Evaluating the Effectiveness of Metacognitive Strategies Training in Improving Reading, Comprehension and Reading Speed of Students

This study is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of metacognitive skills training (reciprocal teaching) in improving the reading, comprehension and reading speed of primary school students with reading learning disorder. The statistical population comprised all primary school male students from all districts of Tehran city in the school year 2009-2010. In order to choose the sample group, in the first round, one district out of 22 was randomly selected. Then, two primary schools in that district were selected. Finally, ten classrooms of 30 classes in those schools were randomly selected. After taking the Reading & Dyslexia Test (Kormi-Nouri & Moradi, 2008), 68 of students who scored lower than average were selected. In line with the quasi-experimental nature of the research, 34 of them were randomly placed in control group and 34 in experimental group. Then, the experimental group received reciprocal teaching for 36 sessions. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance method. The results of multiple variance analysis showed that reciprocal teaching significantly increased the reading and comprehension and decreased the number of error in reading (p<0.01). Also, compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significantly higher scores on the speed of reading (p<0.05). The results showed that the metacognitive skills training was effective in improving the reading and comprehension, decreasing the errors in reading and increasing the speed of reading. It is suggested that metacognitive training be put to test for different textbooks and academic levels.