The metacognitive reading strategies of five early readers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the metacognitive reading strategies of five children, four to six years of age, who were reading fluently prior to formal instruction in grade one. Fluency was judged on whether the children could conduct meaningful reading (Smith, 1988) with relative smoothness (Duffy and Roehler, 1989). Methods of this case study included semi-structured interviews, role playing, observations and informal miscue analyses of oral reading. The children's personal characteristics and home environments provided a context for their reading strategies, and particular attention was given to the caregiver-child interactions which may have facilitated the development of metacognitive reading strategies.Findings suggest that each of the children utilized a variety of metacognitive reading strategies and showed individual preferences for certain strategies, as indicated by the number of times these strategies were used. The children also responded differently to particular research methods, a finding which supports the employment of a variety of methods when studying young children. Findings from this study also draw a relationship between caregiver-child interactions and the development of particular metacognitive reading strategies. RESUME Les stratkgies mktacognitives de lecture de cinq Iecteurs prPcocesDans ce mkmoire de maitrise on a examint (Brenna, 1991) la planification, l'autoguidage, et les activitks d'tvaluation de cinq enfants, Qgts de quatre A six ans, qui savaient lire couramment avant l'enseignement formel de l'tcole. Les mkthodes utilistes dans cette Ctude de cas comportaient des entretiens semi-directifs, des jeux de r61e, des observations, et des analyses informelles de mkprises en lecture orale. 54 BRENNAOn a dkveloppk des profils metacognitifs de lecture pour chaque enfant en termes de connaissance de texte (Wason-Ellam, 1994) aussi bien que de connaissance de soi et de la tache (Baker et Brown, 1984). On a dkcrit les caracteristiques personnelles des enfants et de leur environnement familial en tant que contexte de leurs stratkgies de lecture et on a accordk une attention particulikre aux interactions enfant-intervenant susceptibles d'avoir facilitk le dkveloppement des strategies mktacognitives de lecture.Chacun des cinq enfants a utilisk diffkrentes stratkgies mktacognitives de lecture et a manifest6 des prkfkrences personnelles pour l'utilisation de stratkgies particulibres qui garantissent une lecture significative. Lors de l'identification de mots, les lecteurs les plus avancks avaient tendance ii se focaliser sur une combinaison d'indices grapho-phonkmiques, syntaxiques et semantiques, alors que les lecteurs moyens du groupe recouraient davantage B la syntaxe et A la semantique. Le lecteur le moins avanck recourait B des indices grapho-phonkmiques B l'exclusion de toute autre information.L'information fournie par cette ktude peut Ctre utiliske pour ktablir une relation entre les interactions enfant-intervenant et le dkveloppement de stratkgies mktacognitives de lecture ...

Becoming a Self-Regulated Reader: A Study of Primary-Grade Students' Reading Strategies

“…The results of this study support the research that indicates there is a developmental trend to children's metacognitive behaviors during book-reading activities (Brenna, 1995;Siegler, 1996;Wellman, 2002) as well as builds on this research base. In examining the data across grades, the students' responses fell within similar categories.…”

“…Cox's study revealed the need for more inquiry about the impact of children's developmental level (those who lack early reading skills and those who do not) on young children's strategy use and decision making while reading. Brenna (1995) examined five children's (4-6-year-olds) use of strategies. These children were reading fluently prior to first grade.…”

Metacognition of young readers in an early intervention programme

“…Retrospection provided more information on metacognitive knowledge while observing the children during intervention lessons provided more data on self-management. Brenna (1995) also found in a study of the metacognitive strategies of early readers that a variety of techniques were needed when studying young children. Only by using multiple measures of metacognition will an accurate picture of any child's metacognition be obtained.…”

Reading‐Specific Flexibility Moderates the Relation Between Reading Strategy Use and Reading Comprehension During the Elementary Years

“…For instance, McEwan (2004) described deliberative cognitive strategies-behaviors and thoughts-that make reading and learning more efficient. We know that students use multiple strategies for reading, which may differ over age, reading level, and context (Baker, 2005;Brenna, 1995;Brown, Pressley, Van Meter, & Schuder, 1996;Gersten, Fuchs, Williams, & Baker, 2001;Kragler & Martin, 2009;Paris & Flukes, 2005). In this article, text-level strategies (rather than word-level strategies) were our main focus.…”