A COMPARISON OF VERBAL AND WRITTEN METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES USED BY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN A LANGUAGE ARTS CLASSROOM

The purpose of the study was to compare verbal and written metacognitive strategies used by 10th grade students in an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. A convenience sample of forty-seven students were divided into two equivocal treatment groups. Both groups were first pretested by completing an ACT reading passage with accompanying questions. Following the reading task, both groups completed the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI). The sample was divided into two treatment groups, one group receiving daily enrichment style instruction in verbal metacognitive strategies, and the other treatment group receiving instruction in both written and verbal strategies. Following the enrichment sessions, students in both groups were post tested with a similar reading comprehension task, and completed the MARSI again. The data were analyzed using descriptive, inferential, and associative/predictive techniques to address the research questions. The findings suggest that regardless of the method of strategy use, metacognitive strategy instruction is effective and in the study, and produced a statistically significant increase in student reported use, as well as improved performance on an academic reading task. Verbal strategies appeared to have an edge over written and verbal combination for frequency of use and overall reading comprehension achievement, although not statistically significant. When considering the issue of which metacognitive strategy exerts a more productive relational/predictive effect, the combination of written and verbal strategies seems to be preferable. Limitations and implications for professional practice were discussed, and future research was suggested