| This study reports the effects of two instructional reading approaches on students' reading achievement, metacognitive problem solving ability, reading attitude, and reading awareness (i.e., reading for meaning and reading to remember). The purpose of this study was to ascertain if it is possible to help lower ability high school students learn how to internalize expert reading characteristics by participating in a metacognitive reading curriculum. The subjects were 30 9th grade students enrolled in a Chapter I reading lab. The students in the treatment group received metacognitive and cognitive reading training by way of mental modeling, direct instruction/guided practice, peer interaction and individual autonomous use practice. The control group's program remained a constant individualized reading and interactive computer based program.;The quantitative analysis indicated that the treatment group performed significantly better than the control group in the areas of reading achievement and reading awareness. There was no significant difference between the two groups' metacognitive problem solving ability, and reading attitudes toward becoming strategic readers.;The qualitative analysis indicated that the treatment group gained a higher metacognitive and cognitive control over their reading when they had some degree of motivation and individual responsibility.;The results indicate that the metacognitive reading intervention program is an effective tool for improving and helping students gain control over their reading achievement and their reading awareness. It is recommended that educators help lower ability high school students gain control over their learning and reading by providing them with metacognitive problem solving with perspective taking, content area classes utilizing the metacognitive reading curriculum's plan of study, and developing publishable video tapes of the metacognitive reading curriculum to be used by reading lab teachers, content area teachers, and students. |
