups selected from two colleges. Each of the four groups comprised 35 participants thus making a total of 140 participants in the study. Pretest and posttest comprised unseen reading comprehension texts along with 10 short questions, each comprising two marks. Students were required to produce their answers (consisting of 30-40 words) so that the reading comprehension of the learners can be evaluated. Passages and questions of pretest and posttests were different. Students’ answers were analyzed and marked. The t-test was applied to identify the difference in pretest, posttest and gain scores of experimental and comparison groups. Treatment comprised 20 weekly sessions of 80 minutes each that were conducted over the period of six months. First session was introductory session about the use of meta-cognitive strategies. In the remaining sessions, 20 lessons of the textbook were taught in such a way that students were given an opportunity to practice meta-cognitive strategies. Comparison groups were taught the same 20 lessons but they were not given any orientation and practice regarding meta-cognitive strategies during this period. Results showed that posttest and gain scores on reading comprehension of treatment group were significantly better as compared to the comparison group.