| The purpose of this investigation was to synthesize the results of primary research studies which examined the relationships between teaching metacognitive reading strategies and improving reading and vocabulary comprehension by using meta-analytic techniques.; To proceed with this investigation, primary research reports were identified by a set of criteria established by the researcher, and collected through computer and hand searches. Based on these criteria, 41 primary studies were finally selected for this meta-analysis. These 41 studies were either published or written between 1979 and 1991, and comprised 18 dissertations, 18 journal articles, 3 ERIC documents, and 2 articles from the National Reading Conference Yearbooks. A sample size of 3,219, ranging from second graders to college students was covered by these 41 studies.; Using effect sizes as the measure of the outcome, the meta-analysis generated a total of 223 effect sizes, of which 212 were from reading comprehension measures, and 11 were from vocabulary comprehension measures. All of the effect sizes were weighted. Results showed that the weighted average effect size for reading comprehension was.56, a medium effect size, and the weighted average effect size for vocabulary comprehension was.23, a small effect size. These results implied that average students receiving metacognitive reading strategy training improved their reading comprehension from the 50th percentile to the 71st percentile. Similarly, average students receiving metacognitive reading strategy training might also improve their vocabulary comprehension from the 50th percentile to the 59th percentile.; Twenty-one other variables such as publication year, publication type, reading ability, grade level, teaching method, study size, and other design features were analyzed to determine the relationship between each of these variables and its effect size. None of the analyses was found to be significant, indicating that the factors included in each variable had an equal and positive effect on the final outcome.; Overall, the results of this investigation contribute to a better understanding of the efficacy of teaching metacognitive reading strategies, and provide classroom teachers, pre-service and in-service teacher educators, curriculum planners and school administrators with the strong evidence of the effectiveness of metacognitive reading strategy instruction. Implications for future research in metacognitive strategy training, and for meta-analytic studies, are also discussed. |
