Metacognition and Freshman Academic Performance.

Abstract

Comprehension is an active process through which meaning is constructed. Often it demands that reader step to figure out meaning of an unknown word, identify major theme in text, or use bridging inferences to maintain coherence (van den Broek, 1994). This type of directed cognitive processing is called metacognition and is regarded as the foundation of understanding text (Nist & Holschuh, 2000, p. 76). Metacognition in reading involves knowledge of comprehension strategies. Importantly, a skilled reader must not only know strategies but must also know when to apply them (Garner, 1987, 1990; Nist & Holschuh, 2000). Thus, metacognitive knowledge that skilled college readers need is about awareness, monitoring, and guidance of cognitive processing that leads to constructing meaning from text. Coming to a better understanding of how metacognition relates to college reading involves investigating two questions: knowing (a) which strategies students use and (b) whether using these strategies benefits students' academic performance. The first question is important because strategy use must be generative (Nist & Holschuh, 2000), that is, metacognition is purposive and deliberate. Students must initiate use of strategies. The second question is important because using any particular strategy only makes sense if it improves students' reading performance. Applied questions like these have not received enough attention, particularly in area of postsecondary learning assistance (Johnson & Carpenter, 2000; O'Hear & MacDonald, 1995). The present study is designed to address both of these questions. Constructing a Strategy--Use Questionnaire The first question in this study was how frequently students used reading strategies. Which strategies should we ask about? Detailed descriptions of skilled readers have been developed by several researchers (e.g., Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995; Pressley, Brown, El-Dinary, & Afflerbach, 1995; Wyatt et al., 1993). These researchers have found that skilled readers apply multiple reading strategies in a purposeful manner. These include setting reading goals; varying reading style according to relevance of to reading goals; jumping forward and backward in to find information relevant to reading goals; making predictions about what author would say; paraphrasing, explaining, and interpreting text; and constructing summaries and conclusions. Skilled readers are also aware of their cognitive processing and their progress towards reading goals. Comprehension monitoring by skilled readers also includes noticing how difficult is to read, distinguishing between familiar and new information in text, checking to see if predictions about content are fulfilled, and evaluating relevance of to reading goals. The major comprehension strategies reported in Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) and Wyatt et al. ( 1993) were used to create a questionnaire for college students consisting of 35 strategy descriptions. The 35 strategy descriptions were generated as follows. Pressley and Afflerbach (p. 105) and Pressley et al. (1995, p. 217) summarized major strategies that they identified in an analysis of over 38 published reports examining reading comprehension. The reports primarily described reading strategies used by adult skilled readers, although several described children's strategies. The summary was broken down into discrete strategies and these were used to generate two-thirds of strategy descriptions. The remaining strategies included in questionnaire were from Wyatt et al. (1993), as summarized by Pressley et al. (p. 217). The Wyatt et al. study examined adult expert readers. Overall, strategies in questionnaire were comprehensive in their coverage of reading strategies reported in literature. Participants were also asked if they had received instruction for 10 specific reading strategies. …