An investigation of the interrelationships among grade six readers' concepts of self, metacognitive awareness, gender and reading comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter-relationships among reading comprehension, students' perceptions of themselves (both globally and scholastically), and metacognitive awareness (specifically, view of reading task, knowledge of reading strategies and perceptions of self as a reader). -- Forty-five female students and forty-five male students were identified from four grade six classrooms at an elementary school school in Marystown. [Six groups of fifteen, were assigned, according to gender and percentile ranking in the Comprehension sub-test of the Gates-McGinitie Reading Test, Level D, Form 1]. Subjects were randomly selected from three categories of ability until equal numbers of highly-skilled (scoring between the 58th and 99th percentile in the Gates-McGinitie), moderately skilled (scoring between the 44th and 54th percentile in the Gates-McGinitie) and less skilled (scoring between the 7th and 27th percentile on the Gates-McGinitie) male and female readers. Students were interviewed orally using the Thomas Attitude and Awareness Inventory to determine their level of metacognitive awareness with respect to their attitudes and perceptions about the reading task, their knowledge of the reading task and reading strategies, and their perceptions of themselves as readers. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and scored for "meaningful" answers. Numerical scores were tabulated for each of the three sections of the inventory. The Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children was also then administered to each student in order to tap each child's judgements of his/her competency in five different domains. Four domains included: scholastic competence, social acceptance, physical appearance and behavioural conduct; as well, a global perception of their worth or esteem as a person, was measured. Numerical scores were tabulated for each question in each domain. Scoring resulted in a total of six sub-scale means which defined the child's profile. -- The results obtained were submitted to correlational analysis to determine the relationships of the selected variables to reading comprehension as well as the relationships among these variables. At the .01 level of confidence, statistical analysis revealed relationships existed between: -- skill in reading and perceptions of scholastic competency, -- skill in reading and reading attitude, -- skill in reading and knowledge of reading strategy, -- skill in reading and perceptions of self as reader, -- scholastic competency and reading attitude, -- scholastic competency and knowledge of reading strategies, -- scholastic competency and global self-concept, and -- reading attitude and knowledge of reading strategies. -- At the .05 level of confidence, statistical analysis revealed relationships existed between: -- gender and knowledge of reading strategies; and -- perception of self as reader and knowledge of reading strategies. -- Teaching methods which allow interactive dialogues, explanations, modelling, and practice time that help students learn reading strategies in a variety of reading texts within positive classroom climates (i.e., those which are conducive to students' chance-taking and decision-making) appear to be critical educational implications of this study. As well, providing opportunities for the development of an enjoyment of reading and visualization comprehension strategies for male readers are important considerations. -- Further research studies are recommended using more accurate instrumentation and sophisticated correlational designs which extend the scope of this investigation to include the influence of parental attitudes and beliefs on children's perceptions and value of the reading task and attributions for success, (or failure). Such studies should also include rural and urban communities within provincial and cross-cultural settings