METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY TRAINING FOR GENERAL AND CONDITIONAL CAUSAL SCHEMA DEVELOPMENT IN TEXT COMPREHENSION
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two metacognitive strategy training programs, in general and conditional causal schema, upon the ability of second grade students to identify general and conditional casual relations in text. The theoretical foundation for the study was based on current models of metacognitive processing (Brown, 1978; Baker, 1980), and the theories of schema development (Spiro, 1980; Trabasso, 1980) and causality (Pearson, 1980; Irwin, 1980). Forty second graders, aged 7-8, who scored 60% or below on a Screening Test for Causality, were reading on or above grade, in two parochial elementary schools in New York City, were randomly assigned to two treatment groups for participation in five Metacognitive Strategy Training Sessions in General (Group I) and Conditional (Group II) Causal Schema. The t-test results of tests of General and Conditional Causality showed significant differences between pretest and posttest mean scores for both treatment groups. Significant differences were found between posttest mean scores for both groups on the test for Conditional Causality, with subjects who had received Metacognitive Training in Conditional Causal Schema scoring higher than the group trained in General Causal Schema. No significant differences were indicated between posttest mean scores for the two treatment groups on the General Causality Test. Conclusions derived from this study were: (1) Strategic demands of reading comprehension involving causal relations in new text may be considerably enhanced, even for young students, through metacognitive strategy training classroom programs. (2) Since understanding conditional causal relations in text has proven particularly difficult for young learners, direct teaching of skills to strengthen hypothesis testing, involving predicting possible outcomes and forming judgments about probable causes, facilitates comprehension of causal relations for the young reader. The study confirmed the need for systematic strategy training activities, with a metacognitive component, for helping young readers to transfer their comprehension skills to new texts involving causal relations, particularly with conditional causality.
Subject Area
Literacy|Reading instruction
Recommended Citation
MARMOREK, DORIS, "METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY TRAINING FOR GENERAL AND CONDITIONAL CAUSAL SCHEMA DEVELOPMENT IN TEXT COMPREHENSION" (1983). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8308483.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8308483
