| This dissertation examined the contribution of different cognitive processes associated with efficient reading comprehension (phonological coding ability, naming response time, knowledge of the language, domain-specific prior knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge) to the execution of a metacognitive reading task, detecting errors in texts, in a sample of middle school students. There were two different types of texts (domain-specific and domain-general) and two different types of errors (falsehoods and textual contradictions), and the errors varied by their location in the texts. Multiple regressions and analyses of variance were used to analyze the data. The study found that the cognitive processes contributed in different ways to comprehension monitoring, depending upon text type, error type, and error location. For example, for falsehoods, domain-specific prior knowledge was the most important predictor of their detection, but only in the domain-specific texts, and for textual contradictions, knowledge of the language was the strongest predictor of detection in both text types. Theoretical implications of the findings were discussed in terms of the relationship of the components of reading comprehension to a metacognitive reading activity, and educational implications for the findings were discussed in terms of ways that educators can improve students' metacognitive skills and create mindful readers. |
