Self-Regulating Informational Text Reading Comprehension: Perceptions of Low-Achieving Students

Abstract

Students who struggle with learning may not have the metacognition needed to support the multiple processes required to understand what is read in informational text. Instruction for these students, therefore, should include methodologies that promote self-regulation of critical thinking processes. Fifty-eight low-achieving students were provided Self-Regulated Strategy Development instruction for the TWA (Think before reading, think While reading, think After reading) strategy approach. Students were explicitly taught to establish goals, self-monitor performance, use positive self-instructions, and self-reinforce. We examined these students' perceptions in regard to application of the self-regulation procedures. Students' worksheets and comments as well as perceptions documented in post-instruction interviews were used to gain insight into students' metacognitive awareness of the self-regulation procedures taught and learned.